Coffee Table Makeover

Today is the first day of school for us.I was able to finish one of my favorite projects last week just in time for school to start.

I had this old square coffee table that I painted for my room last year. By the end of the year, it needed to be refreshed. My husband had the wonderful idea of covering it with a white bord from Home Depot. Here is what it looked like at the end of last school year:

Home Depot cut a sheet of white board into a 45 inch square. I attached it with Power Grab glue and put white duct tape around the edges of the table. Here it is now:

I let the children write their names on the table at Meet the Teacher night.

One of the best parts about this project was that the white board sheet was $14 and I have a large enough piece left that I can recover the table next year if it gets messed up for some reason.

Now, I'm off for a busy first week of school. 

5 for Friday

This was my last week off for the Summer. I go back on Monday. The students come back on Monday, August 24th.

I went to IKEA for the first time ever on Tuesday. I love that place! Too bad it is 1 1/2 hours from my house. I did get a few things for my classroom and some things for my house. I got a white shelf and black bins to store Math Center supplies and some small plastic containers for cards.

I spent time each day in the pool. It was so relaxing!

I mostly finished my classroom on Sunday so I could just relax these last few days off.

I got the new Dr. Seuss book in the mail. I love Dr. Seuss! I have my first grandchild coming in the Spring. I have already started collecting Dr. Seuss board books for him/her (we will know which gender in a few weeks).

I bought some new clip art from Etsy. I love all the clip art at Jessica Sawyer Designs. 

I don't know her personally, but I have several of her clip art sets. She is having a Back to School Sale until the 15th- 80% off! If you are interested, you can click here to see her store.

Classroom Reveal 2015

I finally have my room done! Yeah! There are still a lot of little things I want/need to do, but I feel like my room looks done enough for Meet the Teacher which comes on our first day back. After Meet the Teacher, I plan to get some of the small things done.

I switched rooms (and grade levels this year). So, I wanted to change things up a little bit, but be able to use some of the things I bought a couple years ago when I went with a turquoise and lime green theme.

I found this set by Schoolgirl Style.

 I love the colors! And my turquoise and lime green bins fit right in. I added some navy blue and chevron print to what I already had.

Here are some pictures:

The bulletin board on the left is where I will hang student work and put the Math skills we are working on. Our rules are on the top of the bookshelf. The math manipulatives are on the shelves. There were still boxes to be taken out on the floor in front of the bookshelf when I took this picture. 

Under the clock, I have 2 small pocket charts for my Math Center rotations. Under those pocket charts are my books.

This is the Calendar area. The wire shelves to the right will be cubbies for the students' backpacks. I plan to hang anchor charts on the back of the wire, which will help to hide the cubbies.

This is the board at the front of the room. The Book Baskets are on the shelf under the board. 

The Word Wall is on the bulletin board above the green shelves. On the right is the Science bulletin board (on the front of the cabinets). The short table is one of the Center areas. There are pillows under the table for the students to use. 

This is my tiny Social Studies bulletin board. This round table will be used for Centers. The easel on the left will be for our "Daily Data" questions. 

Here is a view from the back of the room.

This table will be used as another Center area.

These cabinets hold a lot of my teaching supplies. Students will turn in their work in the basket on the counter under the green arrow.My Teacher Manuals are behind the striped cloth.Our Class Schedule will go in the black pocket chart. 

5 for Friday

I got my Math Journals together and labeled. I taped ribbon in them this year for a bookmark. Maybe this will help the kids be able to find their page easier.

I updated my Teacher Toolbox with a freebie from Miss Sammi on Teachers Pay Teachers.

I put over 300 lollipops on this for my classroom. It came out larger than I thought, but it will last for a while.

I went up to my room this week to try and get it mostly ready since I switched rooms this summer. I still have next week off (mostly, one day of training). Here is a picture of my room.

I added vinyl words "Today is..." to my white board. I'm going to write (or have the kids write) the date under the words. I got the words from Etsy.

Monday Made It

I am excited to link up with 4th Grade Frolics again for "Monday Made It".

I hung these in my class computer area. The sign that says "computers" is a recycled wood picture. The larger piece is a 10"x14" canvas. The 2 smaller pieces are cardboard shapes I got from Hobby Lobby. I painted all of them with chalkboard paint. I glued on labels from Schoolgirl Style and added 2 tissue paper flowers, ribbon and clothespins. I am going to hang the daily computer schedules on the signs.

The picture is from Schoolgirl Style. I mod podged it onto a canvas that I painted turquoise. I hung this on a cabinet in my class.

I found this "friends" cardboard sign at Hobby Lobby. I painted it turquoise and hung it above the sink area in my class. I painted a canvas and glued clothespins on it. I plan to hang pictures of the children in the class on the canvas throughout the year.

I made the "Class Jobs" sign by gluing a cardstock paper onto a cardboard shape i got from Hobby Lobby.

I am going to use these drawers to help organize my Guided Math groups. I found 3-drawer bins that are larger than the others I have. They hold scrapbook paper so they are about 12" x 12". I think the larger size will be better since I like to keep manipulatives and other materials together with papers I need for each group.

Since I will teach Math to 2 different blocks of students, I got two bins (one for each group). They can stack together.

5 for Friday

I am still busy making things and organizing my new classroom. This week, I made a "No Names" holder for papers that don't have names on them. The white board is actually the front plate of a drawer that we pulled out when we remodeled. The "No" and "Names" labels are printed from a Schoolgirl Style set. I used 1 inch blue ribbon around the edges and I got the blue chevron clothespins from Walmart.

This is a small metal table that I have had forever. It was done in shades of brown and orange. I spray painted it an aqua color and I am going to see if I have a spot I can use it in my classroom.

I went up to my classroom this week to work on labeling things. I organized my books and got the labels on the bins. I have most of the Math manipulatives labeled also.

As I organize my classroom, I have been making labels to go along with my manipulatives. I finished them this week and posted them on Teachers Pay Teachers. I made them in four different chevron colors: turquoise, lime green, blue and gray.

Turquoise Chevron here

Lime Green Chevron here

Gray Chevron here

Blue Chevron here

I have also been researching my family's geneology since my mother died in 2013. She had started the research in the year before she died and I want to finish it for her and our family. This week, I finished making notebooks for one of the lines. I put the line of ancestors in the front and some information about each person. It has been very interesting.