First week of School and Monday Made it!

I have been completey MIA as I have been preparing for and survivning the first week of school! I have a wonderful group of students and I am so excited about this school year! I have so much to share I dont really know where to begin!

 I do want to say Happy Late Birthday to Amanda at Teaching Maddeness! She has been so encouraging since I started blogging and last year when I was developing a theme I used several ideas from her former classroom theme!  She has so many wonderful ideas so please check out her blog!

 

  For Open House I put up a photo booth ( that I purchased from wal-mart in the party section) outside my classroom for parents to take picture at their leisure! It has also served a great back drop for First Day of First Gade Pictures and the students loved the props for silly pics!

I gave the students smarties as a little gift for open house and put together a goody bag for the first day of school! Both bag toppers came from Cara Carroll's Saved by the Bell Packet from Teacher Pay Teachers.

 

We read There was an Oldy Lady Who Swallowed Some Books and completed a mini unit from First Grade Wow!  Click the picture below for this great back to school unit!

 

We also read Have you Filled a Bucket Today and each student has a popcorn box to respresent their bucket.  Students can leave positive notes to one another through out the year!

 

I reinforned school rules by reading David Goes to School and discussed Peacemaker and Peacebreakers from Cara Carrols First Grade Parade Peace Makers lesson.  The students created their own David and wrote a rule they learned on speech bubbles and this was a huge hit! I will have to post a pick of their finished work later!

And the Winnder is.....

Congradulations to Andi from Mommy, Teacher, and So Much More for winning my 30 Followers Giveaway! If she didnt buy everything she wanted at the TPT sale, now she can splurge a little more!  Go and check out her blog!  She not only shares about her classroom but all the many she hats she wears as a mother, friend, daughter, and girlfriend!  My hat is off to her with all that she juggles!  Thank you to everyone who entered!  I already have planned what I will give away when I reach fifty followers and I only need nine more!  I didnt make it for Monday Made it because I was so busy getting ready for school I didnt stop to take pictures but maybe I can link up next week! I would like to share a postcard I purchased on Etsy!  For the last year I have used different designers on etsy for showers invitations and when I couldnt find a postcard on TPT I decided to look on etsy and found Stacey at Small Moments Design!

She has several pre-made designes for note cards and postcards for the classroom but she didnt have a Hollywood Theme postcard.  I opted for a custom design and I couldnt be more pleased!  She made exactly what I was looking for and had a fast turn around from start to finish even though she lives across the world!  Thank you to Stacey for my new postcard that I was able to send to all my little stars!

I printed a personalized message on labels to place on the back before sending in the mail!  When I went to get stamps, I had the option to pick a design and I chose a cartoon of a mail man holding out a piece of mail which was a fun detail to add!  Well I am off to finish getting ready for open house and I will post pictures this weekend!  Have a wonderful night and good luck to all who are getting ready for the first day and to those who are surviving the first few weeks of school!

An Unwanted Visitor and A Giveaway!!!!!!!!!!!!

This afternoon I was running errands before going to my school to work for a few hours and attend our New  Parent Orientation night when I received a voice mail from our school secretary that was really BIZARRE! She asked if she needed to call animal control and I just new she had the wrong number but I was soooo wrong! I called back to find out that she had received a message that there was a SNAKE in my classroom!  To say I started freaking out is an understatement! My bestie who teaches across the hall had tried to get a hold of me but was unable to reach me so she sent out a message to everyone with this picture and the title, Mrs. Livers' has a visitor! I called her ASAP and was hoping that this was all a joke and not only was it not a joke but she and two other teachers had mustered up enough courage to take care of the snake for me!  I believe more than ever in divine intervention because if I had found the snake on my own it would have taken me until Christmas to step foot back in my room alone!!!!  I owe all three of these ladies a big favor or two! Needless to say the afternoon was not productive at all!  After orientation a few of us when out for dinner and had a few laughs about the whole thing!  

Monday Made it with a Little Tape and Spray Paint!

After reading all of the fabulous project linked with Monday made it, I had to join! All of my projects have been completed with spray paint and decorative tape! My classroom theme is Hollywood but I have incorporated a little chevron!  I have found chevron packing tape at Target first and then bought one roll of Chevron Duct Tape at Mardel's teacher sale! I wanted to buy more of the chevron duct tape but before I made it back to Mardel I found the same pattern at our local Habitat for Humanity Store for half the price and I went a little crazy!

My first project that started a domino effect was a red shelf that went from being used for a storage to a mailbox system for students' take home folders.  I didn't take a before picture but the edges had soooo many paint chips and I didn't have the time to sand and paint it so instead I lined the edges with the red and white packing time and wallah!

My next project was transforming a purple shelf to lime green lined with chevron only using spray paint and duct tape! The shelf will be used for my inside recess and free play centers for Fun Fridays!

After this I was on a roll and continued to transform my white extra supply bins into red with chevron using spray paint that is specific to plastic and packing tape! 

 Probably every shelf will be edged with chevron before school begins!!  I have also used the packing tape to hang posters which is functional with flair!

My last two Monday Made It projects I owe all to my mom!  She purchased chevron grey and off white material from Hobby Lobby and made curtains for my classroom! (and another set for my house) I called her one afternoon and mentioned the idea and they were finished the next day!! The stars I purchased at Party City!  I 

Before I met Mr. Livers, I had been a bridesmaid many many times and I have every dress saved! My mom took about half of the dresses and made them shorter in order to create a bin of dress up clothes that will be great for inside recess and fairy tale units! There are so many memories in the bin of old dressed!

OK so I have reached over 25 followers but I cannot decide on my first giveaway!!!!!! So I am going to extent it to when I reach 30 followers and make it extra special!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Monday as you all are preparing for the first day of school!! 14 days and counting:)

Resolutions, Link Party, and a Shout out!

On Friday class list were posted and I was just as excited as the students!!!! I have a wonderful group of students and I am really looking forward to the first day of school!! Only 15 days away!!! I have a few projects to post tomorrow for Monday Made It!  Amanda from Teaching Maddeness gave me a shout out and it made my week! She has been so encouraging and its so fun to make blogging friends!  I'm a little late but I am joining her New {School} Year Resolution Linky Party!!

Resolution #1: Spend time with Co-workers!!!  I have the opportunity to work with a great group of teachers not only in First grade but through out the building!  We get so busy throughout the school year that many times we don't take time to even speak when passing through the hall!  My goals is to take time out of the busy day to check in with teachers outside of the first grade hall and to spend time outside of school!! A few of us are planning Teachers night out once a month for whoever is available!!

Resolution #2: Stay organized!! I have worked really hard to organize my classroom and now the work begins of staying organized!   One way is to clean off my desk every afternoon and spend more time on preparation instead of procrastination!

Resolution #3: Taking pictures and making a memory album! In order to reach this goal I need to delegate to home room moms to take pictures for special projects and field trips! I want to make a memory album at the end of the year for parents to purchase through shutterfly! (I wish I was rich enough to buy one for each student!)

Resolution #4: In God we trust but for everyone else we must take data!!  This is a quote that I love and plan to post on my binder for student assessment!  Maintaining organization with students assessments is an art that I am still perfecting!

There are several great linky parties going around and this is a great one so link up if you have resolutions for this school year!!

I am brainstorming on my first giveaway once I reach 25 followers and I only need one more!!!!

Looking forward to posting tomorrow for Monday Made it after completing my fist day of CGI year 2!! Are there any other bloggers who are going through the CGI program??