Making some progress!

After 2 months of the school being closed, I FINALLY got into my classroom this week.  It was hard for me to stay away, but I must say that I am thankful for the time off.  I still have 2 weeks before the teachers go back on August 17th, PTL!!!  So, I will work here and there (pretty much when I feel like it!) until then :).
After seeing so many blogs where teachers are having to start from scratch, I am overjoyed that I was able to keep my classroom together over the summer.  I didn’t take any of my bulletin boards down, but all of my furniture was moved.  So, I’m only changing up a few things from the years past.  Here’s a little peek at what I’ve accomplished so far…
I have always wanted a tree in my classroom, but never wanted to spend the time to make one.  When I saw Cara’s tree on her recent post I knew that this year was the year to make one!  Today, I buckled down, and gave this little wall a makeover.  First, I covered the walls in blue butcher paper.  Then, I crinkled up a bunch of brown butcher paper, and just started stapling from the bottom-up.  I stapled branches where needed until I was happy with how it looked.  Next, I cut leaves (different shades, different sizes) out of construction paper, drew the veins, and stapled those in random positions.  Then, I added the accents that you see around the tree 🙂
 Around the tree, I stapled these loving little chevron sayings from Hope!
 Make sure to check out those signs and so much more {HERE}
My next goal was to tackle my cabinets.  Last year, after I saw The Teacher Wife’s post, I knew that I HAD to put my classroom promise on my cabinets.  During the first week of school, we will discuss and chart our classroom promise.  Then, I’ll fill in the blanks that you see below.  My students will each make their face that I will tape all around the promise!  The signs are part of my Classroom Promise Pack.  The little kids shown below are not.
Moving on… I knew I HAD to change the space above the lockers.  I did have red material on one side and blue on the other.  And, I was using it for a student work display, but I never wanted to climb up there to staple work!  So, this area needed a facelift.  I’m still not 100% satisfied with it, but that’s probably because it’s not finished yet!  I’m still thinking of what I should put on the actual boards that I framed out.  I might use it for charts that we make… not sure quite yet!  The star paper is actually wrapping paper from Hobby Lobby, and the lanterns came from there as well!

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And, that’s what I was able to accomplish this week!  I plan on taking a few days off before I head back up there.  My brain is already fried from the little time that I’ve spent working, ha!
Before you go, please head over to my teamie’s new bilingual blog and TpT store!  She makes the CUTEST crafts with our classes, and I know you’ll love them!  She’s already put up a really cute freebie at her store!  Make sure to follow her 🙂
Hope your classroom is coming along well, and it’s not stressing you out *too* much!  Happy decorating, friends 🙂
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Hi, I'm Amy

Hey, y’all! My name is Amy Lemons and I am passionate about providing students with both engaging and effective standards-based Math and ELA lessons.

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30 Responses

  1. Living in the Caribbean and having NO teacher or craft stores means everything in my classroom is homemade…luckily (or not) my classroom is only 15'X19' so its small…ups and downs! I cannot WAIT to be back in America and have stores with lots of resources and a BIG, spacious classroom!

    Yours looks amazing!

  2. I LOVE your tree! I considering making one as well for my classroom library and making the leaves different books that we had read together as a class.. But, with this being my very first year.. making a tree has not been at the top of my ever-growing to-do list! Yours looks great!!

    Ashley
    That's So Second Grade

  3. Hi Girl I noticed you were using clothes pins on your laundry line. You might be happier switching to the tiny alligator clips sold at staples. They work about 1000+1 better than clothes pins. I hope you have a super happy school year.

  4. I love your room! Beautiful… Curious to know what do you use the pockets for that are on your lockers?