Decorating When You Don't Have Time...

Last year I had a goal to create and hang a wreath in my classroom for each of the months/holidays/seasons. I made it to October before I just didn't have time to keep it up. I renewed my goal this year, but I also came up with an idea that I think is a bit more realistic as far as time (and money) is concerned.

I bought a monogrammed hanger from Michael's on sale for less than a dollar and spray painted it white. Using a velcro dot, I attached a small chalkboard with a welcome message and then hung the wreath with some "ABC" ribbon between my two windows. Voila! Instant "Welcome Back to School" wreath!

The best thing about this is how easy it is to change for the next season or holiday. As soon as college football season started, I traded the chalkboard for a foam Gamecock coaster (re-purpose EVERYTHING!) and my ABC ribbon for some garnet and black bows. It's instantly a new creation. I can't wait to switch it up for each new holiday!

Back to School - Superhero Style!

We are getting back in the swing of things, and I'm exhausted! A new schedule this year has my head spinning...We went from three 85 minute blocks and two preps to four 70 minute blocks and three preps. It's taking some getting used to!

Add this super exciting personal news, and a goal for a March wedding, and I am looking at a whirlwind of a year! (Isn't my fiance handsome!?)

Our theme at school this year is "Superheroes." We are going to have spirit days for teachers and students to wear their favorite Superhero gear. Our first Superhero Day was the third day of school. I have a navy skirt with white stars that I got for the Fourth of July. I really wanted to wear it as part of a Captain American outfit, but all of the Captain America shirts are blue and didn't match.

So, I did what I do best, and I made my own with a red t-shirt and some felt from Michael's! While I was wandering around Michael's I found a blue bow. I decorated it with some puff paint I had at home to add another touch to the costume! (The socks are from Target.)

I used a printed picture of Captain's shield to help me measure and cut out layers for my shirt. I hot glued the felt together, and then I used fabric glue to attach it to my shirt.

One of the other teachers on my team had the same Captain America idea!

Teachers ARE superheroes!

Patchwork Project

For Christmas last year, my dad gave me two bookshelves for my living room and some gray chevron wall paper from Target that I wanted to use to cover the backs of my shelves. It was so easy to do, and it turned out just how I pictured.

I had about half a roll and lots of scraps leftover, so I wanted to try to use it in my classroom. I decided to cover the tops of my two trapezoid tables to add some color to those dull tables.

Unfortunately, because I was patching scraps together, this project wasn't quite as easy as the bookshelves were, but I managed! 

I started by taking the largest pieces I had leftover and piecing them together on top of the table. I used a book and yard stick to help roll the paper out flat as I peeled off the backing. I still ended up with some bubbles, but it isn't too bad. 

Hint - Once you stick the wallpaper on, if there are bubbles, just roll with it. It gets way worse when you try to peel it back up and restick it. 

It isn't perfect, but I still love the way it turned out!

The only thing I wasn't super excited about was the look of the unfinished edges. (Ignore all those bubbles, ha!) 

To cover that up, I got some blue duct tape (only $2 with a 50% coupon from Michaels!) to place around the edges of the table. 

 I am so happy with the way it turned out!

Welcome Back!

I like to have a wreath on my classroom door for decoration and to add a bit of a home-y feeling. This year, I've decided to create wreaths for the door that match the unit of study we are doing (ex. our first thematic unit is on survival, so the wreath will be survival themed). I didn't want to leave out a more home-y (not to be confused with homie) bit of decoration, so I decided to create some wreaths to hang between my two windows in the classroom. I made the first one tonight!

I didn't take pictures while I was working on it (sorry!), but all the materials came from Michaels. The frame is a basic green metal wreath. I wove burlap and ribbon first and used brown pipe cleaners to attach the burlap to the frame. The wooden bus was already painted when I bought it, but I painted the wooden apple and added my name with a thin tipped paint pen. I painted the wooden letters and hot glued all the wooden pieces to the wreath. Simple! All in all, it took me about 30 minutes total to complete!

The "No Sew" Pillow

It's been a while since I've posted...but I'm back!

This year I've decided to remove all the desks from my room and embrace "alternative seating" options. I'll have a few tables with stools and fun chairs from Ikea, but mostly I plan to have low, small tables with crates and pillows. We'll see how it goes....I told my principal that my type A & OCD personality may absolutely hate it and need my desks back asap, but I wanted to give something new a try.

At the end of the year last year a coworker gave me two throw pillows she was getting rid of from her classroom. I figured I could give them a fresh look with some new pillow cases. With only (sigh) two-ish weeks until we're back in action, I decided to get going on the pillows.

I am NOT a seamstress by any stretch of the imagination, so when I saw these No Sew Pillows on Pinterest, I thought, "That can't be too hard!"

I found some fabric at WalMart that matches my color & pattern scheme (navy, yellow, gray, & chevron), and I guestimated that I'd need a yard for each pillow. Because the pillows have a dark and busy pattern on them already, I also got a yard of white for each pillow to act as a color buffer.

Hindsight is 20/20, and I should have measured the pillow and read the Pinterest directions a little more before heading to the store. Once I started folding the fabric per the directions, I realized a yard was not enough material. So, I had to do what all great teachers do - monitor and adjust! 

I first folded the pillow in the white fabric like I would wrap a present. Once that was folded, I placed it in the center of the chevron fabric. I folded the top and bottom of the chevron fabric to meet in the center of the pillow like shown above. 

Next, I folded the corners over like I do when wrapping a present. According to the directions I was attempting to follow, this would be the stage you bring both corners to the center to tie a knot. Unfortunately, my corners weren't long enough. 

I decided I could at least sew a button, so my "no sew" pillows became "almost no sew" pillows. I found these large wooden buttons at Michaels for .29 each. (P.S. They have a teacher discount and always have a great coupon on their app!) I painted them yellow and used them to connect each of the corners I folded into the center of the pillow. Just a few stitches, and I have two new pillows! 

Summertime Wreathing

Since finishing my spring wreath for the classroom, I have had wreathing fever! Here's my wreath for summertime!

Materials:

1. flat, wooden wreath ring
2. one 2 yard roll of yellow burlap
3. one large roll of plain burlap
4. wooden letters spelling S-U-M-M-E-R
5. craft paint
6. two spools of colored fabric ribbon
7. one sheet of card stock paper or scrapbook paper
8. hot glue gun

Process:

1. First, I painted the base of each of the letters. By the time I finished with the base of the R, the S was dry, and I could start painting the designs on each. To do the designs, I cut a piece of weighted scrapbook paper to create a stencil.

 

2. Once the letters were finished, I started the base of the wreath. I used a flat wooden wreath ring. I forgot to take a picture before I started, so I found this image of the exact same ring on Google.

I wrapped the yellow burlap along the bottom three-fourths of the wreath. Each time I made a loop around the wreath, I slightly overlapped it on what was on the wreath before. After finishing with the yellow burlap, I covered the remainder of the wreath with the plain burlap. 

3. I then evenly spaced the letters and hot glued them to the base. Between each letter, I glued a strip of the fabric ribbon. Where the plain burlap met the yellow burlap, I put two strips - one of each color.

4. Finally, I made a bow using the plain burlap. I glued two strips of the fabric ribbon to the center of the bow. I used hot glue to attach the bow to the plain burlap section of the wreath. 

I am pleased with the way it turned out, but if I could do it again, I would change a few things:

1. Since I used yellow burlap, I wouldn't paint the base of any of the letters yellow. In fact, I'd change all the colors of the letters...or just use one color. Possibly just the purple?
2. I would  position the letters a little differently - especially the Ms.

 

Back in Action!

Well, sometimes I guess you take two years off from your blog and don't even realize that's how much time has passed! It's spring break, and I've got some time on my hands....so, I've decided to revive my blogs! Hopefully I can keep them alive...

In the time that has passed, I have actually moved to a new school, and I am no longer teaching fifth grade. I am now teaching 6th grade language arts at CrossRoads Middle School. I'm in my first year there, and I absolutely LOVE it. We are a sixth grade only school, and we host students from 10 of the 12 elementary schools in our district. We also offer single gender classes, so my schedule looks like this:

Block One - CP boys
Block Two - CP girls
Block Three - Honors girls
Block Four - Planning (WOOHOO!!! Who knew that teachers actually had planning!?)

While I loved teaching elementary school with my whole heart, I have fallen head over heels in love with middle school. It has been such a blessing!

I've learned so much about middle school students this year, and I've already identified many changes that I will be putting into place over the summer to make my classroom a better environment for next year's students.

There is so much research surrounding classroom set up and decoration, but I've yet to find what's perfect for me. In elementary school, bright colors and patterns were my go to. My kids and I both loved the happy, cheerful environment, and it was stimulating and inviting. So, naturally, that's how I approached my sixth grade classroom when I moved in at CRMS. I've got bright colors, patterns, quotes, and pictures. It's pretty and colorful, but I've learned this year that middle school students need a different approach.

I've made a long summer to do list that includes a major classroom makeover. My new goal is to create a simple, calm atmosphere that reminds students of home. I'm going to include desk lamps for softer lighting, live plants for a touch of outside, and new curtains for a finished, put together look. I'm thinking about a gray and yellow color scheme (because that's my personal favorite combination!), and I also have some ideas for new seating and wall decor. I want my students to walk in and feel like our classroom is different and special - a place to be respected and respectful.

I didn't want to do the overhaul midyear (really because there just isn't time during the work week), but I did want to start at least one project to begin the "home" transformation. I settled on a wreath for my classroom door. There isn't much that's homier than that!

After wandering around Michaels for an hour putting things in and taking things out of my basket, I settled on a spring themed burlap wreath. I'm so happy with how it turned out! It was super simple, cost about $15 (the burlap was on sale!), and took about an hour to make.

Materials:

- 9 yards of burlap (I bought four different colors with two yards on each roll. I had one roll of plain burlap already at my house for the 9th yard.)
- 1 metal wreath ring
- wooden letters that spell S-P-R-I-N-G
- craft paint (already had at home)
- flower decals
- pipe cleaners (cut into thirds)
- hot glue gun

Process:

1. First, I painted the letters with pretty pastel colors that matched the burlap I picked out. I wanted to let the letters dry while I worked on the rest of the wreath.

2. Then, I cut each roll of burlap in half so that I had two one yard pieces of each color. There are 9 sections of the wreath frame, so I wanted one yard of fabric for each section.
3. I began connecting the burlap to the frame section by section. This wasn't a difficult process, but it wasn't that easy to take pictures of...so, I'll do my best to explain. I attached one end of the piece to a crossbar on the wreath frame with a piece of pipe cleaner. I then created loops and wove them in and out of one section of the frame. There was no rhyme or reason to this - I just went with what looked good! When needed, I used a piece of pipe cleaner to attach the burlap to the frame. When I finished with one section, I started with a new color in the next section.

 4. By the time I was finished with the wreath, the letters were dry. I hot glued a flower decal to each letter.

5. Then, I hot glued each of the letters to the wreath and made a simple burlap bow. I wanted to make a plain burlap bow to go on the bottom of the wreath and balance the fact that each color except the plain had two sections, so I made sure that the section with the plain burlap was on the top. Here's the finished product!

Happy wreathing!

The Crate Seat Craze

It seems like the crate seat is all the craze in classrooms right now. I first saw the idea on Pinterest (of course), and I knew I needed to have some of my own! Soliciting the handyman skills of my little brother, we headed to WalMart and Lowe's, gathered some materials, and set to work! (I cut the material, and he did everything else!)

They were super easy to make, and I love that it can be seating, storage, AND used as a lap board if you pull out the cushion and flip it over!

Here is the list of materials I bought/gathered:

1. 5 crates
2. 3/4 yard of fabric for each crate
3. one full mattress pad (used this for cushion instead of stuffing!)
4. staple gun with staples
5. red duct tape
6. one sheet of plywood (cut into 5 pieces just the right size for the crates by a sweet man at Lowe's!)
7. one roll of red ribbon (to use as handles)