Summer Prep.

If you're anything like me, during the summer you have "teacher stuff" lying around all over your house. Right now, I have a ton of math games that I've downloaded, printed, laminated and are ready to be organized. I cannot get into my classroom yet, so I can't get the large envelopes I need to house the games.  After I get the envelopes,  I'll laminate them with a picture on the front of what it contains and I'll place them in a large box labeled, "Math Bags".  When I'm teaching a certain skill, I'll be able to grab the "bag" I'll use for the hands-on portion of my math lesson that day/week. 

Speaking of laminating, I broke down and bought a small home laminator at my local wholesale club store. 

This is a picture of the exact laminator I purchased.

It was 20 dollars and it came with about 15 laminating pockets.  I purchased an extra 50 pockets for 15.00, I think.  I was always against the idea of buying one more thing with my own money that I didn't necessarily need, especially because I can laminate at school pretty much any time I want to (if the machine isn't jammed, out of lamination film or being used), but the convenience far outweighed the cost, in my opinion.  I just love being able to get so much done over the summer and not having to try to get things laminated and cut out right before school begins when there is typically a big rush on the laminator and I'm also trying to get my classroom set up and organized. I have probably made somewhere around 20 math games for the new year, so far.  I also really like the lamination that is created by this little machine.  It's thicker than the lamination film that is in the big machine at school.  The only downside is that it can only laminate items that are 9x12 or smaller.  Most of the things I laminate fit just fine, but I'll have to laminate the envelopes that I'll use to house my games at school, using the big machine.  So, if you're on the fence about this machine, as I was for so long, you might want to go for it. I think it's well worth the money I've invested.  

Teachers Pay Teachers

I have always loved creating things for my classroom and after Teachers Pay Teachers came about, I saw that a lot of other people do too! I am so impressed with the products that teachers publish and put up for sale on that and other teacher-created sites. I have a little store called, The Elementary Classroom, that I started late last summer. I have downloaded many very nice games and other items to use in my classroom for free, but I have also purchased items. I just love that teachers are getting the money, rather than some large corporation.

Bye-Bye Owls, Hello Black/White and Damask!

I jumped on the owl theme bandwagon last year. When I chose owls for my theme, I honestly had no idea that they were as popular as they were.  THEN when I committed and made the covers for my binders and got them all printed out, I began to see the plethora of owl items for sale.  At the time, I was delighted, but I'm just not feeling them this year.  The kids even began bringing me owls!  I received stuffed owls, owl note-pads, an owl ring, owl mugs and the most unique gift, owl tissues.   I am all owled-out. I know that's not a real word, but that's how I feel. 

SO...as you can tell from my previous post, I've been reading a blog by a teacher who has included touches of black & white in her classroom.  I just love the damask touches she put in her room.   I've always loved damask. I even have a black & white damask lunch bag.  I am going for it.  Black & white with some damask here and there.  I already have blue and green as the main colors in my room and I'll stick with that because when you use black & white, you can mix in any other colors you like.  

Black & White Damask Pattern

I already ordered all new white magazine holders from IKEA for my own use in the classroom and I'm going to pretty them up.  My current ones are OLD and they're that not-so-attractive fake wood grain, made even less attractive by years of fading.  I also have some that are sort of speckled, for lack of a better term.  They're also all different sizes, since I cut the tops off of some of them, way back when, to make them fit on certain shelves...

Five-pack for $1.99

Now, since I do not live near an IKEA, I ordered these guys online.  I searched the entire internet (I get a little carried away.) and IKEA, by far, had the cheapest price for the plain, white magazine holders.  I paid $1.99 for five of them!  They arrived today and I am now impatiently awaiting my order from Hobby Lobby.  I ordered some really pretty black & white craft paper that I plan on using to pretty-up the room.  I was able to receive free shipping and I used a gift card one of my students gave to me at the end of the year, so I made out great.  These magazine holders will look so much better than what I currently have.

I'm currently using something I purchased at Lakeshore to hold my recording sheets and other items for the week.  There are five plastic magazine-type holders in a wire holder, but I like the idea of using these holders better.  They'll fit right on the bookshelf behind my desk (a much better spot than where I have the other contraption) and they will look so much nicer.  I want to create  a more uniform look.  My classroom is blue and I currently have accents of green & black, so I think the black & white damask will fit right in. I'm not sure what I'll do about the kids' binder covers yet, but I have some time to figure that out.  

First Post!

This was my very first blog post!  I switched my blog name, so it looks like I went blog wild on July 21, but that's just the way it had to be when I moved everything over on that date. :-)

I teach second grade in the town in which I live.  Before that I taught first grade for several years.  I will be entering my 20th year of teaching in the fall.  My kids were already in school when I began teaching and they're all grown up and on their own, now.

I read other teachers' blogs all the time and I've always admired all the teachers that take the time (I know how busy you are) to post ideas to share with others, so I finally decided to give it a try.  I doubt I'll be as diligent as many of you are, but I'm going to give it a shot!

It's summer and like many of you, I spend  a good portion of it getting ready for the upcoming school year. I've been reading lots of blogs. The Clutter-Free Classroom is one of my favorites.  She posts her items for sale a lot, but she does have a good number of freebies.  Anyway, she gives a lot of great tips about setting up and getting rid of the clutter.  I cannot start anything yet as the custodians are currently cleaning the school and they haven't gotten to my room yet, but I plan on really trying to purge a lot of what I've collected over the past 20 years.  Hopefully someone else can use what I no longer need.

I've also been gearing up to get my math program in order.  I am going to try a math rotation board this year. I made up my own on Print Shop and I've got that all set to go. We will have a new math program this year called, "My Math" by McGraw-Hill (any comments--good or bad?).  I don't even have my teacher's manual yet, so to say that I'm a bit nervous about this situation is an understatement.  I was hoping we'd get the book early in the summer and have time to go over it. Hopefully we'll have some sort of professional development around the new program before school begins.  

Please stay tuned. :-)