Sliding Out of Town and Into a New Decade

This year my birthday is a little different than usual.  I am out of town.  I don't think this has ever happened to me in my 39 years.   39....nine....nine....nine {it echos and haunts me in my brain when I say it}

I was asked to go with the district curriculum team to a conference for the next 4 days.  It's the week before school is out for us. 9 days to be exact.  I am leaving my students for 4 of the nine days.  My desk is filled with activities for the kids.  I know they will be just *fine* because they are a very nice group and I have the best sub ever.

*fine with a pinch of tom foolery and a dash of tattle talery*

 It's just hard to believe I am not going to see them until Friday!  I return on field day Friday.  Can you picture it?  Are the emotions running through you like they are for me? 

 {last year's slip and slide on field day} 

To celebrate my long distance birthday, I am throwing a 24 hour birthday sale extravaganza....ganza...ganza.....{that was the echo}

Just click the picture above to head to my store.  My entire store is 20% off.  I would have set it at 39%....nine....nine....nine..... but it's just too haunting!

Win a CUTE T-Shirt!!!

I am totally excited to team up with the Freebielicious girls and A+ Teacher Images! Doug, from A+ Images made us the cutest custom designed t-shirts  and now we each get to give a t-shirt of choice away to one winner from each of our blogs!! 

I wore this with some white pants to school on Wednesday and got stopped in the hall all day long!  Teacher friends said they LOVED IT!!!  The bling is so cute! 

Now, you can win a free t-shirt of your choice! 

We have made this giveaway super easy for you and you have LOTS of chances to win!! It is a blog hop, so you can enter as many or as few giveaways as you would like!  The contest begins RIGHT NOW... Saturday, May 18th, at 8:00 a.m. EST and ends on Sunday, May 19th, at 12:00 a.m. EST.  Winners will be announced on the following Monday. You can start by entering my giveaway here: 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now head to my bud Michelle at Apples and ABCs!
 

Five for Friday!

Five for Friday!!!!

#1  It's Friday---Holla!
(I shared last week that my principal always says this on morning announcements-  This week I have proof!)


#2  Puppy Palooza saved my sanity this week! My first graders and their adopted puppies worked their tails off during daily five.  I read how Rocket Learned to Read, let each student choose a puppy for the week, and watched the engagement level skyrocket during daily 5!!!

#3  To culminate the week, I tested those puppies after school to see if they had truly learned to read.  The students were so nervous on Thursday.  They kept letting me know how hard their puppy had worked all week and that they really hoped it would do well on it's big reading test...
 Every puppy passed their reading tests!!  (it's a good thing those puppies can keep a secret)
We had a little moment in class to honor the first grader teachers and their hard working puppies!
I used Swersty's Blank Puppy Awards!

#4  One of my first graders came to school with the sweetest letter and gift yesterday.

Mounds of Thanks for all you Dew!  Caffeine, chocolate, and jewelry!  Wow!  I may have ripped into the chocolate before hugging the child, but I think I managed to thank her first.  :)

#5  Home Sweet Home!!!!
It has been a week of 12 hour days  (My daughter had dance practices till 6pm every night this week out where she goes to school-40 minutes from our home)
 Then last night we didn't get home until 9:30pm.  (Big dance finale)

This girl is heading to bed!  Happy Weekend!

Classroom Details! {the nitty gritty}

I have had a lot of classroom decor questions as of late so I decided to answer as many as I can in this post.  I am going to take you through the areas that I get asked about and provide links to where things all came from.

My Meeting Place

Rug - Garden Ridge

Rocker- my granny

Alphabet and word wall letters- Katie King

Fabric for Ottoman and Rocker Pillow- Hobby Lobby 

Meeting place from the back of the room

 From door

 small group area and classroom library

Pillows- recovered thrift store pillows with fabric from hobby lobby

Curtains fabric from hobby lobby

lamps- thrift stores

Big book holder- target garden section spray painted white

Black chairs and ottomons- Garden Ridge 

 computer area

computer backgrounds my TpT Store {free}

number line- teacher store

numbers with ten frames- Katie King

 computer area again

 

quiet phones 

(broken headphones that block out extra noise for those who need it)

     

                      Teacher computer area           

    ottoman recovered with hobby lobby fabric

black hutch from garden ridge

little lamp thrift store

   teacher/small group area

Tall shelves wal-mart

odds and ends for decorating from hobby lobby or big lots

 Closer view of the library 

Black chairs and ottomans Garden Ridge

Buckets for pillows- big lots

shelving walmart

tiered shelves- not mine belong to school

 

library labels in my store

 I had planned to frame some corkboard myself and paint it black. 

 I found this framed corkboard at hobby lobby in the 50% off section!

It was cheaper to get it than make it myself!

 

The numbers used to make these posters were found here 
To grab yourself the odd and even chart click here

 Back of the room from the door

  View from my teacher table at the back counter

Big blue tubs from target

clear math tubs from family dollar

lamps from family dollar

baskets- hobby lobby

If you like to match like I do, here are some signs you can customize for other things that come up through the year.  I have whipped out many a quick sign for things that match using this.

Editable Table Signs

I hope this helps!  Isn't planning next year's classroom the best?!?! Well maybe the best after napping and wearing pajamas all day....