Classroom Makeover

There is no denying that I am beyond excited to start my third year of teaching with a new adventure in 1st grade! I think my favorite part of it so far has been transforming my new classroom! Since I work as a camp director during the summer, I do not have as much time in my room, but I have been able to get in there at least once a week during my off time. 

I have been making a photo journey of the process and I try to snap a few before leaving each time I work in there. Here is the only photo I have of the room before I even started. A lot of the stuff in the picture is still from the previous teacher. Our maintenance crew was nice enough to move all of my things for me...isn't that wonderful? I plan on having a big basket of goodies for them when we go back in August. Here is room 102 in her glory before I even started!

 The amazing thing is that pretty much none of this remains in the room. I kept the tables and the kidney table, that is really about it. This was on the last day of school when I went by to visit. The colors in the classroom were not what I was envisioning, so I stripped everything off the walls and have started fresh. The issue though was that I had to wait until the end of June before anything of mine was even moved to my new room.

This was when everything finally got moved to my classroom. I had no idea how much stuff I had accumulated in two years. I think part of it was that I was holding out for that 1st grade job I always wanted! One of the first things I tackled were the shelves. The storage there is great, but a lot of things were left that I did not want. 

 This happened last Saturday. All of my things had finally been moved and I could get started with a few things. My first goal was to figure out where I wanted my shelving so I could get a feel for the room. I also got my bulletin boards up for my group area. At this school, we do not have any actual bulletin boards, we have to create them. I use fabric on the walls to create that space because it holds up so well. I love how they turned out, but sorry they are a little blurry. Thanks to both my mom and dad we got all of my bulletin boards, well at least the large ones, knocked out this day. 

I am all about the brights and chevron craze this year!

My mom and I went up again this past Thursday to work and we got a lot accomplished. We organized my shelves, cleaned bookcases, placed the tables, took all of the extra staples out of the well, removed the clips from the ceiling, and we hung my number line. I would call it a productive day. I think my favorite thing about my room right now is my rug. This picture does not even do it justice because it is flipped over. It is black and white chevron and I ordered it from Overstock.com. I am in love with it! 

Yesterday I also made my first trip to Ikea ever!!!! Oh my goodness, I am now in love! I got some things for the classroom and I cannot wait to get them in my room! I will post about that this coming weekend along with an amazing giveaway from Office Max! 

Believe it or not, I also found some time to get my craft on! I do not have a desk so I wanted some of the Teacher Organizers that are all over Pinterest...I love how they turned out! 

They are actually a really pretty teal color and this does not do it justice! 

I promise to keep sharing makeover pictures with you all!

I almost forgot...I am now a certified principal!!! I passed my test on July 17th and it is such a huge relief. Not quite ready for that, I sill love the classroom too much at this point! 

It's Giveaway Time!!!

Katie from Building a House of Love asked me if I would team up with her for a giveaway and of course I said yes! I am pretty sure that if we lived closer to each other that we would be best friends! Go swing by Katie's blog to see how you can enter to win! There are not many entries as of now so your chances are pretty good! It ends later today!

Building a House of Love! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I am still alive!I

It seems like it has been forever since I last blogged, but I promise I am still alive. 

In the summer I work as a camp director and I am pretty much away from technology all week. As much as I miss it, I do enjoy the break. 

On top of being MIA, while I have been gone, my laptop also decided to die. It was 6 years old and a Gateway. They do not even make those anymore. :) I can officially say that I am now a proud MacBook Pro owner and I absolutely love it! I am still learning, but I am sure there are a ton of you all that could help me out! 

I am also teaming up with several wonderful bloggers over the next few weeks for some giveaways and I cannot wait! One of my favorite things to do is share my products with you all! 

I hope to get another post up with some linky parties in it. I have missed some of my favorites over the past few weeks! 

Hope you all are having a great summer! I get to find out what firsties will be in my class in 1 month from tomorrow! 

Loving It!

There is so much that I am loving right now! 

One. This summer cute new blog look that Jenn designed for me! I knew that as soon as I found out that I was moving grade levels that I wanted to change it up. I was excited to have a new blog name too. Luckily, my URL will stay the same and I will keep all of my 6th grade posts up too. I just love how fun and playful the new look is! What are your thoughts?

Two. I am loving my summer job! I work as a camp director for a camp that I have been attending for over half of my life. I am loving my new roll and cannot wait to see how it challenges me this summer. I know that this is great practice for me when I am ready to be a principal. I take my TExES Principal Exam on July 17th!

Three. My new classroom! I went by this week during my off day from camp to do a few things. I did some purging of things that were left by the previous teacher and they are no more! What a great feeling to be starting fresh! 

What are you loving so far this summer?

One Chapter Ends...Another Begins!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

It is hard to believe, but I have finished teaching 6th grade as of 3:35 p.m. today. I may have done a happy dance in the hallway after school to celebrate! Big picture it is bittersweet. The people and kids are what I am going to miss, but I am beyond excited for my new adventure! 

6th grade was never part of the plan for me, well, at least I did not think it was supposed to be. These past two years have taught me so much and I have learned a lot about myself as an educator. 

I will never forget sitting in the elementary principal's office to go over my second student teaching evaluation from my university professor and him telling me that the middle school principal wanted me to finish my student teaching in 6th grade. At the time I thought she was crazy. Why would this girl who always wanted to teach 1st or 2nd grade be crazy enough to venture to 6th grade? I still cannot believe that I agreed to it. I had barely even subbed at the middle school level at this point and had spent 95% of my time in Kinder-5th grade. When I began my adventure in 6th grade, I was a novice who knew absolutely nothing who inherited a total unorganized mess of a classroom. I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea how I was going to fix the bridge that had been burned by the previous teacher as well.

While I was finishing my student teaching in 6th grade, a 3rd grade position opened up at the elementary school where I did the first part of my student teaching so I applied for it and got an interview. I personally thought the interview went great, but it was not part of the plan for me at the time. I really had no idea what I was going to do. The 6th grade position that I had been filling in for was open and I decided to apply. I knew I really wanted to stay in the area and this seemed like the best option. When I was offered the position just a few days later, I took it. I really had no idea what to expect and I was just happy to have a job within the district.

The past two years have turned out to be such an amazing experience for me and I know that I am a better teacher because of teaching 6th grade.

This chapter may be closing, but I cannot wait to start writing a new chapter in 1st grade.

(No worries, the blog is staying and my domain is not changing. I will have a new look though in the next week or so though and a new blog name too!)

Next year I am definitely...(Linky Party)

I am beyond excited about linking up with one of my favorite 6th grade blogger, Kim! Be sure you link up and join her linky party because she is amazing!

 I couldn't resist...I had to do it! Of course I will be doing everything differently because I am making a huge change from 6th to 1st grade! This was a decision I made and I could not be happier about it. My dream has always been to teach 1st or 2nd grade and now I am getting to do that! 

 This past year was the first year that they have done Writer's Workshop at the school I will be teaching at and I am so excited about it. We have about an hour built into the schedule for it and I want to make sure that my students get that time each day. I feel like writing is often overlooked and that children come to not like it. I want it to be something that they enjoy on a daily basis!

 I am obsessed with the Daily 5 and cannot wait to use it in my classroom! I just love that the students have a choice in what they are doing and the prep time is way less for the teacher. Luckily, they have been doing Daily 5 in Kinder, so my kiddos will be used to it already. :)

 I love reading about everyone's Sub Tubs. I have been spoiled because on sub plans for 6th grade I only had to fill about an hour of time. 1st grade won;t quite be that way. I think a sub tub will be the perfect solution for me. 

 Being that I am moving to a new classroom, I really hope that this is something I can do. I am going to have to organize all of my materials and supplies in a new space, I just need to keep it that way! 

That is pretty self explanatory! I am beyond excited for the upcoming year and cannot wait to share it with you all!

Five for Friday...on Saturday

I know I am a little late to the party, but I still wanted to play! 

Be sure to had on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to see posts from some amazing bloggers! 

One. I am still stunned by the destruction of the tornado in Oklahoma! I cannot even imagine having to deal with a situation like that while in school! I knew right away that I wanted to give back somehow so I participated in a few things that I found. Check out The Teacher's Treasure Chest and Teacher's Notebook to see how you can give back and get some great resources at the same time! 

Two. I have known since April 4th that I would be teaching 1st grade in the fall and I still cannot believe it! I would be lying if I said I was not excited. I found out yesterday that I will get a key to my new classroom on June 7th! I may have done a little packing already. 

This picture is from over a week ago. It is even more out of control now. I cannot believe how much stuff I have acquired in two short years. :)

Three. Do you remember the nasty hail storm I posted about two weeks ago? Well, my car was not totaled, but I still managed to get a new one out of the deal. I got myself a 2013 Toyota Highlander and I am loving it! 

Four. In First Grade they do Writing Workshop and I am so excited about it! When I did three days of observations in 1st grade I got to see it in action. I also spoke with the AP and she hooked me up with some summer reading materials for me about the Writing Workshop model. Right now I am about halfway finished with About the Authors and I absolutely love it! If you do writing workshop in your classroom, you must read this book!

Five. I guest blogged over at Texas Teacher Roundup...go check out my post!