Teacher Week 2015-2016 - 5 Fun Facts

Hey guys, it has been a hectic first week of school and it is beginning again. Hope everyone's first weeks or month (depending on how lucky you are) went well. Since I am new to blogging I have decided to link up with Blog Hoppin' for Teacher Week 2015-2016, so I can use this opportunity to tell you a little about myself.

Today's topic is 5 fun facts.

Mmmm....let's see.

1.    I have an awesome twin sister and if you can believe it she has also chosen the teaching profession (after much debating and graduating with a different degree). She went from a business administration degree to going through Hillsborough Community College to get her Education Certificate. She has just started her first year teaching and is teaching at my school. Let me tell you this can be super confusing.

2.   I love dogs, but at this point I don't have one. I would love to get one, but I live with my sister and she is opposed to it at the moment. She seems to think that if I get one, I will get busy with school and expect her to take care of it. Where she got that idea? I have no idea. This is my dream dog. Isn't he adorable.

3.   Have no children but family is super important to me. Right now I don't live at home or in the same city with my parents and older sisters, but we try to get together as much as possible. Going home after a month away and just relaxing for the weekend or on one of the schools many breaks is one of the most relaxing things to me.

4.    I love reading books especially romance books. Yes, I said it! I love reading in general, but put a romance book in front of me and don't talk to me for a while and I'll be happy. Super sad that I have too busy to read any books for the last little while. Right now the last book, I read has been from Jordan Silver. 

5.    In the last few months, I have been dabbling in cake decorating. At this point I only decorate dummy cakes, but I hope to get good enough to begin decorating cakes for my friends and family during special events. Here are a few pictures of my work at this point.

So, this is just a little about me. I can't wait to read and get to know some of the other teacher bloggers on the world wide web.

Remind your Parents

I recently heard about this awesome site and I thought it would be perfect to share with you. It's called Remind. It allows you to text your parents in a mass text message to remind them to do things like turn in their field trip money.

It is absolutely free of charge to teachers and no additional charge to parents for text messages.
This is something that parents don't have to have internet to sign up for. When you sign up as a teacher it allows you to set up a class code and all you have to do is let parent know what the code is and have them text it to the designated number.

Another cool thing about remind is you send your text messages through the website so this keeps your phone number secret and parents can't respond to your messages. This is useful when you just want to send a bulk message to parents and you don't need them to answer you back.

I am definitely using this this year.

If you have used remind before please comment and let me know how you have used it.

Very First Post - Classroom Reveal 2015-2016

Hi!

This is my very first blog post and I am super excited and nervous about my success. I have been following teaching blogs for a while and have been teaching for 2 years, now and I am excited to be embarking on this blogging adventure and soon my very own TPT store!

I am super excited to be linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It. I have been a fan of her and her creativity for a while now.

Okay. Here is a look at my classroom and a rundown of how I made some of the parts.

Create seats has been something I have been a fan of from before my first year teaching and I have to admit that I have been scared to make them. It has always been a worry of mine that they would break and there would be kids on the floor and lots of tears. After finally working up the courage to try crate seats this is what I came up with. I bought about 1/2 inch think wood because I'm paranoid  and hopefully this will work wonders. They definitely add a splash of color to the room and match the foam boards on the windows (next time I will go with a different patter though).

Sorry this picture is a little dark. Got this idea from Kelli over at Tales of a Tenacious Teacher. I loved it. I have a wall with two giant windows that take up a lot of space and I thought this was a fabulous way to gain more real estate. I covered the foam boards with fabric to give it a pop of color.

This desk is one of my favorite parts of the whole room. Our school theme is Sea Us Learn and I think the ocean theme is really embodied here. My sisters love me because they spent hours cutting and and pasting construction paper to make seaweed and a variety of underwater critters.

These are book boxes that I got from Ikea that I wrapped in wrapping paper from Walmart. They are super cheap to make and look pretty awesome. The book boxes are 5 for 1.99 at Ikea.

These are some letters that I saw on Pinterest a few years ago. I actually made them my first year of teaching. They were super simple. All you need is a computer, glue and some construction paper. I printed out a template for each letter by using Microsoft Word (make sure the letters you choose have a boxy shape) then I just used the construction paper (cut in 1/2 inch strips) to outline the letter. Last add the swirls. 

Here is a look at my classroom as a whole.

Hope you enjoyed this look at my home away from home.

Please let me know what you think.