Mermaid Library Reveal - Name my Mermaid!

I FINALLY have students.  I am jinxing myself, but I Love LOve LOVe LOVE this new GT position!  I hate doing all the meetings and paperwork, but the kids are awesome.

Today I am revealing a little more of my classroom and...the Mermaid Library.

My bloggie inspiration, Jennifer White from First Grade Blue Skies inspired my Mermaid Library.  

This is her cutie-patootie pirate. When I saw it this summer, I knew I had to make a similar mermaid.  Those little summer cobwebs cleared out and in my head, I saw...

I began working on my Mermaid this summer.  

Originally, I had a huge area to put her in, but in my new room my library is in a small corner.  

This is my mermaid.  Yes, she has a tutu and orange hair.  I don't love her hair...but everyone who comes in really likes it.  I'm going to look for wrapping paper and make some cute pink hair, I think;)

When you walk in the door, this is what you see.

This is my computer area, love it.

My pretty matching bulletin boards.

Since I see a different class every day, they have a bin to "save their work" and their behavior clips go into the pencil pouches hanging on command hooks.  

This Little Piggy needs a name for her mermaid...do you have any ideas?

 

When I grow up I want to be the Pencil Police....

When I decided to change careers and become a teacher, I didn't realize that one of my many hats would be Pencil Patrol.  Pencils quickly became my obsession!  Not necessarily in a good way.  

My very first year teaching, I brought in my family pencil sharpener.  My mom bought it for our family when I was in 7th Grade - it lasted through all 3 kids.  I brought it to my classroom and it died before the end of first semester!  Fast forward 10 years and I cannot count how many pencil sharpeners I've gone through. 

This is my pencil supply for this school year.  

This is half of what was left over from 

last year and after summer school.

This is my groovy green

 Classroom Friendly Supplies Sharpener.

I will be honest, I love my electric sharpener.  

It was a gift from my Principal last year.  

But, I regulate it and it has turned me into Pencil Police 

(shhhhh....I hide it from subs, too).  

This year I'm going to have a TON of students - a new class every day.  

I simply don't have time to be the pencil police this year.

I need the kids to self-regulate, but not with my pencil sharpener!

I kept seeing the pencil sharpener reviews on blogs and decided to try it out for myself.  

The electric sharpener took 12 seconds to go from dull to semi-sharp.

I was shocked!  Do you see that sharp tip?

It took me 3 turns/cranks to go from dull to EXTRA-Sharp!

It's super quick and whoa, it's sharp!

It's also much quieter than my electric sharpener.

My new plan is to teach the group helper how to use my groovy green sharpener 

and have them sharpen 10 pencils each afternoon before they leave.  

This Little Piggy will put away the Pencil Patrol Badge and spend my time teaching!

No pics, just my thoughts

Tonight I don't have a big long blog post that I've planned out for a few days.
I don't have pics of activities we did this week (I don't get kiddos for ANOTHER week).
And I don't have a product review, a linky party or a new recipe I tried.

On my brain tonight is administration.
Principal's and AP's and whoever else you have on your campus with a nifty title.
I've been teaching for 10 years and I've had 5 Principal's and 4 AP's (two of which became my Principal's).

A few years back, I had the absolute WORST Principal in the world.  

She had favorites and I wasn't on the "list".  She grabbed people, she yelled at us and she had no control over the kids at our school.  Her school was number one in the district, but we were never doing it for her.
She made us miserable.

Our AP at that time, is now my school's Principal.  She's amazing!  
I would follow her to any school with any population because I want to work for her.
She has an open door policy and she takes what you say to heart and she tries her best to accommodate her teacher's requests.  Now, there are times when teachers have to be moved to grades or subjects they don't want to teach.  It isn't easy.  I know she doesn't like doing it.
But, remember how I said I'd teach anywhere for her...well, most teachers on my campus agree.  They will do what it takes to stay at our school.  She supports teachers, always.  She tries hard to get us the resources and training that we need/request.  Do I sound like I'm brown nosing?  I'm not.  Teachers want to work for her.  We work harder for her, because of her.  Teachers get nervous when she enters the doorway.  Not because they are worried she will "catch them" doing something they shouldn't.  But, because they want to make her proud.  They want her approval.

This year I'm in a new position and although technically she's still my Principal, I have to work with Principals throughout the district since I service students across the district.  It makes me value her even more!  She doesn't intentionally try to make others job's harder.  Truth be told, I owe this position to her.  I also know it caused some staffing issues, so I greatly appreciate her letting me chase a dream.

I know everyone is in different stages in their career, but I hope that one day you have the pleasure of working with/for an administrator who mentors you and inspires you to be a better teacher!
Have you already had this experience?

This Little Piggy is ready for kiddos!!!

It's Currently Sept.

It's Currently Time...

I was printing last night and guess what?  On page 3 of my *NEW* teacher binder...I ran out of ink!   AHHHH....Why?  Why does this happen every time I need to print something?  Pay Day is next week, so ink will have to wait until I get paid:(  I already bought 2 sets this month, so I've got to slow down a bit.

I went grocery shopping yesterday and bought "healthy food".  No chocolate, no sweets, LOTS of salad.  I want chocolate!  

I know Farley suggested 3 things to do this month, but I'm all about realistic goals.  I have 2 this month.  2 New TpT products - over $5 each.  I sell a lot, but I don't make a lot of $$ because my avg. cost per item is $3.  I need to make larger products and make a little more.  I also plan to lose 10 lbs. this month.  

This Little Piggy is craving chocolate!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mermaid Classroom Reveal

My room is about 95% finished.  It isn't at all what I expected when I began making the mermaid room sketches.  I began by thinking about my old classroom layout.  This new room is like a whole new world.  Nothing really turned out like I planned, but I went with it.

I'm going to link up with Swimming into Second and a Classy Collaboration to see what other people think about it. 

Do you love it, do you hate it?

What would you change?

What should I add? 

 I finally got to use my cute mermaid from Cara Taylor!  I love those lil' beauties:)

  A huge Thank You for Erin from Lovin' Lit for making me Mermaid Papers and Embellishments to go with it.  I love these cute circles for my table caddies!

 No chairs yet...and my tables need to be raised for 5th Graders.  

But, I LOVE having tables not desks!

 I plan on using these cabinets for birthdays.  

I will put shells with each student's name and their birthdate on the month. 

Since my students will normally have a different schedule, 

I plan on putting out lunch time and our release time on the clocks beside the clock.  

I LOVE my rules poster from Vistaprint!  AWESOME.  

This Little Piggy is still working on the mermaid for the library!  Pics this weekend, hopefully!

Prep...Prep...Prep

My room is about 85% finished, so I don't have final pics just yet (maybe next week).  Below are my beginning pics.  But, I'm excited to show you a little bit of what I've been working on.

Below you'll see the harvest orange wall.  It actually didn't turn out sooo bad.  Not NEAR as bad as I originally thought.  

Next year, I plan to paint it deep grey/blue.

I got rid of the enormous teacher desk and got a trapezoid table for my computer.  It's so much cleaner looking!

You can't see it well, but I painted the corkboard behind the computer. I've had that corkboard for YEARS (well over 10) in my garage.  I painted it teal blue called 'laguna'.  I ran out (oops).  So, my friend had turquoise...I painted over the teal and it actually gave it a grungy "burnt" look.  I love it.   I added chevron ribbon for the criss-crosses and I plan on keeping my own kiddos' pics there.  Oh yeah, I ran out of ribbon so I trimmed it in my lime borderette.

Do you have IKEA bags?  If not, the next time you go get 5 of them.  

Yes, 5.  Two for home and 3 for school.  

They are huge, they never come apart and they are Ahhh-some.  

They are absolutely perfect for carrying lunches or snacks on field trips!  In the pic they are my trash bags so I can walk out to the dumpster and just empty them:) 

This pic stinks, but my wonderful hubby came to school today and helped me hang all of my Vistaprint Creations.  This one is my favorite by far.  I love it.  I know my pics stink today, I promise you'll get better ones this week!   I'm trying to decide if I want to decorate my door or not.  I don't want to - that's why I ordered the banner!  I did might make a pennant with mermaids holding it - hum?  Maybe.

SNEAK PEEK:

What's this you're asking?  It's my "idea" of my mermaid drawn onto a friend's whiteboard.  

Does anyone else do this?  I had to get it out of my head and onto "paper" (a.k.a. whiteboard).

She's in the library area and I plan on calling it Reading Cove.

This Little Piggy's helping with PK4 on Monday and wearing comfy shoes!

I'm just like Teeny, a Blog Celebrity (sorta)

Sorry I've been neglecting my followers lately.  This new assignment and new classroom arrangement threw me for a loop!  I'm excited about my new GT kiddos and the challenge of teaching them, but everything I made for Made it Monday doesn't really fit with my new assignment...so I'm kind of starting over from scratch!  AHHHHH....

So, I know you know who Teeny Tiny is, right?  

Well, in blogland she's a bit of a celebrity.
She's a blog celebrity who keeps her teaching life and bloggie life separate.
But when they meet, she kind of freaks out.  

We all know who "they" are (they=blog celebrities).  

Moffit, Blue Skies, Lemons, Ms. Jump, Farley, Hope King, Reagan Tunstall you get the idea right?  

So, we "little bloggers" stalk them.  Admit it.  If you can't admit it, I will. 

These were the first blogs I followed and of course we all aspire to one day have huge followings and also be blog celebrities.  It's our one chance at "reality star famedome".  

Oh, it's just me....not you?  

Yes, it's you too.  

So, I'm sitting in inservice yesterday.  It was our "first day of school" procedures and meetings. It was boring as all get out great!  One of our new staff members wants me to make her some ABC cards and we start talking about clipart.  She mentions Melonheadz.
I say my blog was designed by Melonheadz.  She says, "Oh yeah, Jenn said you have a blog.  What's it called?"
Well, I happen to have my iPhone and click on my blog app (like you don't have one).  I show her my blog. All of a sudden her eyes get huge....her mouth opens....she says...."That's YOUR blog?"
I say, "Yeah.  It's my little ol' blog."
Her response, "I read your blog!"
I got really nervous!  I immediately start scrolling through my mind wondering what "all" I've put out there in bloggie world for her/you to read.
She says, "You're kind of famous.  You have a famous blog."
I blush and say, "No I only have a few followers.  Nothing like the big blogs out there."

So, for all my followers out there...thanks for making me "kind of famous". haha I'm soooo kidding.

This Little Piggy is going to work on Saturday.