Organizing Journeys and Some Candy Fun!

Hello and happy Sunday! Am I the only one having trouble finding time to post lately? This school year is kicking my butt! Maybe it's partially due to me not being as young as I used to be too...lol! 

Anywho, today I decided to share how I am organizing my Journey's materials in case any of you are trying to figure out how to do the same. I don't know about you, but I was a tad overwhelmed with the amount of items that came with this program! I was getting really tired of going from box to box gathering all the items I needed for the week, so I had the school book keeper order some handy, dandy little pockets to hold all of the small items for each unit! I love these little pockets and they worked perfectly for what I needed. You could easily do this with file folders or pocket folders but I got a super deal on these. Our school gets an incredible discount on certain items from Office Depot and they deliver the next day so it's a win win! These were normally around $12 for 10, but she was able to get them for under $3 for 10!!! So, I got 40 of them....10 more than I needed, for about the price of 10. Can I get a Woo! Hoo! :)

Here is the link, but they have gone up on the price since I ordered mine a month ago. 

Here is what they look like all stuffed...sorry I forgot to take a picture of them before I stuffed them.

The focus wall poster does a nice job telling me which week is contained in the envelope!

Here is a picture of one with just the small sight word cards in the pockets in the back. There are two CD pockets that come in handy to hold these small items.

Here are some of the items I have in the pockets. The retelling cards, vocab cards, & daily snapshot cards.

Also, the focus wall poster, the read aloud books and the leveled reader lessons.

I think all but a couple of the read alouds fit in the pockets. There are two for each story. There were a couple that were too big so I just left them  in the big book boxes with the big books.

Here are the leveled reader lessons....these come in handy for small groups!

After I got all the envelopes stuffed, I decided to store them in the big book boxes and they fit perfectly.

Here they are all stuffed in the big book boxes. I have everything in these boxes except the leveled readers and all the teacher's manuals and resource books. I keep them all stacked and just move the top box to the bottom of the stack when I complete that unit....I am just beginning unit 2. I love these big boxes...they are so handy!

So...that's my organization tip for Journey's! The next couple of photos are just a couple of fun things! The other day I was in the Dollar Tree and found this box of candy called Box of Boogers. Totally gross I know, but I just knew my kinders would love it if they could have a candy booger to eat after listening to the poem Booger Love from the book Giant Children. It is hilarious and the kiddos always love it...:)

And...we had fun making our corny little candy corns to hang in the room the other day. They turned out super cute....:) Wishing now we had used torn paper instead of just coloring them. Oh well....there's always next year. I am still getting adjusted to being back in primary and sometimes just forget!

They are a fun addition to our room...:)

I have been having a lovely weekend visiting my daughter in Tallahassee this weekend and have found lots of goodies for my classroom that I will share soon! I could totally get used to living in the city..even though my heart belongs in the country where I live now. I love the convenience of being so close to everything....good restaurants, shopping church, etc. I love it! I could get really spoiled...:)  

Well...off for now! Have a blessed week everyone! I have a four day week followed by a four day weekend!!! So excited....:)

Until next time.....

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Saturday Snapshots...:)

I don't know about you, but I have been so swamped trying to keep up with everything at school this year. It is almost impossible! I barely have time to breathe it seems! I wanted to share just a few pix from the week though, so I'm linking up with Miss Nelson for Saturday Snapshots! 

Yesterday, I had my students draw themselves following a rule and breaking a rule. We have been talking about rules and why it is so important to follow them. I thought this would be a good activity for kinder. I asked them to try to write about their drawings too. Some of them did (although you really can't read it...lol). 

This one drew such cute pictures of her raising her and her friends sitting nicely on the rug for following the rules and her standing on the table for breaking a rule...lol!

I love this one....he wrote clean up for following the rules and hit a friend for breaking the rules.

This little sweetie just wrote about how she loves me...:) She is always bringing me things from home that she colors for me and they always say I luv Mrs. Vicky. So sweet...:) Looks like she was writing my name pyramid style too...LOL! Not too sure what the broken rule was.

I finally got two of my center rotation wheels made. The red and blue one is for reading centers, and the green and yellow is for imaginative play centers or fun centers as my kids call them. I still want to make one for math centers but I haven't started math centers yet. I still need to make headers for them too.

I placed them near my small group table so I can turn it at the end of each rotation.

I am also sharing the "book boxes" I made for my tables. These sturdy black cardboard boxes used to hold science materials with our National Geographic series. One of my team was throwing the boxes away and I rescued these boxes. I taped 4 together and voila...instant book boxes. A roll of duct tape was the only cost involved in making these. I am going to put the kids names on the sides of the boxes with velcro tabs soon. That way, I can move the name and leave the box since they are taped together.

Here is what they look like from the end. I think they are pretty nifty...especially for a freebie! I hope to share something more next week. 

So, today I had the best time with my family. My daughter, Miranda, came home to celebrate her birthday which is next week. We enjoyed our day together, along with my hubby, her boyfriend, my mom and dad, and my sister and her kids. My son already had plans to go to the Florida State game so he wasn't with us, but we still had a great day! Here are a few pix from the day!

So relaxing and so much fun! I was beyond ready for the weekend and so far it's been a great one...:)

Until next time, have a blessed Sunday and a wonderful new week!

Currently & Classroom Updates!

 Happy Monday! Can you believe it's already time for September Currently? This year is flying by! I am excited to be linking up with Farley today and see what is currently going on in some of your lives!

Here's mine.....

I am listening to Cops....the hubs loves that show! He would totally go back to school to become a cop if he were younger. 

I am loving the yummy steak dinner we had to celebrate Labor Day. The hubs grilled them perfectly!

I am thinking I am so happy I made myself go work in my classroom for a few hours earlier. I got a LOT of stuff done and now my week will go much more smoothly!

I am totally wanting to start another home remodeling project. I really want to do my master bath and have everything picked out and planned....if only some $$$ would fall in my lap! LOL

I am needing to finish laundry, but totally not wanting to! It's my least favorite chore!

And last but not least....I love this part Farley added!

1. I am going to try very hard to start walking again. I haven't been walking because of the dreadful Florida heat, humidity, and bugs, but I am going to try walking on the treadmill.

2. I am going to try very hard to break my Pepsi addiction.....again!

3. I also want to take time to be creative and crafty. I have so many ideas for an ETSY shop and really want to get it started!

 Now...on to a few classroom updates!

I have my WBT rules in place. My kinders are doing so well at memorizing them! They aren't doing so well at following them all yet though....especially #'s 2 & 3...lol! I got these awesome free posters here!

I also managed to print my schedule cards and get them up!

I shared my helper area before, but here it is in use. The little bird on the limb is the helper for the day and then they move to the green chart until everyone has had a turn. The kids love it!

I decided to try using hand gestures this year and it is going great. The kids remember it better than me!

Just a general shot across the room....lovin' all the bright and happy colors everywhere!

I am excited to finally have my crayon drawers labeled and filled. I found these great labels here.

In the words of Phil (from Duck Dynasty) this just makes me happy, happy, happy!

I spent lots of time earlier sorting books that I inherited when I moved in my new room. They were all mixed up!!! Now I know this doesn't look perfect, but it is a vast improvement. I still have to figure out how I am going to label them, but at least they are sorted! 

This is one shelf.....

And here is the other one....

I got two new chairs for the library area too and I need to go back and get the green one too! I didn't think I would have room for it, but I do...:)

Here's the top of the biggest bookshelf. You can see my corner in the background. My desk is behind the shelf. 

I got my hall display ready to hang student work...finally! I had trouble finding the 12 x 12 scrapbook page protector sheets. I finally found them. The green background is supposed to look like a football field....our hall is football themed. Our school has a different hall theme for every grade level. This year it was a 2 color theme and my team had chosen orange and blue (this was before I transferred back). They went with a Florida Gator football theme. You can see a couple of the Gator themed icons above the green field. 

My kiddos colored their names on their first day of school.

Here's the whole thing. Nothing fancy, but it works!

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Saturday Snapshots!

Hi friends! I hope you all are enjoying your 3-day weekend as much as I have been! Mine has been pretty busy so far. It started with a Friday night high school football game, some Saturday morning shopping and thrifting which I LOVE to do, a sweet wedding last night, and today I am just being L...A...Z...Y! Yep, I said it, I am being lazy! It has been a while since I had time to laze around all day like I am today! I did wash some dishes, fix lunch, and complete a little project though before my butt planted itself in the chair and refused to move...LOL! 

So, while I am being lazy, I thought I might as well be productive and link up with Miss Nelson for Saturday Snapshots to share a few photos of the events I mentioned above! 

First up is the cake from the wedding I attended last night....cuteness!

And the outdoor seating...hay bales!

The sweet "guest book"...all guests signed with a green fingerprint (leaf) and their name. This will be so cool framed and displayed in their home.

 

I said I cooked lunch today.....tomato pie...Mmmm!

I used fresh basil from my mom's herb garden!

Chopped and mixed with some mayonnaise and cheese.

Spread it on a pizza crust and top with fresh sliced tomatoes.

Bake and enjoy!

Oh my....so delish! Seriously! I don't even eat mayo, but I'm telling you this is so tasty!

OK....moving on! My kitty Farrah giving Elvis the evil eye across the room. Elvis is my mother-in-law's dachshund. I am dog-sitting this weekend while she's out of town.

Here he is enjoying ONE of his Sunday afternoon naps....along with my son, Dakota. Glad he (Dakota, not Elvis...lol) doesn't read my blog! Elvis is currently snoozing AGAIN by my legs in the recliner and Farrah is on the top of the head rest of the recliner. We are all being lazy!

On to my thrifty finds. First up is this sweet little red chalkboard thingie I found for a quarter at a yard sale yesterday. This is the project I referred to earlier!

For that price I had to have it, but I knew I wanted to tweak it a little, so this is what I did. I taped off a border around the edge and inside.

Painted it with my chalkboard spray paint. 

Love this stuff!

And here you have it! I love it. I am going to hang it on my classroom hall door like a wreath. 

Here it is on my door at home. I love it and it's one of a kind!

Here are the other things I had to have yesterday! I love vintage items and found a few half off at my favorite flea market booth! The two tablecloths, the shaving mug, hand, and cookbook are all vintage. Not sure about the cow creamer, but I love him! I have another similar one and I paired them up in my kitchen. I love the clear glass and brass apple paper weight and it will live in my classroom.

Here's a close-up of the apple. Love the air bubbles trapped in the glass.

I found these great numbers and wish I had bought more of them...just $1 for the set. They snap apart if you're wondering.

I also found these two gorgeous tea light holders for $1 each! I have seen these at Hobby Lobby for MUCH more than $1! They are about 8 inches high and so pretty!

I also found two more books for my future home library. I have several hundred books now and am planning to build my own little library area in my home sometime in the next year or two! I collect and read both of these authors and have been trying to complete my collection of Nicholas Sparks for a while now. I have all but 3 of his books now! I also only collect hard cover books. I have read this book already but didn't own it. Now I do and they were just $2 each!

Well, that's it! Thank you for sticking with me until the end. I get a little long-winded sometimes...lol! I just enjoy sharing with friends. Enjoy the remainder of your weekend....I plan to!

Until next time....

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