More classroom pics

Here are a few more updated pics of my classroom.

Student supply center

So Clutter-free (Thanks to The Clutter-Free Classroom!) 

I love my tree! 

Ignore the ugly dehumidifier...

New organized bookshelves!  

LOVE my SMARTboard! 

Update of the filing cabinet- now with labels! 

Back to School....

As always, I am sad to see summer go. However, after a day or two back in my classroom, the creative  juices start flowing quickly! You may or may not know, that elementary teachers are perfectionists, and I am no exception.  We often spend weeks throughout the summer, reorganizing, seeking better efficiency, brainstorming new ideas to help students succeed, investigate initiatives,  furthering our education, and try to decorate our classroom to make it a fun, stimulating learning environment for our students.  

Gone are the days of the lone blackboard.  Since I first started teaching, it has been the unspoken expectation that the walls should be used as much as possible to display not only student work, but should be used as an actual learning space. So we fill every square inch of it whenever possible. 

Normally, I am in and our for weeks preparing for the coming school year.  This year I got into my classroom much later than normal, due to my extremely busy summer and my room was one of the last to have the carpets cleaned. However, once I got in the door, my creative juices started flowing! 

Thanks to Pinterest, I got several projects done and I must say, I love the way my classroom is turning out this year!  Here are some of the projects I stayed in my room to create until the wee hours of the morning! Check it out... 

I was inspired by my friend Nancy, and I "refurbished" this filing cabinet by covering the drawers in material and using spray adhesive to anchor it to the edges and back of the drawer. (I didn't trust myself with spray paint and couldn't find any fun contact paper...) I think it turned out pretty well, and it beats the ugly brown eyesore!  I plan to attach labels on top of the material.  This worked better than trying to cut a hole for the label below.  It just didn't look "clean" enough for me.... 

I was on a roll... 

I got this idea from my friend, Marsha (Yet another teacher/Pinterest-addict).  I simply used borders to create a place directly on my whiteboard to write homework for students to copy into their planners and agendas everyday.  Thanks to my Smartboard, I find that I use my whiteboard very little anymore anyway... 

This is a cart that houses all of my board games and manipulatives.  It looked very cluttered, and I wanted to give it a clean, organized look.  I chose to "cover" the games with a curtain of material, anchored by Scotch heavy-duty double-sided tape and a border. It can easily be moved aside to allow student access. 

I also had these big ugly brown cabinets that are about twenty years old.  I got tired of looking at them and also wrapped them in material, adhering them with Elmer's spray adhesive.  Love it! 

Do not spray to close or you will get "wet" spots such as these... Spray evenly from a few inches away! 

I also had ugly brown sink doors.....  not anymore! 

I have very few places to display student work.  I have one bulletin board, which is already in use and my walls are concrete block so little to nothing sticks to them well.  After some thought, I decided to turn another section of my outdated whiteboard into a magnetic display board.  I did this by taping lightweight material to the board with clear packaging tape and then taped a border around the edge.  I plan to use magnets on clothespins to display student work on the board!  A creative use of resources! 

I have continued my camping theme for a second year in a row.  Thanks to a friend, I also rediscovered www.teacherspayteachers.com, where I found some awesome products from The Clutter Free Classroom, which is on the way.  I will post again soon with some of this awesome stuff and more pictures of ideas for the classroom soon! 

Packing for Italy 101

Before I begin, many people have asked how we were able to pack for Italy using just two carry-on's. To see the bags we used look at this previous post and scroll down for a pic. The bags were convertibles- they were about the maximum length and width of an airplane carry-on, but they had straps that can be pulled out that transform it into a backpack.  These were incredibly handy!  We didn't have to worry about paying for baggage or lost luggage. In addition, it made it much easier to travel from city to city by train.  I was so glad I did this when I saw tourists struggling with large baggage on wheels, trying (unsuccessfully) to pull bags over cobblestones and between the masses of people.  In fact, I actually found this pretty annoying to even navigate around.  


Here is a link to the bags we bought on Amazon: Click here for the best travel bag ever. 


Here is a list of what I packed that came in handy: 

• 4 skirts
• 2 pairs capris 
• 1 pair shorts
• 1 swimsuit
• 1 pair hiking sandals by Merrell 
• 1 pair flip flops
• 1 pair of athletic shoes (I wore these onto the plane.) 
• 1 lightweight scarf  (I rolled it up and kept in my purse at all times.  Most churches require your shoulders to be covered and this will work.) 
• 14 pairs undergarments
• 2 pairs socks
• 5 tank tops
• 2 short-sleeve shirts
• 1 long-sleeve lightweight cover-up (I never once wore this in July- even at night) 
• We each carried 1 quart-sized bag with travel-sized toiletries such as 
• shampoo
• conditioner
• soap
• sunscreen (We ended up buying  larger bottle when we got there, because we used mass amounts everyday.) 
• toothpaste
• mascara
• travel-size Tide stick
• anti-bacterial gel
• 1 quart-sized bag of dry toiletries
• toothbrush (We bought cheap ones and threw them away when done.)
• Pain reliever
• Immodium, etc.
• Allergy medication
• Bandaids (I used 5-6 per day for the blisters on my feet from my already-broken-in sandals.)
• Tweezers
• Small nail clippers
• Cotton balls and Q-tips
• Dry makeup
• Hair clips and bands
• Cheap disposable razor that can be thrown away
• Deodorant
• We each carried 1outlet adaptor
• 2 travel packs of baby wipes (Used them all- to clean hands after touching monuments or before eating, to clean gum off my backpack at the airport.) 
• 2 travel packs of tissues (Used them all.) 
• Money belt or secure day bag (A money belt is recommended over a traditional wallet or purse, but we never ended up using it.  Just too hot!  But this cross-body bag from Amazon came in incredibly helpful with carrying items around, it was safe and secure.) 
• Updated Passports
• Licenses
• 2 credit cards and 1 bank card
• €1,000 in cash (This worked out well- used all but 20 and used our credit card to supplement whenever possible.) 
• International Driver's Permit if you plan to drive.  These are now required by law in Italy and be purchases at any AAA, even if you are not a member. 
• Copies of licenses, passports, credit cards  (We left our passports and ID's in the hotel safes at all times and simply carried around copies in case we were pick-pocketed or something was lost.  This worked out well.) We also left copies with loved ones at home, just in case. 
• Swiss army knife (Definitely bring one with a corkscrew if you can.  If carrying on, buy one when you get there.  It will come in handy.) 
• Tiny flashlight or put a flashlight app on your phone as we did.  This came in very handy to read maps at night! 
• We each carried 1 iphone/phone charger (For international travel, make sure to turn OFF your cellular data and put it in airplane mode to avoid crazy expensive roaming charges.  Use wifi when possible to get online.)  I also downloaded the Dropbox app and made all our important travel documents available offline in the app. 
• 4 paperback travel books including Rick Steve's "Italy" 
• 1 collapsible acorrdian file with a tab for each location with all of our important papers such as hotel reservations, car rental info, flight information, important numbers, travel insurance info, or anything else on paper that we needed. 

What we brought and didn't end up needing: 

• Umbrella 
• Travel-sized curling iron.  (Yeah right- see below.) 
• Travel-sized hair-dryer  (Seriously- it was way too HOT to even think about drying my hair,  Plus I would just walk outside and sweat anyway.  Honestly, my hair went up everyday no matter what.  It wasn't fashionable, but necessary. Most of our hotels had hairdryers on the wall anyway.) 

We ended up buying these things: 

• Immodium
• Medicated powder
• More sunscreen
• Multi-tool with knife and corckscrew (We had to get rid of it before boarding, however.)