MUST READS

I just finished reading two AMAZING books.  I cannot wait to share them with my classes this year.  The first book I read was A Long Walk to Water.


This book is a dual narrative based on a true story.  Nya goes to the pond to fetch water for her family.  She walked 8 hours every day.  Salva walks away from his war-torn village.  He is a "lost boy" refugee.  They are both in the country of Sudan.  I absolutely LOVED this story.  It was very empowering and will open your students' eyes to the outside world, to how wonderful our country truly is!  I will say, I shed a few tears reading this book.  I believe I will read it aloud with my 7th and 8th graders.  I believe we will have a ton of GREAT discussions.

The second book I read this week was, Wonder by R.J. Palacio.


Oh.my.goodness!  What a powerful book to read.  I plan to read this book with my 5th and 6th graders.  Again, I see a lot of wonderful discussions coming from this book.  It will also be a great book to talk about point of view with.  August Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to mainstream school--until now.  He is entering 5th grade.  We all know that it is hard enough to enter a new school, let alone enter with a very different appearance.  I have to say, I cried a lot with this book.  It is just so uplifting/moving.  It is also funny.  I highly recommend the book.

What have you read this summer?  I am looking for some more books that will tie into my socials studies units.  If you have any suggestions that would be wonderful!! :)

New Room Painting

Okay, I think I mentioned before that painting with my husband is like playing one-on-one with Michael Jordan.  And you know what?  That is okay by me because the final outcome is amazing.
My husband was SO annoyed by previous paint jobs, there was paint all over outlet cover, trim, counters...etc...terrible.  He painted ALL the base trim and top trim.  That took MANY hours with his expensive little paintbrush that he said he shouldn't be using black on.  AWESOME HE IS.  Yeah, I owe him big time...and he won't let me forget...

HERE ARE THE BEFORE PICS

 

HERE ARE THE AFTER

My "window wall" with my new curtains

 

The chevron wall in progress...we gridded off the wall with chalk lines then my fabulous hubby taped it off.  He had to use an exacto knife at the pointed parts....

 

The heater door that hubby painted the trim and door (he free handed all the trim with no tape because he is AWESOME!)  He also did all the base trim as well, I didn't take a picture of that...

My room is such a horrible mess!  I will be cleaning it next week...Can you tell the wall with windows is darker gray than the other walls??

You can see some of his trim work here :)

Also covered my bulletin board with leftover fabric :)  and the beginnings of my objective wall.

 

I LOVE how my room is coming together and CANNOT wait to do a total classroom reveal! :)  I am so grateful for my husband taking all this time to paint my room for me.  He really did an amazing job and with very little complaining ;)  I think the only time he was annoyed by me was the night my teaching BFF was working on her room too and I kind of disappeared for a long time....it happens when we get together...we like to talk! lol  I think she was down at my room every 10 min to talk some more.  haha...Justin finally said, "Do you guys get any work done when you are here!?" lol  He doesn't believe what a great team we make, we can get a lot done together because we can talk as we work ;). 

 

 

Followers!!! Giveaway!!

Okay, so you all are amazing!!  I definitely hit the 20 followers...actually I hit 30+ follower!!  As promised I will be giving away a $10 TPT gift card to one of you!  My step son was really sick last night and we had a long night at the ER.  The doctors were thinking it was his appendix so he had a TON of tests, but turns out it was not the appendix, thank goodness!!  The doctors decided it was food poisoning and they are leaning toward salmonella.  I kind of worry the same because he has been messing around with his ghecko and a new one my nephew gave us.  I tell him OVER AND OVER AND OVER to WASH YOUR HANDS WITH SOAP AND WATER after touching them every time!  He is 13, let's face it, he thinks he knows it all.  ANYWAY...my point it that the giveaway winnner will be announced and contacted this weekend, I just need to do a bit of catch up and take care of my kiddo!

I do want to quickly link up with  Teaching Blog Roundup: Dog Days of Summer Giveaway.
Different bloggers are linking up with a lot of giveaways and there is a prize you can win as well.
So, head over and check it out!


Also, check out my giveaway, my 8th grade ELA Common Core I can statements.  They are the perfect addition to your class decor and functional as well!  I also have the ELA I can statements for 5th, 6th, and 7th grade available and will be offering them at 10% off until Sunday.

Monday Made It 7/15/2013

Well, I have made it to my second Monday Made It!  Exciting!! :)  I have 5 followers, doesn't sound like a lot, but makes me super happy to have 5 after the first week! :)  I would love to get some more!  So, follow me on blog lovin' and leave a comment saying that you follow me and the name you follow me under.  When I reach 20 followers I will have a giveaway, a $10 TPT gift certificate!  :)

Now on to MMI.  As I have stated before I LOVE Tara's blog, Fourth Grade Frolics.  I have stalked her blog for over a year now.  She is one of my inspirations for starting my own.  Hop over to Tara's blog to check out all the other MMIs, it amazes me every week how many there are!  Link your own MMI up too!  It is super fun AND SUPER EASY!


My first MMI this week is my "Objective Wall".  I quickly threw this together while the hubs was finishing up the last wall of my room Thurday night.  Seriously, I have to give props and thanks to my hubs for all his unpaid, hard work he has put into my room.  I am going to buy another color of trimmer to go around this as well, either dark gray or the bright blue that is on my posters.  (I added my 8th grade heading after takig this pic)  I love it! 

I have all my ELA common core standards made into I CAN statements with cute frames ready to be cut, laminated and cut again.  I am going to try to get those finished this week, hope to!  The I can statements are available in my TPT (also new) store HERE.  The 8th grade I CAN statements are a freebie, so go grab that up if you teach 5th grade.  I still need to get my social studies standards completed, but I am taking a break. ;)  I want to get all the standards finished for all subjects and have them available, but I just don't know if I can find the time for that before school starts.

My second MMI is my curtains.  My mother-in-law and I whipped these out in a couple hours on Thursday.  I LOVE THEM!  I ordered the fabric from Hobby Lobby, 40% off, 4 cent shipping WOOT!!

 

As you can see have stuff EVERYWHERE...and my kids have a lot of stuff everywhere too.  We have been spending A LOT of time in my room and the kids have been with us too...

Curse the window unit ;)

And finally, the grand finale, MMI #3--my room is finally FINISHED BEING PAINTED!! :)  SO HAPPY and SO in LOVE!!

 

The hubs is going to paint my shelves and the two doors, but they won't be finished for a couple of weeks, are schedules are packed the next two weeks.  I LOVE my chevron SOOOOO much!!

I hope you enjoyed my MMIs this week and please follow me on Blog Lovin', there is a button on the side bar --------->  !!  My stepson has to get his sports physical today and we are going floating on the river!  I LOVE living 5 miles from the river, but I am sad to say this is the first time we are getting to the river this summer!!  Hope to change that the next two weeks!!  I can't wait to come back and check out everyone else's MMIs!

GETTING CLOSER!

We now have all the walls and trim painted in my classroom.  We have the accent/chevron wall left to do and the doors.  Hopefully it will all get finished tomorrow!  I really hope so...hubby has put about 14-16 hrs into the room painting, and I have been helping most of the time.  Last night while he was finishing cutting in I put up my objective area on my wall.  I like it for the most part, but am probably going to buy another trimmer to go around so it will be double trimmed.  I put lime green up and I would like to find a dark grey.  Here is my objective board on my TPT store.  For now it is free.
Click here to get a copy.

I am anticipating a lot of goodies for my Monday Made Its!  My mother-in-law and I made my curtains yesterday, I need to pick up some curtain rods and hang them tomorrow, the painting will HOPEFULLY be done, and my objective board is up on the wall. :)  So....stay tuned!

We are all anxious because my step-son is coming home Sunday.  He has been at his mother's in Illinois since school let out.  He is excited to be coming home too, he is 13.  We have a busy week full with sport's physical and orthodontist check up, and some FUN.  We are going floating Monday and hopefully at least one other day next week.  I also owe him a trip to see Fast and Furious 6, just the two of us.  Then we have to squeeze in school shopping and registering for JUNIOR HIGH!!!  OMG, I can't believe he is going to JUNIOR HIGH.  It seems like we were just celebrating his 1st birthday yesterday!

Anyway, I plan to be linked up Monday, but you know what, I might be late.  We have all missed him, even his two brothers have, which says a lot! :) ;)

Tried It Tuesday

I came across Fourth Grade Flipper's Tried it Tuesday linky and thought, "hmmm, what have I tried..."


I have been working the past couple of weeks at making my own "I can statements" for ELA 5-8.  Quite the task, but I finally finished them.  I decided to open my own TPT store and sell them.  The 8th grade set is free.   Check them out!

                     

Later we are going to do some more painting...we should have everything done except my chevron pattern tonight!! :)  I AM STOKED!!  CAN.NOT.WAIT!  I am ready to start setting up my classroom!! 

Check out the other Tried It Tuesdays!

Must Have Monday...a day late ;)

First, plese follow me on bloglovin'...I would love to get some followers and am thining about a giveaway....the button is on the side bar...

Ok, so here is another one of my favorite linkys...Must Have Monday by Teaching With a Touch of Twang.  I have been stalking Sabra's blog for about a year and have borrowed many ideas from her. :)

Sabra's must have this week was her new laminator...I LOVE my laminator!!  Could never go back to life before it. 

My must have this week is modge podge.  I have just jumped on the modge podge band wagon and made several projects with it.  Below are just a couple....

I made these cute clip boards with modge podge, scrapbook paper, and acrylic sealer....

And I put the labels on these plastic folders with modge podge...

 

I have read many horror stories about the podge on different blogs.  I must say I only had one wrinkle/air pocket on one of the folders and everything else was smooth sailing.  I think the key to mastering the art of podge is less is more.  It doesn't take a thick layer to get stuff to stick and stay.  Also make sure you wait until it has dried before putting the top layer.

 

I must say, I have never been a crafter and do not consider myself the least bit crafty.  I will also say that I reall enjoyed these two projects.  The boys were at summer school and I found it to be peaceful and enjoyable. :) (The projects and if I am honest, maybe the fact that the boys were at summer school ;) )

 

Anyway, go link up with Sabra