Classroom Tour

I have managed to make it through my first 7 days of school!  Woohoo!  My group this year is SO sweet and I love them already.  I have a lot of REALLY high kids, so I'm already learning a lot this year myself!  I'm really loving this challenge and excited to see what I can do with them.

So on with the classroom tour, because I know how much teachers love looking at other teachers' classrooms!  ;)  I'm linking up with Blog Lovin' for their Classroom Tour day.  Perfect timing!  :)

Ever since I started teaching 8 years ago, I've had the same classroom theme: brights and black.  It's one of my favorites and I just love, love, love it, but this year I needed something different to look at. I was inspired by a piece of fabric from Hobby Lobby, which became my door curtain.

It reminded me of something Caribbean-ish or Mediterranean-ish.  SO calming and soothing!  I found everything turquoise and light-lime/mint-green that I could.  Can I just say I love sitting in my room and just staring at it?  :)  I'm just going to list all these pictures right in a row and at the bottom I'll try and list where I got everything.  Oh, and we are allowed to paint our rooms, so I used Valspar Limonata on the wall with the window.  :)

Fabric for boards, window swag, and door curtain: Hobby Lobby

Little mini pails (striped and mint ones): Target Dollar Spot

Turquoise paper bins (on top of crayon drawers and on top of the file cabinet next to the door): Target Dollar Spot

Gray mini desk caddy: Target Dollar Spot

Mint green small plastic baskets: Target Dollar Spot

Turquoise chalkboard/bulletin board: Target Dollar Spot

Turquoise scissors, hole punch, and tape dispenser: Target

Turquoise mini 3-drawers (next to the Keurig): Target

Turquoise bins on white shelves on either side of the window: Meijer

Turquoise basket with striped lining: Micheal's

Chalkboard pennant banner (on word wall): Target Dollar Spot

White book bins: Target and Walmart

Turquoise and Lime pennant banners (above boards): Target in the party section

"Focus Wall" and "Data" board titles: Silver plates from Target in the party section and letters were from the Target Dollar Spot

Black calendar pocket chart: Amazon (made my Scholastic)

Lights over sink: Target

Turquoise tablecloth: Target in the party section

Gray couch slipcover: Wayfair

Black and white damask contact paper on file cabinets: TJ Maxx

Turquoise desk and rocking chair: I inherited the rocking chair and the desk is from Target.  I painted both of them with a paint that I blogged about below.  Check out the post right before this one!  :)

I hope you enjoyed my little tour!  :)  I hope your school year is starting off well!

Posters, Crate Seats, Window Valance, and Room Preview!

Oh. My. Word.  Seriously.

I have been trying to put my room together and I'm just a mess.  It's mostly done, now it's all the teeny tiny little details that nobody really even sees.  You understand, right?  It's those things that drive me NUTS.

Anyways, I plan to go back and link up with the Applicious Teacher and write posts for all the weekly link-ups I've missed.  But for now, this post is a hodge-podge of everything.

First of all, I received a sweet message from a fellow blogger/TPTer/teacher who is using my reading comprehension posters.  I just use them on my focus board, but check out what she did with them!

Stacey used file folders and glued a poster on the inside of each one.  She's going to put a correlating activity in the folder to use for practice and reinforcement!  What a great idea!  Here's the link to her blog post about it to get more info:  http://teachingeverafter.blogspot.com/2013/07/reading-strategies-and-comprehension.html

If you're interested in the posters, I have them for sale in my TPT shop.  My Reading Comprehension Posters, Reading Strategy Posters, and Grammar Posters are my best sellers!

Ok, we've all seen the cute and adorable crate seats all over blogs and Pinterest.  I decided they'd be cute and functional in my classroom at my reading table.  I love the extra storage they provide!  And they're a great height, too.  I got the directions from Ginger Snaps.

I bought the crates for $3-something at Big Lots.  I bought a foam twin mattress from Meijer for $7.99. It was enough double up the padding for 6 seats.  I bought plywood from Lowe's for $16-something and had a ton left over.  I didn't have a staple gun, so I bought one at Lowe's for around $20.  The fabric was around $8 from Hobby Lobby.  I bought a spool of ribbon from Hobby Lobby for $1.50.

I'm in love with them!  Such a cute, functional, and easy project.  Lowe's cut the plywood for me to size, so it really took no time at all.

So I have to tell you about my UGLY window shade.  It's a very old yellow color.  I can't take it.  I had to leave it up, so I decided to cover it up!

Here's how I did it:

I bought 5 yards of fabric from Hobby Lobby.  I trimmed off the white edge that was on one of the sides.  Then I spaced out ribbon every 18 inches.

I cut a slit towards the top and fed the ribbon through.

There is a metal rod that is already on my ceiling for some reason.  I fed the ribbon over top of it and pulled it around.  I tied a double-knot on each piece of ribbon and voila!  A no-sew window valance!  How easy is that?!?!

Ok, now here's a quick preview of my new classroom!  I will post pics of the final product sometime this week.  But for now, here's a glimpse into the ever-popular theme of CHEVRON!

Beanbag:  Meijer - $25

FREE Chevron Behavior Chart from A Cupcake for the Teacher:

Mini-bulletin board from Hobby Lobby: $14.99

Pen/Pencil cup from Target: $1 in the Dollar Bins:

Bucket Filler Posters from Blair Turner:

Lamp from Meijer: I honestly can't remember if it was $15 or $25?

Chevron Rug from Big Lots that I bought last year:  I think $25?

Calendar Headers from part of my Bright Chevron Decor Pack:

FREE Daily 5 Posters from Ginger Snaps:

Small tin pail from Walmart: $2.50