Big Changes!

Today is the first official day back for teachers in our county.  I don't know how I managed to get up early enough to manage a blog post but it will be a quick one.

Two big changes are happening in my school life this year.  First of all I will be teaching 4th grade.  I'm excited about the change and think I'll love it.  I have to admit I'm a little overwhelmed at this point.

The second big thing is we have a new school.   You can see more about it in the video below.

It's hard to believe that summer is over!  :(

Classroom Stool

It's Time for another Monday Made it...(on Tuesday :)

My classroom stool has looked like this for the last few years.  

And I did love it and all it's brightness but I was ready for a change.


First a little spray paint....

Then a little painter's tape....

A little white paint...pull of painter's tape while it's still wet.  

It was actually 6 coats of white paint.   I pulled off the tape while the 6th coat was still wet and touch ups were easy!



 Red Vinyl lettering and tons of clear sealant.....

I love the fact that it's not all perfect.  I love the different sized lines.  



Thanks for stopping by!

How many.....

teacher organizer boxes can you see before you scream?  These are all over blogs and pinterest right now.  But you have to agree it's a pretty good organizer!  I'm excited to get it to school and fill it up.

  
I'm linking up with :

Dollar Tree Deals

I am loving summer!   As hard as I try to forget about all things school...it's just in my blood!   I have a feeling that pinterest is gonna keep me very busy this summer. 


We are moving to a new building next year and merging with another school.  Although I don't know what grade I'll be teaching yet...all the rooms have several cabinets and one section that is open without doors.  I'm going to keep my Safari theme and am trying to slowly convert to red and black decor.  I found the cutest oval shaped buckets at the Dollar Tree.  My plan is to use them on my open shelves...but of course I had to jazz them up with some vinyl first. 

   The wording on them may change but for now I like them.  


   I also found these little guys:

   They are intended to be added to top of papers...Not sure how I'll use them.   I have a couple more projects currently underway and will post them also when they are finished.


   TTFN!

I have a confession....

Bonnie, at Living a Wonderful Life, is having an obsession linky party that I've decided to join in on. 

1.  Blogs--I am obsessed with blogs.  I have totally been a slacker in the blogging area but I haven't slacked on reading blogs, especially school related blogs. 

2.  Pinterest!  Enough said. I'm on it daily.  Oh and I also am a pinterest snob.  90% of the time I have to check the link out.  I get super aggravated when it's a bad link!   

3.  My summer-to-do list is out of hand.  33 things.  Big things.  If I can accomplish 20 of them I'll be doing good. 

4.  Printing and Laminating.  These are my two weak areas.  Lets just say I spend a lot of time cutting.

Here's to being a better blogger this summer!

K-2 Blog Linky Party

Kindergarten Lifestyle is having a great linky party showcasing K-2 blogs.  If you haven't linked up, please do!  I'm excited to find some new blogs!

Adjectives

We have spent the last several weeks in second grade studying adjectives.  I thought I'd share my three favorite ways to teach adjectives.   As usual none of these ideas are my original.  I'm not sure who to give credit to...if it's you, let me know!


The first pictures are of adjective kisses.  I give the kids each a candy kiss to eat, and they come up with adjectives to describe it.  I had an aid cut out card-stock in the shape of a kiss and cover it with aluminum foil.  The kids write the adjectives with sharpies onto the kisses.  I use white streamers to add their name to it.   These pictures aren't great....it's hard to take pictures of aluminum foil!

My kids also love using Babbling Abby's Popcorn Unit.  I bring in Michael's air popper and pop the popcorn in the room.  They honestly think it's the best thing ever!  Then we write adjectives to describe the popcorn. 

A third way that I like teaching adjectives is by making wordles.  The kids go around the room and write down an adjective to describe the other kids.  I then turn them into wordles and print in color.  They turn out super cute!

An aid was laughing at all my food to teach adjectives.  She said next year I should give them coke and then make soda cans.  Not a bad idea at all!






And finally to celebrate the Dr.  My pictures hung around my door drawn by a friend's husband!

Over Due Tag-answers....

Why anyone would want to read my sorry excuse for a blog is beyond me....But sweet Patricia from Primary Practice likes me enough to tag me for a little game.   I'm sorry I'm so late to play along.  I'm actually gonna skip #4 & 5 in the rules because I'm pretty sure everyone I know has already played.


Here are the rules:
1. Post the rules.
2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in her post, and then
create 12 new questions for the ones you tag.
4. Tag 12 people and link them in your post.
5. Let them know that they have been tagged.





12 fun facts about myself....
1.  My first four years of teaching I changed grade levels every year.
2.  I went to speech from k-5th grade.  I remember teachers would find my brother to interpret for me.
3.  I was pulled for title classes in Elementary school.  
4.  I love all things crafty.
5.  I use my cricut all the time.  I love cutting some vinyl.  
6.  As newly-weds my husband and I rented my childhood home.
7.  Now we've bought a house that I'm slowly decorating.
8.  Lots of vinyl in my house.  :)
9.  I love working in my church.  I pray for servant's heart.
10.  My husband and I led the kid's choir at church.
11. My husband recently became treasurer for our church.  I love it because it allows us to be more involved.
12.  My junior and senior year of college, I was in a cohort learning group.  We stayed in one classroom all day with the same teacher for a semester and the same classmates.  I loved it.  I'm still great friends with many of my classmates. 





Here are your questions:
1. Who inspired you to blog?
I'm not really sure.  I read sooo many blogs.  I've had a personal blog for several years now.

2. Do any of your colleagues follow your blog?
I know several read my blog.  I'm not sure if anyone, except for Carly, follows it officially.

3. How did you choose your blog name?
My personal blog is Keeping Up with the Joneses.  So it seemed fitting...and with my track level of changing grades I didn't want any title that contained second grade. 

4. What new skill do you want to learn?

5. What is your favorite resource for graphics?
Scrapping Doodles, DJ Inkers

6. What is your best blogging tip?
Blog more regularly than me. 

7. If you weren't a teacher, which profession would you choose?
When I'm stressed at school I always tell my kids that I should have been a doctor.  Truthfully, I'm not doctor material.  Maybe I'd be a secretary or receptionist. 

8. What is the best advice that you have ever been given?
Not sure....

9. What is your favorite comfort food?
Mashed potatoes!

10. What is your favorite way to relax?
Laying in bed with my laptop.

11. Real books or Kindle?
Real!

12. What's your favorite font?
I have over a thousand fonts on my computer...I'm pretty fond of cheri, digs my heart, all my dj inkers fonts, and a lot of times I like the simplicity of Comic Sans.




Thanks Patricia for inviting me to play along. :)

Absence makes the heart grow fonder....

Has it really been since November that I posted?  I came down from my blogging high with a hard crash.  To sum up everything I've left out in the past two months....

The highlight of December was presenting at the Title I Conference in Gatlinburg TN.  I'm still amazed at how God helped me during that.  You can read about it here....

January came with two snow days...not easy to come by in our county...a real treat I tell you.   Other highlights include a student teacher (I'll be posting soon what I created to welcome this teacher),  and being voted Teacher of the Year.  What a honor!

   I promise I'm still here, still kicking (hard), and still teaching!  My brain is starting to function again so expect some more post coming next week!

Until then here is a math mat I created to use with linking cubes when teaching subtraction with regrouping.  I printed mine double sided:

Place Value Mat