Busy!

So I realized that starting a blog right before school starts probably wasn't the best decision on my part.  However, I'm still going to try and stick to this as much as I can!  I've been checking out some other blogs and found some cool artsy projects for my classroom.  They aren't finished yet so I'll post more about those later.


But here's a sneak peek!

I have been reading The First Days of School by Harry Wong in order to prep myself for school.  It's an interesting read and just reaffirms a lot of what I already knew and believed in, such as creating and practicing routines over and over again so your classroom runs smoothly all year long.  I have a lot of good ideas bouncing around in my head and have quite a script going for the first day of school!  Hopefully I will be well prepared.  :)

(taken from here)

I even drove up to my school (it's about a 45 minute drive from my house) and started moving into my new room.  Thankfully, the wonderful custodial staff moved a lot of my boxes into my room so all I really needed to do was unpack...and clean.  I mean, deep clean!  There's old curriculum, old projects from students, mixed up paper and posters, stuff that's well over 20 years old hogging up space in my only cabinet.  Now, I like paper in order, especially when it's colored paper and different sizes.  The construction paper stacks I had were all mixed up so I spent a good 40 minutes or more pulling it all out and organizing it by color, opened packets and unopened packets, and size.  I did realize that I have a TON of paper (and other art supplies) though!  That's always good to know for a primary classroom.  I also pulled all the desks off each other and started sort of setting up the room.  After four hours though, it didn't look like I did a whole lot but I assure you I did!  I feel good and like I'm really getting ready to start class in a few weeks.


I also wrote letters that I'm going to send out to each student before school starts.  My amazing office manager printed out labels for me to stick on envelopes with all the addresses of my students, which made my life SO much easier!  Now I just have to personalize each letter, print them, stuff them into envelopes, and drive back up to school so the school can mail them out (they said they would do that so I didn't have to pay to mail them, what sweethearts!).  Hopefully we'll all start out on the right foot for a great year!

Go Cougars!

(taken from here)

Tomorrow I'm hopefully going to finish all my art projects for school so I can take pictures and let you all see them.  Right now I'm going to find my battery charger so I can charge my camera battery to take said pictures.  My hubby is working overtime tonight so I'll be all alone with the puppy and kitty until 6 a.m.  Which also means I get to do whatever I want for as late as I want.  ;)


What have you done to prepare for your school year?  




What kinds of projects have you done specially for your classroom to make it yours?