My Monday Made It's!

Today I'm sharing over at 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It for the first time since last summer! I have been busy making buntings for my new kindergarten classroom as well as recovering a chair for my reading corner. I will soon be making valances to match, but have to get in my classroom to do some measuring first. 

I ordered five different Riley Blake fabrics from fabric.com to use for my decorating. I chose aqua and red as the two main colors but will be using all the colors to some extent. I am in love with these fabrics and can't wait to get in my room and start putting it all together. I made several buntings in different lengths to hang in different areas of the room. Here are the fabrics I chose.....

Here are some of the buntings hanging on my china cabinet...:) I think they look pretty sweet with my white pitcher collection!

I also recovered a chair I already had. I love the way it turned out! It will be so cute in my reading corner. I am working on a cute little bookshelf that will sit beside my chair in my reading corner and hope to share it next week. I got a great deal on it at $3! It is U.G.L.Y. right now but will be cute as a button when I'm finished with it!

For my home made it, I made these sweet little hanging solar lights using the $0.97 solar lights from Wal Mart and some old ceiling fan light shades. Here they are at night. They are so pretty hanging on my porch and in one of my trees. They are super cheap to make as well! If you want to see how I made these, you can see the tutorial on my home blog......Life On Willie Mae Lane. 

Sorry for the blurry photo, I took this one from a distance. They are really pretty hanging in my Red Leaf Maple!

If you haven't already, be sure to visit Hooty's Homeroom!

You can enter to win a $25 Master Card! Who couldn't use that right now...:) So, hop on over there right now and enter to win! Also be sure to check out her Monday Made It's...super cute!

Well, I'm off to see what wonderful things some of you made this week! Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings, 

...

Happy to Be Back!

Hi everyone! Long time since I posted....sorry about that! I'm back and hoping to try to keep up better this time. Life got crazy, busy in the spring and I have had a busy summer so far too, but I am back and happy to be here! Lots has changed since I last posted! I am changing grade levels and schools again. It is a good change though since I will be returning to my "home" school.  Anywho,  I have been busy thinking about how to decorate my new room! While I was on vacation last week, I was stuck inside the hotel room due to really bad weather, so I decided to visit fabric.com on my Kindle to see what I could find. Well, I was browsing through some collections and came across this adorable fabric and instantly fell in love! It is called Simply Sweet Alpha by Riley Blake. I think the name fits....how about you?

Source

I also picked out a few other Riley Blake fabrics to coordinate with it. Here they are...

Source

Source

Source

Source

I love them all...:) 

So, I decided to order all of them to use for valances, buntings, and to recover a magnet board and a chair seat for my reading corner. They were all delivered yesterday and I love them even more in person!

Here they are all together!

I plan to cut the navy zig zag out of the chevron fabric when I use it which should work out well with what I have planned! I can't wait to get started sewing! I love the fact that these fabrics have virtually every color I love in them. Should be easy to tie everything together in my room. I am looking for some cupcake liners that coordinate with them as well for a special little project that I hope to share on Monday Made It soon!

I've also been doing a little shopping. While I was on vacation, I went to a few thrift stores as well as a store called Ollie's where I found some great deals on books! I also found a brand new pack of number flash cards. Just look at this stack.....

Yesterday I had to run over to Gainesville to the Dr and while I was there, I just had to stop by Target. They didn't have too much, but I did manage to find a few things to put in my cart!

Only two small pocket charts, but hopefully they will get some more in. I also bought one of the border storage pocket charts which I plan to use as a regular pocket chart.

I bought some stickers and file folders.

I bought a couple sets of these play dough cutters and tools and a couple little squishy caterpillars.

I also bought 8 sets of flash cards since they were really nice ones and only $1 per set!

And, I bought these cute magnets because I loved the arrow shape!

I also ran into the Dollar Tree a while back and found these letter sets and cute crayon border.

I am trying to get back in primary mode! It's coming easily though since I have spent more years in the lower grades that anywhere else! I'm really anxious to collect all my personal belongings from the school I'm leaving and take it over to my new classroom so I can check it out and take stock of what's there. I also want to map out a floor plan and need to see the room to do that. I already know what all of the kinder rooms look like, but I don't know which room I will be in, so I can't really plan yet. It's all good though and I am NOT going to get stressed about anything!

So...it's good to be back! I look forward to reconnecting with you guys! Remember.....if you know of any great kinder and even first grade blogs, please let me know! Thanks so much...:)

Until next time.....

Energy Everywhere!

I thought I would share what we have been working on this week. My kiddos are learning about the various forms of energy and I found a great idea here that we have been doing! They had to draw their bedrooms and things in their rooms and label items with the correct form of energy. They had to represent each form of energy we have been studying at least once. Here are several of their drawings. There are more girl drawings than boys....my girls took more time and did a better job! They turned out really well...:)

The students really enjoyed this activity and so did I. Hope you are all having a great week! I am but I am looking forward to the 3-day weekend coming up too! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Be Blessed....

...

New Desk Arrangement!

I don't know about you, but I like to switch my desk arrangement up every few weeks! I have an oddly shaped room....kind of wedge shaped, so I am very limited on what I can do. I think I found an arrangement I will like for a while. It gives me some groups of 2, 3, 4, and 5. I am anxious to see what the kiddos think of it tomorrow! What do you think?

If I am standing in the front of the room, there is a row of 5 desks to the far right, a row of 4 to the far left, three  rows of 3 in the center, and two sets of 2 in the back at an angle.

I think I will like it and I hope the students do too! Hope everyone is having a beautiful weekend.....it has been around 80 degrees here in good old sunny Florida! I actually got sun-burned at my son's soccer game yesterday...UGH! I sunburn so easily! 

Be Blessed, 

...

Lazy Rainy Days.....and a Giveaway Teaser!

Hi all! I hope everyone is having a fabulous 2013 so far...:) Today is my last day of break and I am a little sad about that. I am sitting here listening to the rain fall on my tin roof and wishing I had more days off. My hubby took off the whole two weeks with me and we have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with each other, our kiddos, and our families. We have been working on our the outside of our home putting new siding on and got a lot done. I have tried new recipes and piddled around in the house on various projects. I have done my share of thrift shopping and reading and I truly am not ready to go back to work.

 Anywho...I know some of you had to head back into the classroom already, but I don't see my kiddos until Tuesday! I do work Monday, but it's not a student contact day....thankfully. I have a lot of planning & grading to catch up on! I have not worked on school stuff at all over the break and it has been wonderful! I am starting to think about it now though and get my mind wrapped around what I am going to be doing in January. 

We have been doing physical science for a few weeks now and I am really getting burnt out on it, but we still have a few things to cover. So, I am sucking it up and trying to find some cool ideas for magnetism and electricity!  I found a couple good videos on Discovery and a really sweet unit on magnets and electricity....now I just need to get everything planned out. I am ready to end physical science and move on to Life Science and the human body. I've been pinning lots of good ideas and am ready to use them!

Source

Source

Source

Source

Source

These are all really good resources and I am anxious to use them! I think the kiddos are ready to be finished with physical science as much as me...:) I also wanted to let you know I have come up with a theme for my 200 follower gift basket giveaway....if I ever make it to 200! It is going to be a Spring Survival goodie basket....because the spring seems to drag by while we are anxiously awaiting summer break! So....be sure to stay tuned so you don't miss out!  I hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday....I am off to heat up a bowl of tomato/basil soup and chillax in front of the tv for a while. This rainy weather just calls for it...:)
As always....be blessed!

...

Close to 200....Followers That Is!

I am so excited....I'm quickly approaching the 200 follower mark! I have been trying to decide what my giveaway will be...I definitely think 200 followers is deserving of a sweet giveaway! I'm thinking of putting together a gift basket of sorts! Something different...:) I'm not on TPT and even if I was, not everyone can use 5th grade Florida science resources...lol! I love to buy gifts for people though, so I think I will be on the lookout for some sweet goodies to include in my basket! And....I may even include something handmade by me! 

Be sure to keep checking back....hopefully I'll reach the big 200 soon!

Be Blessed,

...

New Year....New Blog!

I am so looking forward to what this year holds! I know it is going to be the best one yet...:) My dear son, Dakota graduates high school this year and we will be going on a cruise to the Bahamas for his senior trip in June....right after my 44th b-day and his 18th and just before my dear hubby's 46th! I can't wait!!! 

The Carnival Fascination!

Wow....time flies! Dear hubby and I celebrate our 25th anniversary in October this year too! I'm hoping we can get away for a short trip somewhere.....anywhere, but I'm thinking maybe Savannah! I think 25 years deserves a special get-away! Anywho, another fun thing this year holds is working on opening my ETSY shop and keeping up with two blogs! Yep....I started another one to focus on my home life. I love this blog and keeping up with what is going on in the blogging world for teachers, but home is where my heart is...:) I hope you will come visit me there too! 

You can visit me at Life On Willie Mae Lane if you want to! 

I'll still be blogging here too, but I am going to stick more to school and science here...:) So.....I hope you all had a wonderful first day of 2013...and for those of you who have to return tomorrow.....I'm sorry! Just kidding....I am sure you are getting ready for routine again and looking forward to seeing all your "kiddos"! 

Thanks for being my bloggy friends and as always.....

Be Blessed!

...