The BUSIEST Summer of My Life...

Well, hello there!  It's been way too long since I've blogged, but I have really good reasons.  This last month has been PACKED with getting ready to go back to school, tying up loose ends, and packing in every ounce of fun I could with my two sweet kiddos.  I have barely had time to breathe, let alone blog!

First things first...  My classroom.  To say I'm proud of it would be an understatement.  I spent two days in mid-July painting my room.  I work in a district that allows us to paint if we wish; they buy the paint, but we do the work of painting our rooms. :)  Here are some pictures of my FINISHED classroom.

Here is a fun picture of my best friend and I in mid-painting.  We spent an evening away from our kiddos to paint my room.  I returned the favor by helping her paint her classroom one Friday night in August!  Her room looks beyond amazing as well!

The entryway.  Banner is from Vistaprint.  Little owls and border on the windows from Mardel.

 My old desk chair made new.  Just don't look at the back. :)

My most favorite part of my classroom--my library.  The tree was painted by a friend of mine.  I added pom-pom flowers for leaves.  I think this will be a favorite for kindergarten kids for years to come!

And a shot of the table area.  Above the ELA focus wall/word wall, you will see my ABC banner!  I hung it using Command hooks, accented it with pom flowers, and voila!  Totally adorable!  You can find the banner (in print or D'Neallian, as well as in a jungle print background) in my TPT store.

This was taken before my new reading series was organized and stored, but this is my cubby area.  In the first six blue baskets, I keep my math tubs.  I do six stations a day, one per table.  In the last six baskets, I keep individual student math manipulatives organized by table.

This is my math meeting board/focus wall.  This was taken right after it was done painting.  I now have a pocket chart with math vocabulary (EnVision Math Vocab Cards are available in my TPT store!) in the empty right corner.  The cork board on the left side of the picture is now beside the door of my classroom and will have our class promise with student signatures on it after school starts.

My hallway bulletin board.  Tree by Carson Dellosa, owls and letters by Mardel.  Poms made by moi.

My student work hallway display.  I adore this display.  It makes switching out student work SO MUCH EASIER!!!  Banner by Vistaprint.  Scrapbook paper from the Lob.  Clothespin names were created on Pages using clip art from Ashley Hughes and white font.

A close-up of the adorable clothespin names.  I'm in love.

And now some before pictures...  Definitely not terrible, but oh my...  The paint has made my room SO MUCH MORE BEAUTIFUL!

I worked my tail off in my classroom this summer.  There's no denying that.  Two of my teacher friends also painted their rooms this summer, and they worked their tails off too.  Other teachers in our district have also painted their classrooms this summer, tails worked off as well.  Did we have to paint?  No.  Will our students receive a better education in a painted vs. non-painted classroom?  Absolutely not.  Does it make our curriculum better or help our students get better scores on standardized tests.  LOL... No.  I tend to agree with the argument of teachers who say that decorating a classroom should be your last priority.  {Did I really just say that???} The most important thing is always those kids who are in your classroom.  Meeting their needs and making sure they leave your classroom with the skills and knowledge they need to become successful in the future trumps everything else.  My classroom looks amazing, but if my teaching was the pits, it wouldn't matter.  This was just a fun little extra I took the time to do this summer. :)

On another note, my little guy started preschool this week.  He goes to our church's preschool, so he is familiar with his surroundings.  His class has 8 boys.  0 girls.  Most of them will come to my school next year.  I'm thinking it will be another boy-heavy year. :)

Last week, I was featured as a new blogger on Common to the Core.  Head on over there to check it out!

I was also nominated for a Liebster Award!  I will post tomorrow about that! :)