A Place for EVERYTHING???...Uh Will My Classroom EVER Be FINISHED?!?!?!?

Hey everyone!
OK...I feel the need to express a tiny amount of frustration with my classroom and classroom supplies with you. Here is the issue people...I have been in my classroom for the last 3 days  trying to put my  life  classroom back together after the summer break. Apparently, I had amnesia of how long it was going to take to finish decorating and organizing my room. Right about now....I'm feeling EXHAUSTED and OVERWHELMED! Not to mention I have to sit in a 6 hour PD tomorrow which means no classroom time for me.

I know what you're thinking? "That's how ALL teachers are feeling at this time!" Yes, that is true, however, this time I'm officially on organizing overload! You see, this isn't a normal "class set up" year for me...A few nights ago I was getting one of my personal professional development fixes through blog hopping and pinterest-ing. And I ran across this pinned picture:

Well that pin lead me to an article that led me to write this post. I was magically inspired compelled  to become more organized this year (both at home and at work) after reading an article entitled "7 Habits of Highly Organized People". (Of course I have posted the link to the article HERE, because I would just hate for YOU not to be magically inspired compelled to get organized too!)

To make a long story short (and in an effort not to lose one of my AWESOME 19 followers because of a ridiculously long post) I have been going crazy organizing things and spending lots of money investing in living an organized life for myself and for my students. The part that jumped out at my in the article was having a "place for everything". Arguably, the hardest part of my organizing endeavors...You mean to tell me that I have to get rid of my ever-loving "junk drawer" or "teacher piles" of paperwork?...You mean I can't have a stack of "one day this will be useful" or "I will use that item in a lesson"? All of that was taking sooo much longer than I thought and for a minute I had to ask myself if all of this extra organizing, labeling, color coding, bins/tubs buying will all be worth it...And the answer to myself was YES! It will definitely be worth it!During the year,  I will be less stressed (which will make EVERYONE happier)...and if nothing else, my students may even learn something about being organized as well!

As mentioned earlier...my classroom is not done yet, but here are a few class pics to show you where the mayhem began last week...Can't wait to show you my finished and MORE ORGANIZED classroom in a few days!

P.S. I LOOOOVE the color of this fabric but it has been my worse nightmare trying to staple it to the walls. I tried to be wise cheap with my spending and the fabric that I bought already has a few holes from all the pulling and stapling I was doing (that will quickly be covered with Anchor Charts)..In this pic, I was trying to do a little design with the fabric to cover the holes (it didn't work) I will be sure and show you this wall in my classroom reveal pics later...

 

That's all for now...

God Bless you all!

Have a wonderful rest of the week!!!

 

-Miss Milton

Back to School Jitters!

Hey everyone! As you all know by now...I LOOOOVE THESE LINKY PARTIES! They are a great way to hear about how other teachers are feeling and how they do "teaching"! (For lack of a better sentence!)

Well here is a Linky from A Turn to Learn, and it's all about "Back to School Jitters"...So read on and then hop on over to A Turn to Learn and join the fun!

Monday Made It (But...Tuesday Posted It!) & TPT Sale Rave!!!!

Hey all...Just realized it's been too long since I last told you all about my endeavors as I close out this summer. I am slightly jealous of everyone's fascinating pictures of their classrooms. I can't wait to get in to my room and GET TO WORK!!! I decided on a cute theme inspired by some new signs I bought from Teaching In Flip Flops last night at the TPT sale!

Let's pause for a moment and reflect on the past two days of shopping heaven!!! God bless TPT for their sale and God bless all the wonderful teachers for posting all the great stuff (and even offering additional sales!) So after about an hour of TPT searching I decided on ...

Practically EVERYTHING  that was in that darn cute Zebra print from Teaching In Flip Flops and I also bought a cool Sports Themed Setting Goals Packet from Teaching in Room 6... and a Greek and Latin Root Word Wall set from Forkin4th ....I also bought a few other things too!


Now on to Monday Made It! (But Tuesday I posted It!)

I didn't make too many crafty things this week because everything was done on the computer but here is what I did attempt to be crafty with....

I saw this idea on Pinterest a while ago and put it on my summer to do list...(Disclaimer: In my mind, I attempted to make 6 of these so that I could have a class set for student mail boxes...However, after making one of these I had second thoughts) ...Sooo I'm not sure what this will be when I get done with it! Maybe a paper shelf of some sort! Any suggestions!

Directions: Head over to your local Post Office and grab a desired number of packaging boxes, build the boxes, spray spray spray that adhesive, and cover with wrapping paper...and taa daaa!!!! Your very own shelving unit of some sort!

Then I went over to my trusty TPT site and found this awesome list of 101 Writing Prompts from Katie! (After the usual process of printing and laminating...looks like I have a date with a pair of scissors!)

Well...That's all I have for you today friends!

Have a wonderful week!

Charell

Monday Made It

So me and my hot glue gun, my new EK Success Circle Scissors Pro (love this thingy), and all of my other DIY supplies had a pretty nice weekend creating a few classroom necessities for the upcoming school year. I can't get in to my classroom until next week so unfortunately I am collecting a pretty hefty pile of "All Things School Related" in my living room corner!

Thanks again to 4th Grade Frolics for hosting the "Monday Made It" Linky Party...I always look forward to getting ideas for new projects for both home and school. (Who knew I would like being crafty...And it's so much cheaper than buying things ready-made things at all of the big school supply stores!
First, let me show you a few pics of this weekend's "weapons of mass PRODUCTION!"

The Monday Made-It Projects' must-haves:

1. Circle Cutter (link mentioned earlier in this post)
2. Cutting board (My little Apple is from Target)
3. Regular scissors from Dollar Tree
4. Glue Gun (I bought mine from Target but I just saw them at a 99 Cents Only store)
5. Popsicle sticks
6. Clothes pins
7. Thumb tacks
8. Picture frames
9. Lots of colored ink for the printer
   
   

Put it all together and vio' la! (How do you spell that?!?!)
So here are my Pinterest inspired Monday Made Its:

These little guys will hold my student work...The thumb tacks are so they can be pushed into the Bungalow walls in my classroom....This idea is inspired from a Monday Made it I saw on Emily's blog at I Love My Classroom...Check out her cool classroom reveal pics too!

These are student numbers that will be used for students to clip their number to a certain place in my room for when they need things like a Writing Conference...Not sure where yet because I haven't seen my new room yet :( The numbers are a duplicate of the same set I wrote about in my Last Monday Made it

And last but not least...Here are a few of the Positive Affirmation picture frames that will be  propped up and/or hung from various areas of the room this year! My goal is to make my room as positive, loving, and family oriented as I can. (Currently singing "Where is the Love" by John Mayor) The frames were from Dollar Tree and the signs came from a blog that I saw like 4 months ago, the posters were free from someone's TPT account I believe...Unfortunately this was before I began blogging and I knew I would only use them in the classroom so I didn't get the source...If anyone knows who's signs these are please let me know and I will cite them (Soooo sorry I don't have the source guys!!)

Well that's all I have for today! Thanks for reading.....Happy Monday everyone,

Charell

August Currently

As of today, I have 2 weeks of summer vacation yearly planning time and blog stalking, while watching movies in my PJs left (A moment of silence for all of you teachers who are going back earlier or have dare I say it...Already started school!...Thanks to Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade who started this monthly currently linky (idk when)...It's really interesting to read other posts about what everyone is doing in the time prior to / or at the beginning of the school year. So here is my August Currently

Happy Blogging,

Charell

Newbie Bloggers Blog Hop!

I've officially been a blogger for almost a week and I don't feel like I have properly introduced myself to the Blogger community...So...in true teacher blog fashion, I thought it only befitting to introduce myself through the Newbie Blogger Blog Hop from Janis over at Grade Three is the Place for Me


Janis would like all "Newbie Bloggers" to include:
1. What state you are in

2. Your current teaching position

3. Your teaching experience

4. When you started blogging

5. Share a blogging tip / blogging resource

Sooooo with horns sounding, announcer says, "Introducing.....(drums beating)...Miss Milton!!"

Ok too much?!?!...Just disregard that last sentence

1. I'm in California
2. I am a 4th grade teacher (My first year at this level so any and all suggestions/tips are welcomed)
3. This is my 3rd year teaching and for the past two years I've taught 5th and 6th grade combo classes
4. I started blogging almost a week ago....(Ok so the truth is I started a "blog" about my life as a college student years ago but soon realized that after typing 15-20 page papers, blogging on a computer was the ;ast thing on my mind...I wonder if it still exists in the Blogosphere)
5. Blogging Tips?!?! Uh...in the past week I have learned that no one reads your posts if they don't know your blog exists. (Profound I know)...What I'm saying is, the more you comment on other blogs and get involved in the community, the more others will gravitate towards you...Isn't that the way life works..."You get out of it what you put in it" -Author unknown

That's all for this post

Happy Blogging!

P.S. Does anyone know how to create a signature with cute letters and clip art...The end of my posts are looking kind of bare.

Made It...uhh...Thursday! Linky Party

Hey "Blogosphere" (Not sure which blog I saw that term but I like it!)

OK so I know today is not Monday but I just have to share two tools that I FINALLY got around to making for my classroom. They have been on my to do list for ages. I've seen these three strategies on numerous blogs, so my class and I just couldn't be left out.

So here they are ladies and gents...My Monday (Thursday Night) Made It!

First up...we have these Classroom Numbers printable from A Cupcake for the Teacher....This is soooo awesome because she kindly offers these numbers and a few other great items for FREEEE! (a teacher's favorite word!)

And next...we have the Brain Breaks for the Classroom from Stephanie over at 3rd Grade Thoughts....Both of these were really easy to make just print, laminate, cut, and hot glue to the Popsicle sticks!

P.S. Thanks to Michael's Art Supply for offering the lavish buckets/tin flower pots for a whopping $1.99

And last but certainly not least, we have these Clock Numbers (to be taped around my classroom clock) It really helps students remember how to tell time! Unfortunately I can't remember which blogger's TPT store I visited to get this great FREE download! (All I remember is that the file included the clock numbers as well as letters for a Boggle game....If anyone knows the information for this teacher please let me know so I can give the proper credit!

I'm slowly getting the hang of blogging...(secretly hoping that the more I blog the more people will follow me :) Does anyone else wonder if people are reading their blogs?

That's all for now peeps
Happy Blogging,

Miss Milton