I want a playhouse!!

My best friends little girl "C" turned two this weekend and what fun was had preparing for this special day!!   C's daddy and uncle made this precious homemade hideaway and we got to decorate it for the birthday princess. I do believe that sweet girl loved it and will spend many hours cooking, cleaning, drawing, and checking out critters with her binoculars.   Friday morning, Susannah (C's future aunt and one of my school best friends) and I headed over to begin the decorating process.  Walls had to be painted, curtains hung, plants planted, and more. 

 

C's mommy then added the extra special touches to make it perfect.  

 A tin roof and all!

 What little girl wouldn't want to spend the WHOLE day in a playhouse like this one?

 C's 2nd birthday party was centered around bubbles.  All of the food was round and LOTS of bubbles were blown.  What a cute idea!!!  

The kiddos loved the cake pops and cinnamon pinwheels!

 Goodness I love these girls!  Erica (in orange) and I have been best friends since high school.  J and I actually set her and her husband up MANY years ago.  We were in their wedding and they were in ours.  Our boys team rope together and we just cherish our friendship with them.  Susannah (in pink) is one of my school best friends.  She is going to marry Erica's brother in December.  I also had a hand in setting them up too.  Just call me matchmaker, I know:)

 C loves her Sue Sue!

 C with her mommy!

 J and Auntie love that girl too!

 The birthday girl with her daddy!

 Check out those sweet girls having fun!

Getting the bubble guns ready...oh man they were fun!

A sweet little cupcake in a teacup for a sweet little girlie:)

We sure had fun celebrating C's birthday!  

School starts back this Thursday and I guess I'm ready.  I am really ready for some coffee time with my sweet coworkers and to meet my Giddy-Ups.  I'm hoping for a great school year:)

I've gone a little crazy...

So thanks to Pinterest and my new Cricut...I feel like I've gone overboard in my classroom.  I say "Oh, I'm done" or "I'm not going back until August 16th", and then I'm making something else and making a trip to Bell's.  What is it with this summer???  As you know my husband broke his leg and is doing soooooo much better so I can't blame it on him anymore.  It was fun crafting around the house with him down and out but now I think I'm just obsessed with finding new, cute things to do in my classroom.  Here are a few pictures...

Um yeah...how cute are pictures going to be with sweet smiles of my kiddos using this oversized picture frame!?!   I always like to celebrate our 2nd day of 2nd grade day with activities like...counting by 2's, writing stories/reading in pairs, making words with "second grade", discussing famous pairs like peanut butter/jelly, and measuring items around our classroom that are 2 inches or 2 centimeters.  I try to have a snack centered around this too...not sure what I'll do this year.

Bell's Crossing is a Baldrige school.  We collect lots of data and use many tools to help students organize their thoughts like Lotus diagrams, Affinity diagrams, and more... Here is a picture of my classroom data station.  Right now I have up an AR chart and math chapter pre/post test graphs.  I'll probably add more throughout the year!  Each student has a data notebook where they graph their behavior, test scores, set goals, and more.  

We also use Covey's 7 habits.  With our garden theme this year, I thought some tissue paper flowers would be cute with the habits.  

Birthday flowers with crazy straws!  Thank you Pinterest!

Thanks to Amanda at Teaching Maddeness...my dear, dear friend, I created my own "Kiss your brain" and "Hug your heart" candy jars.  

And last but not least...I decided to change my behavior system this year and try the clip chart.  I found the cutest apple clothes pins at Michael's this week and they turned out to be the perfect size. I just added numbers.  I'm excited about this little change.  

A few more trips to my school will probably happen in the next two weeks. 

My classroom just won't be complete though until it becomes home to my Giddy-Ups!

Aside from doing school stuff...we're completely in awe of the Olympics.  I just cannot seem to peel my eyes away from the TV.  Gymnastics, swimming, diving, volleyball...holy cow!  We have some talented athletes:)  It just makes me so proud to be an American.  I cry EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. they are receiving their medals.  I'm going to miss the Olympics when they are over.  Can't wait for the individual women's gymnastic finals tonight!  GO TEAM USA:)

Nothing is finer than to teach in South Carolina:)

For the past couple of weeks, I've gone to school for a couple of hours here and there to work.  Thank goodness for my precious momma who retired after 36 years of teaching because without her...my room would still be a mess.  I sometimes wonder why am I at school on a beautiful summer day when I should be at the pool but...if I didn't have my room ready before the day we HAVE to go back, I would go crazy.  I like for everything to have a place and I do not like to be stressed that first week back.  There is enough to do with meetings, chit-chatting with friends, and planning lessons for my students. 

Here is where we stand right now.  I have a little more to do but now I can breath and enjoy my last  

2 1/2  weeks of vacation.  

The front of my desk...students will make lunch choices by moving their magnetic flower under the choice for the day.  I am planning on having choices written on sentence strips. We're doing a garden theme this year, hence the flowers.

My cute READ pillows that I made last year.  

Individual book baskets...planning on letting my kiddos "shop" for books this year once a week so that their quiet reading time is spent reading, not searching for that one particular book.  

The door to our classroom...I'll put up individual names closer to time but aren't my little gardening tools fun?

Thanks to my sweet friend Brooke...this is where I post our GIDDY-UP of the week information. 

Name tags and table numbers

Our author of the month bulletin board...I try to change it out once a month and correlate it with our genre units in reading.  Some of the authors that we study are:  Patricia Pollaco, Robert Munsch, Gail Gibbons, Eric Carle, Tomie DePaola, Bill Peet, and more!

Probably my most favorite purchase of the summer...my colored stools for my reading table!  TJ MAXX, I love you!

Writing posters

The YEEHAW letters that I painted earlier this summer!

The front of my classroom

Word Wall

Cozy little reading corner...love my circle rugs.  (Shhhhhh...they are bath mats from Target)

My "Share Chair" and "All About Me" board!

Homework board

Essential question white boards!

I'm going to make a promise to not go back until August 16th...I doubt I can do it but I'm going to try.  

Nothing is finer than to teach in Carolina and I can't wait to meet my Giddy-Ups:)

Cricut craziness!!!

I know that this fine piece of machinery has been out for several years and I don't know why I am just now getting on the bandwagon but...let me tell you that I. LOVE. THIS. THING!!!!  

Who knew that you could make so many cute things in a matter of seconds.  I'm planning on taking this to my classroom because I'm sure that I'll be using it all the time making stuff for my precious kiddos.

The first project that I worked on was making subject titles for my new essential question white boards.  I've covered the white boards in my classroom this year with fadeless bulletin board paper and put these up to update each day with what we'll be studying.  It turned out so cute.  I'll post TONS of pics tommorow of my almost finished classroom.  

I made these a little more cutesy by adding ribbon around the border using a hot glue gun. Aren't they fun?

I've made lots of things here and there, like bulletin board letters, shapes, etc.   Here are some flowers that I cut out for something super cute I'm working on.  I'll post that as well a little later.

The last project that I completed was a brand for a friend of J's.   He needed this for a bucking horse dummy and I whipped it out for him...wow!  He was quite impressed.   I'll be working on J's brand soon, I'm sure!  

Stop by tomorrow for my post on my classroom.  I'm super excited about some of the new things that I've done this year. Happy Sunday!

Week of fun #2

Here are a few pics of our 2nd week with little missy... She was able to help J in therapy, go to my school, help babysit sweet E, pretend being Annie Oakley, ride her bike, visit our local five and dime store, and more. Being a little girl sure is fun. She's getting so big! I sure wish she lived closer:).

Saturday makeover

Once again I found a cute idea on Pinterest, using scrapbook paper to spice up those ugly Sterilite drawer organizers. Here is the project that seriously took 30 minutes to do both!!! All I had to do was measure the paper, cut, and use LOTS of Scotch tape!!!! Aren't they cute????