Blessed

Today has been an exciting day! We went to Office Depot this morning at 9am for their Teacher Appreciation Day. I got a bag with a planner and a fancy pin (the button on top isn't a clicker, it's an eraser!!). Manny and I stuck around for the raffle. We ate out breakfast tacos courtesy of Rudy's. Their BBQ is definitely better than their breakfast tacos that's for sure! But oh well, it was free.... I won one of the raffle items. I got an X-Acto Pencil Sharpener. I already had one at school, so now I have one at home :-) The second Office Depot we went to, gave me a bag with a planner and a fancy pen too. We ate our fruit and Chick-Fil-A breakfast sandwich while we waited for the raffle. I won!!! This time I had a choice between a teacher rolling cart, a wireless mouse, or a 32GB flashdrive... I chose the flashdrive. I don't know if I will ever fill 32GBs. Sweet!!

When I told my oldest sister that I had won, she wasn't surprised. I bet my mom won't be either when I tell her. I'm not lucky, just blessed :-)

The goods:

After Office Depot, we went to my last soccer game for the summer. Luckily the fall season starts in a few weeks! I can't miss soccer for long. Haha

The most exciting part of today was finishing my classroom. YAY!!!! I finally managed to put everything where it belongs. I didn't take a lot of detail shots, I only took one from the doorway, but now you can see the tabletops. Sweet! 

All ready to go! Just add minions. 

I almost cried last night thinking about going back to work. I have to stay positive and tell myself it's going to be a good year. It will be a busy year for sure, but I can do it. I cannot be defeated and I refuse to quit. 

I'm glad to be back with all my teacher friends. I missed them a lot over the summer. I told Manny I want a job where I don't have to do any work, I just have to socialize with my friends :-) If only life was that easy. Haha 

Well I have a few more projects to finish for school. I need to get to work. Plus when Manny finishes this chapter, we are going to watch another episode of The Bachelorette. Two more episodes to go!!! Yes!! 

Have a wonderful weekend and be blessed :-)

Poof Balls

Short post because Manny and I are going to watch The Bachelorette. Yes the season is over, but with his EMT class we got a little behind. Ahhhhh!! I want to know what happens.

I got some work done on my classroom. Tomorrow I should be done. Yay! I discovered that I am a hoarder. Here's some proof...

PAPER CLIPS!!! I asked Manny if there were hoarder anonymous classes I could attend. I need some help :-( I used to call it being frugal, but this is bad!

Today I was able to put my poof balls in my classroom.  I made them with white tissue paper...

I sprayed them with food coloring and water:

Hung them outside before I sprayed them:

Then I sprayed them:

And Ta-duh!!! Here is a red one all done:

Tomorrow I will post pictures of how they look in my classroom. Alright, Bachelorette time!!

Breathe!

Yesterday I was able to get a lot of work done on my classroom. I meant to post pictures yesterday but we were busy with Manny's mom coming home and all. So I shall post pictures now :-)

 The kids mailboxes are near the door. They put all their papers they complete in class into their mailboxes. I have them empty their mailboxes every Friday.

 This corner is my writing station. I revamped the blue mailbox my sister gave me by putting contact paper on it. I am going to put different types of paper in each of the mailbox slots.

My big bulletin board on my back wall. It has a pocket chart for math stations, my helper chart, science word wall words, literacy stations, and the blank spot is where I am going to put the kid's birthdays.

I had to take this close up of the writing station because Muñeca was sleeping at the bottom of the tree.

Our classroom library :-) The paper on the wall makes it look like they're reading in a meadow. I cheated when I put my curtains up... They are just stuck in the ceiling tiles. Shhhh don't tell anyone! Haha I need to get a short curtain rod.

 Here you can see the front of the classroom. The library is near the front, but I like it being near the window. Last year I had it in a corner against a wall. I like it much better this year. Easy access in case I forgot to pull a book for a lesson or I need to fill a few minutes of extra time. I love books!!!

Here's the other half of the front of the room and my corner where you can see Manny studying.

Our word wall and computers. I need to put the letters on the word wall.

Lastly, here is a view from the door :-) Ignore all the stuff on the tables and in the corner on the floor. I realized yesterday I own a Office Depot. I guess I am an office supply hoarder. I had ten boxes of 5000 count staples. I had a foot tall stack of sticky notes. HELP! Hi my name is Alicia and I have a problem. Haha

I hope you all enjoyed the pictures :-) Hopefully the next pictures are of my finished room. Yay!!

Progress

I was able to get some work done on my room today. I told Manny I didn't feel like I'd done much but he said that I did. 

Ok so before pictures...

And what I got done today...

This is my corner with my computer and desk. I pull the kids for guided reading at the kidney shaped table.

This is the bulletin board where I put the "Star Student of the Week" poster. I choose a different kid each week to create a poster about himself/herself. It is on this bulletin board all week long.

 This is the corner for our classroom library. The rug is flipped over because I just painted the little stools green so they are still wet. I am going to put a background in the classroom library and see how it looks.

 This wall has our classroom computers. Each classroom has four student computers. The green boxes on the blackboard are for the word wall. 

 This is our meeting place. Clearly it's still a work in progress.

 The back corner is the writing station. I am going to put different types of paper in the blue mailbox. The green buckets are the kids' book boxes. Later in the year their book boxes will be full of books!!!

These shelves have everything for math stations and literacy stations.

Obviously I still have furniture to move around and rearrange. I am still thinking about what will go on the back bulletin board and the bulletin board above my desk. Lots to think about and I only have one week. EEEKKKK! Manny said we can go back tomorrow and he will study while I work. Today he was studying while I worked, but he helped me move some of the heavy furniture. He also got distracted when I gave him a bucket of legos :-) That bucket of legos made the trip home with us. Haha!

We were going to take Muñeca to school with us, but it was a good thing we didn't. We were both super hungry when I got to a stopping point, so we went to eat. We also went to Home Depot to see if there was a way to rig our patio fence so Muñeca can stay on the patio while we are at work. We saw some lattice and some garden fence stuff. I told Manny that I would be worrying all day about someone taking her... So we are still thinking of what to do. She may have to come to school with me :-) I am sure the kids won't mind!

Ok now it's time to go finish my projects. Almost done! I can't wait to share them.

Work

This morning after I went to the gym, I saw THE cutest thing. I saw a little orange kitten...

I guess I was a creeper for taking this picture but it was too cute to pass up. 

I took a trip to school today. I started getting quesy on the drive there. I am so not ready to go back. 

Here are the before pictures of my classroom...

There was no AC so I only lasted about an hour today. I had trouble locating my stapler so I had to borrow one from the office. I was able to put the fabric and boarder on my bulletin boards. One less thing to do even though it wasn't much.

 I have two of these little bulletin boards...

On the way home I stopped at Kroger. I had a massive headache from having no AC at school, so I needed food. I bought a pint of blueberries!! They were 99 cents. I started eating them on the drive home. I guess when I made a turn I squeezed my legs together because they shot up and made a mess! I had blueberries surrounding my feet!

Poor blueberries! I even sat on one. So sad :-/ I rescued the ones I could and washed them off. Can't waste food! Haha

Alright well time to get dinner ready...