Monday, July 30, 2012

Monday Made It!



All summer I have been looking at all the cute crafts everyone has done for 4th Grade Frolic's Monday Made It series.  And all summer I have been saying I was going to get crafty.  Well I did! A while back I found these awesome printables from Technology Rocks Seriously (they have been all over Pinterest!) and knew that they needed to be in my new classroom.  Today I found some unfinished wooden frames at the Dollar Tree and got to work!
Frames from the Dollar Tree

Paints from Wal-Mart





I got some unfinished photo frames from Wal-Mart and did those as well.  I am going up to school tomorrow to work registration and perhaps hang these up.  I will add more pictures when I do.  My new bed is being delivered tomorrow so check back for more pictures of my Bedroom Makeover.  And don't forget to enter my giveaway-it ends soon!



Friday, July 27, 2012

Tell Me More, Tell me More

I am linking up to Mrs. Lemons Tell Me More, Tell Me More linky party to tell y'all a few more things about me.  I love the idea of this linky party because the random little things about you are what make you special.  So let's celebrate by sharing!

1. Most of you know by know that I love love love to read! I have a whole room in my apartment dedicated to my books.  That being said, I have a few books that I have read over and over again.  Most of these I read when I was growing up.  Some examples are Troubling a Star, Walk Two Moons, and now I have added 50 Shades and the Hunger Games to those. 

2. I have an incredibly foul mouth and no filter (except when I am in my classroom of course).  This surprises a lot of people! I come off very shy and sweet and then people get to know me...

3. Jello freaks me out.  It moves...on its own.

4. I can't drink the last little bit of milk from the carton.  I have to pour it down the drain.  No idea why but it grosses me out.  Oh and milk must be consumed from a glass NOT a plastic cup.

5. The girls I teach with can confirm this but I can not hang anything up straight.  It always ends up crooked.  This is why Brooke and Kim volunteer to help me with so many tasks. Cutting in a straight line is also a struggle for me.

That is all I can think of for the moment.  Hope you join in the fun. Don't forget to enter my giveaway to win some great stuff from Teachers Pay Teachers and a cute read aloud!!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Teachers Pay Teachers Giveaway


Hello friends! I am doing a giveaway to celebrate my wonderful new blog look that Erin from Creating and Designing did for me.  Erin and I are teaming up to bring you some prizes from Teachers Pay Teachers!  The winner of the giveway will win:

Any 2 items they want from Erin's TpT store!
    AND
A $10 gift card to Teachers Pay Teachers!
AND
A copy of one my new favorite read alouds:

Product Details


The giveaway ends August 1st and I will do my best to post the winner by August 2nd. Thanks for stopping by!
a Rafflecopter giveaway



Saturday, July 21, 2012

My New Look


I have a brand new look and I could not be happier! Erin from Creating & Designing created my new look.  She also has an amazing Teachers Pay Teachers store! Erin and I will be teaming up to bring you a giveaway soon to celebrate my fabulous new do! Check back soon!



Sunday, July 15, 2012

Bedroom Makeover Update


Yes, I am aware that the title of this blog is in fact "Once Upon a Teaching Blog."  However, I am more than just a teacher so I think it is ok to post this here.  This summer I have taken on many projects for school so I decided to finally do one for me. Yep, ME! So I am decorating my bedroom.  My lovely co-workers and friends (Kim, Brooke, and Amy) came over today and helped me paint.  They were amazing! So blessed to have them in my life.  I must confess the hardest part of this entire process has been deciding on a paint color.  I spent a lot of time in Home Depot, the hardware store, and Sherwin Williams looking at colors.  I spent even more time staring a paint samples taped to my wall.  Well I finally found a color I love.  Here are some before pictures of my bedroom and a few pictures of the painted walls.  Now I am waiting on my bed to be delivered!

Before (kind of blurry)


My light blue/green walls!





Thursday, July 12, 2012

I am an Idiot


In the words of Roald Dahl, "We all have our moments of brilliance and glory..." This is either one of those for me or a complete opposite experience.  The other day I was in my classroom and thinking about how I like to bring in new books every few weeks to put in the library center so my kiddos don't get bored with the selection.  I was thinking about how costly that can be.  Then it hit me! Duh! Stash some of my books away in a box and pull them out during the year.  They will still be new to the kiddos just not new to me.  I am sure many of you already do this but it just now dawned on me.  Of course, I will still probably end up buying lots of new books.  Hope your week is going well!


Monday, July 9, 2012

Decorating Overload!

Hello!  Summer time is in full swing for me.  Having fun with friends, spending time with family, and oh yeah decorating my new classroom! My amazing Mom came into town to help me do a few things around my classroom.  We went to the Parent Teacher Store and picked out brightly colored paper for my bulletin boards.  Today we went out to school and put up the paper and my curtains.  Here are a few pictures. 
My back bulletin boards.  We also put up a new alphabet since the one in my new room was print. The pink board is going to be Author Study and novel study related.

The front of my room.  I am going make this my math wall and put my hundreds chart and Mountain Math up there.  I am also going to put number number line up there.

My mom hanging my curtains.
These are my new AMSTI math kits!!

It was like Christmas morning.

Math related literature!

How handy is this? This box came with dividers.


I am still reading Guided Math, Daily 5, and about to start the CAFE book.  Make sure you check out these great book studies that are going on right now.   I am also redecorating my bedroom.  Correction, decorating it.  I moved into my apartment four years ago and wanted to buy an iron bed and do my bedroom.  Then I decided to focus on my living room.  Then I got talked into doing my dining room (which I have used all of two times).  SO now I am finally, finally, finally doing my bedroom.  I might post some before and after pictures even though this is just a teaching blog.  Anybody have any great painting tips for me?






Sunday, July 1, 2012

July Currently


I am linky up with Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade for July's Currently.  This is my (gasp) first time to link up for Currently so I hope I have followed all the rules! Link up here!

Currently