Setting up my classroom {taking shape}

 It was a family affair to put together my classroom. We all spent an entire weekend putting it together the weekend before school started because I wasn't able to get into my room any sooner. Yes, you read that right. We put my room together, as best we could, in one weekend.  It almost had me breaking out in hives!

Some of my decor I bought on sale that summer and some things came from the good old Dollar Tree. I also didn't get my laminating that I had sent out back until that Friday and I had to go pick it up. So as we were putting things up and getting everything set, someone was always cutting laminating. 

 My dad even had to take a little nap break in the middle of our long working weekend.

My birthday bulletin board was turned into a bulletin board out of nothing, I just framed out a space on the wall.
You also may have noticed that there is no whiteboard, no SMARTboard, nothing. That's because there wasn't one. I had one tiny bulletin board...which with my initial layout was located behind my desk so I used it to display our objectives and standards.

 I went with a "no theme" theme, which really is no theme at all. It wasn't in the budget to go out and by all matchy matchy things for the entire room, so it went with bright colors for everything, with a few polka dots and chevron things thrown in there.

 I had tons of garage sale and donated games, toys, and manipulatives...or so I thought until I got them into my room and my shelves still looked bare.
My frog numbers were also a sale purchase and didn't really match my theme of no theme, but the price was right.

 We start the year with nursery rhymes, so that's what went up on my otherwise empty cabinet doors. I got those on sale that summer also. Our daily schedule and clip chart are on the side of our classroom door that we don't use. Those were both from Teachers Pay Teachers, one free and the other a purchase. They match the classroom rules that you can see on the upper cabinets.
The color cars on the wall are Carson Dellosa and were another sale purchase. The rectangle shape posters are from Dollar Tree.

By the end of the weekend my room was looking almost ready for kids. As ready as it was going to be.

Check back for what it looked like for meet the teacher night and what my room looks like today.

Setting up my classroom { the move in}

Before I could actually start moving in I did some work at my apartment, specifically on the lawn. I bought a cheap rug from Menards- the indoor/outdoor type. And a few colors of spray paint. Because new teachers are b-r-o-k-e.

 

I used painters tape to mark the lines using a super scientific magazine as a measuring device. To vary the size of the lines I just used the magazine either horizontal or vertical. 

 

Since the ground is not perfectly flat I had to be sure to press down my tape lines to reduce the amount of overspray.

 

I thought that I could just throw some newspapers down on the sidewalk and spray paint my millions of tubs and then got real and realized that was going to be way more work and decided to grab some painter's plastic and go that way. (see below)

 

Two coats of spray paint and my rug was looking decent of a $19.99 friend. 

 

In between rounds of spray painting I was running things through the laminator as fast as I could. I ran full sheet things I wanted to be a little thicker myself, at home, and sent everything else to our AEA to be laminated on the big machine.

Here is what I ended up doing with my tubs, this was way easier and allowed me to just keep moving on to the next thing. I used dish tubs from Walmart and my stool was $4 at Goodwill.

When I was finally given the go ahead to move into my room we gathered a whole car-full of things and headed out! After everything was brought in, here's what we had:

 

This doesn't really seem all that much better than when it was a library, but we were hopefull :)

Next up: the classroom starts taking shape.

Setting up my classroom {the beginning}

We last left you with the news that I got a job...and then the blog came to a crashing halt because well, life got in the way. And so now like  a school year and a half later we're bring you the transformation of my TK classroom. From library to classroom in 3 days.
Here's what it looked like when I walked in the first day:

 

Holy Hot Mess, right? And top it all off I couldn't even start doing anything until after the library moved out! I was in complete panic mode. All I could do was print and laminate. everything.

Next up: 3 days of classroom madness.

How we put together my classroom in one weekend.

Spring cleaning on a snow day

We had a snow day not too long ago and I decided to spend it doing a little spring cleaning. Yeah, I know spring cleaning a snowday? I sound insane. But it's Iowa, deal with it.

 

Icky things like plungers and trash cans got a scrub with bleach water.

 

Cute new rubber gloves and a sticky clip from Walmart (from the same section as the 3M hooks) found a new home on the back of the cabinet door below the sink.

 

My running supplies (inhaler, Polar, "fanny pack"- it's for runners - similar to a flip belt, but let's call it what it is, earphones, headbands) all found a home in a cute gray basket from the Target dollar spot.

 

And finally everything came out of the fridge so it could all be sanitized and wiped down and everything went back in, nice and neat. I give it a week before it looks like a disaster again. 

How do you spend your snow days? 

 

What we've been up to lately...

We apologize for dropping off the face of the planet. Again. We've been crazy busy lately!

Our BFF Amanda came to town! It was so great to see her. She lives on Cape Cod which is way cooler than Iowa. Right? Anyway, we miss her like crazy so we love when she comes back home! 

Here's a snapshot of her and Niki at the wedding they went to.

Oh! We're so cute!

Also, Niki and I have both committed to going back to school this fall, October to be exact. We are getting our Sped and Early Childhood endorsements! Woot. I think.

From Shannon:
I have been swamped with Etsy orders! I love creating things to help people's lives run smoother! But it got a little bit crazy this week.

In other news, I GOT MY FIRST TEACHING JOB! I am over the moon excited! I will be teaching transitional kindergarten in the same district that I've been in the past two years. Did I mention that I am like ridiculously giddy? My classroom was formerly the elementary library which is still currently residing in my room. So I cannot even begin to move in until the library moves out. It makes my OCD self a little bit twitchy but it gives me more time to spend on Pinterest.

From Niki:

The kids have had swimming lessons, sports camps, birthday parties and just all around busyness. I just got their school supplies list and am starting the master list and scoping out the sales.

Tim has been working nonstop so the kids and I have to entertain ourselves and no fun vacation :(
Now I'm working on getting ready for back to school (for me and the kids). Get ready for some organization and decluttering.
Tim and I are also embarking on a remodeling project for our house. We remodeling the living areas a few years ago and are now remodeling the sleeping areas. We have a crazy old farmhouse and it is not ready for all of the business we have. :)

My Second 5K!

I did my second 5K this weekend. It was in the small town we live in, Kingsley. This weekend was Kingsley Days. The Kingsley Running Club hosted a 5K around town.

This was my second 5K. My first without my sister there for support! Eek! If you know me, you know I don't like new things and I don't like to do things by myself. I'm not going to lie, I almost didn't go. But I knew too many people who were doing it and expected me to be there. Plus, they have a cool dry-fit t-shirt. Races are all about the shirts, right? (and the medal, duh)
I finished in 39:49. I didn't have any expectations. I hadn't be training very hard, and it rained. THE WHOLE TIME. I couldn't use my phone, so I don't know my splits, but it renewed the fact that I do want to keep running. I still hate it. But I am constantly amazed at what my body can do.
So much so, that I am now training for a 15K. That is 9.3 miles. I have a training plan of adding 1/2 a mile a week.

This is just my training schedule. I am not a trainer, nor have I ever ran more than 3 miles. I am just flying by the seat of my pants.
Are you training for anything? Working on any exercise goals? Shannon and I both have fitness Pintrest boards you can follow for inspiration if you want.

Friday Five

Here we are, linking up with Lauren for our High Five for Friday!

1. I have been cutting out laminated goodies like a mad fiend this week. Woot for fun new things for Niki's kid-o's and my tutoring girls.

2. Faith had her last two softball games last Wednesday night and did great! It was so nice to go watch as a family!

3. I , Shannon, went home for a day and had a little family bonding with the parents and little bro.

4. The big kids went to Skill School this week and Jayce and I got to spend tons of one-on-one time together. They all had a blast last night at Family Fun Night. I'm so glad we found such a great church for our kids too!

5. I (Niki) have been training for my 5K this weekend. I think I can finish it. I even went out for a late night run last night. I can make it 2 miles, and I'm hoping adrenaline will kick in and I can finish strong!

We are busy updating the planner and we will *hopefully* be posting about it this week! Be ready, it's pretty awesome!