Happy (Freebie) Friday!

It's Freebie Friday again!  I love having ways to connect to my students outside of school - even before they're my students.  That's why I created postcards to send to my students right before school begins.  Just handwriting them a short note that tells them how happy you are to be their teacher will get them pumped up to come back and learn!  I can remember one summer that a teacher of mine wrote me a postcard and sent it in the mail.  I was SO excited to get mail.  Guess what - kids today still get SO excited when they get mail!

Even if you don't get your class roll early, you can send your students a note just after school begins.  It'll still create the same excitement for learning even if they receive it after they're in your classroom!

These postcards are created for grades PreK-5.  Just click on the picture and snatch them up!  

                 

New School Year, New Bookshelves

So do you remember those bookshelves I got at yard sales in this post?  They looked like this:

They were cheap and in good shape, but they weren't really appealing for a first grade classroom.  And they didn't match.  So to make them beautiful, we looked on Pinterest to see how to paint laminate.  For the record, Pinterest isn't always a completely reliable source...  Pinterest told us to paint them with primer (which took about 4-5 coats just to make it look consistently white) and then use colored paint.  The primer was still coming off through the paint, but overall it looked pretty good.  It took me, my mother, and my mother-in-law about 11 hours to do these shelves.  If it hadn't been for them, I would have spent DAYS painting.  This year we're going to have a big long discussion in my classroom about how to be gentle with the bookshelves - because I am NOT painting laminate again.

Here they are!  We used painters tape and Frog Tape to get the different designs.

And for the record, the princess shelf in the picture from the yard sales is staying just the way it is.  I just don't have the heart to paint over Belle and Cinderella - nor the energy.

Freebie Friday!

Get some superhero writers in your class with this freebie!  This freebie includes posters to remind your students of some of the most important pieces they need for their writing - from punctuation to writing formation.  This resource also includes posters for POW + TIDE, which is a great tool to use for responding to text through writing.  Check it out, print it out, and put it up!

 

 Click the picture below

She's a Beauty!

I am SUPER excited about this!! Just look at this fantastic looking blog right here!  Isn't it absolutely lovely?  Yes? I think so, too.  I could never ever do anything this amazing, but Megan at A Bird in Hand Designs is spectacular.  She seriously made all of my dreams come true in this blog design.  If you're looking for someone to make your blog look fantastic, check her out!

Oh Snap!

Check this out!  You can go visit some awesome teachers at Blog Hoppin' and have a chance to win a Canon Rebel!  Isn't that just lovely?  I mean look at this thing:

I want it, and I'm pretty sure you probably do too!  You just complete their scavenger hunt by taking pictures of certain things and putting those pictures on instagram!  Sound like fun?  Yes it does! Check them out and find all of the more detailed instructions here: Blog Hoppin'.

While you're using your instagram and completing their scavenger hunt, you can just go ahead and follow me too by clicking here!