How did it become Monday again so soon?

I swear Monday was just a few days ago, but here we go again for Monday Made It with Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics. I really do love this, as you will soon see! 

This summer, when I have not been on the North End of the beach, I have spent my time either tutoring, working in my classroom, or doing something crafty at home. So I have oodles of made-its to share with you!

As I told you last week, my landlord gave me the entire reign over the garage and all of its contents. This week I made this... I have tried to remember to take before and after pictures, this one is a more of middle and after, considering one of the shelves was missing and had to be replaced. (And yes, I am totally using my IKEA bag as a drop cloth, considering now that the closest IKEA is three and half hours away.)

After adding second shelf and staining

Before Painting   

  

After painting and replacing knob

Before sanding to look "shabby chic"

This is now posted on craigslist, in hopes to fund a few more crafty ventures before school starts. Now, on to the fun stuff! Yesterday, boy and I took his truck to Raleigh to pick up a rocking chair my mom said she had gotten for my classroom. 

Here is the chair before and after. It's now freshy fresh with a new coat of free paint (found in the garage) and leftover fabric from my bucket seats a few weeks ago. Can we say super free??!!?

As long as you don't count the gas money to drive two hours there and back. :/

P.S. Remind me to check and see when the last time I had a tetanus shot was. The number of rusty staples that had to be removed from this seat cover was slightly ridiculous.

And I know, you must be thinking to yourself "There's no way she can spend that much time at the beach. She only did two projects."

AHA! Fooled you again. Never underestimate my craftyness. 

(I will never understand why blogger doesn't like the words I make up!)

In the hour before tacos I made this for my math workshop bulletin board, though it still needs to be hole punched and strung. 

 Earlier this week the remaining paper lanterns I ordered arrived, which I immediately upon opening, had to paint eyes on. Then, after tutoring today, I attached the remaining fins and tails.

 These are going to go over my five round tables to assign table names/colors.

Then, there are these, which happen to be my favorite Monday Made It project so far. 

No sew shark pillows. Need you ask more?

Well, here are the directions!

Step 1: Cover old pillows in old blue pillow cases.

 Step 2: Wrap remaining pillow case end in hair tie and then cover with ribbon.

 

 Step 3: Fabric glue on felt eye, teeth, and gills.

 

Ta DA!

Did I mention that I love Monday Made It?

Cause I DO!!!!

Actually, there may have been more projects, except I ran out of laminating film. Guess I will save those for next week. 

 P.S. A little side note/comment/question, the name of my blog is a play on words with the name of the street our school is located on, Wonder Way. We were able to choose the name after we purchased the land a few years ago before the school was built, but I am getting off topic. I was finally able to take a picture of the road sign and would like a new blog background designed with the road sign in mind, I would love suggestions on how to go about doing this.

Here is a picniked version of our street sign, if it helps your creativityness.

What are you wondering?

Wow! It's early. For some strange reason I am up before 10 this morning. It is still summer right? Oh well, at least it will give me a chance to do a little blog stalking studying reading.

And then there's pinterest. Oh how I LOVE some pinterest.While stalking repinning some great educational resources, I stumbled upon a great new blog to follow. Here is the link I found. It's from Jen at The Go To Teacher and specifically, her inquiry circle thinking maps and planning sheets. How cool? These are just a couple of her AWESOME pieces.

But then it got me wondering, I have pinned a ridiculous amount of things since my pinterest account  started taking over my life was created. (I seriously think I have a problem but that's a post for another day.) What I noticed was that very few of my pins have an inquiry focus. Though many of them could be adapted for inquiry, it will take some time and effort to make the necessary adjustments, specifically in the areas of math and reading. So much to do and so little summer left...

Tell me more!

Woo hoo for blogging two days in a row! This evening as I listen to the thunder rumbles and waiting for the storm to pass, I am linking up with Amy over at Step into 2nd for her Tell me more linky party. Maybe this will help me get some more followers. :)

 So here are some fun facts about me that you may not know....

1. My minor in college was studio art. This combined with my elementary ed major, made my roommates constantly angry, especially since one was learning every bone, muscle and organ  in the body for nursing and the other was an accounting major. ;)

 These are two of my paintings from my final portfolio.

 2. I LOVE to eat and would probably eat five or six meals a day if I had the time. I will try just about anything new (as long as it isn't seafood.)This is one of my most recent favorites. Seared duck with a summer vegetable medley and a sweet potato puree from The Admiral in Asheville, N.C.

3. I'm allergic to shellfish, but will occasionally dope myself up on enough benadryl to sedate a small elephant and eat the bang bang shrimp at Bonefish. Daredevil enough yet for you?

4. No? Not yet? Well how about this....

I also LOVE going fast, be it roller coasters, boats, cars, or motorcycles. There is nothing like a good old fashioned  adrenaline rush.


5. I have one brother who is seven years younger than me and an avid blog reader ;) so I am sure he will thoroughly enjoy number six.

6. Our mother use to make us dress up, occasionally in matching outfits and take our Christmas pictures EVERY year until he was 18, which means I was.... 25. That's right. Last year was our last year of Christmas pictures. Now, I am positive these will elicit me some sort of endearing hate mail.

7. If you know me in person you will already know this about me, but the bloggity world doesn't sooooo.... Number seven is my favorite band of all time (I mean behind the Beatles of course, because who doesn't love Johnny boy) is the Avett Brothers from right here in NC. If you like bluegrass music and ever have the chance to see them live, do it! You will not be disappointed.

 8. I HATE to cook. Okay, I don't really hate it. I am just REALLY bad at it.

This pretty much sums up any cooking experience I have ever had.

9. My first full teaching job was with KIPP or the Knowledge is Power Program in Texas. Before I started, they sent me to a conference in Vegas where I met the founders. 

 Number 10. Last but not least.... 

I think the sunrise on the beach is one of the most beautiful things to be seen 

and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the world.

Monday Made It and Tacos

Tacos! Tacos! Tacos! They could possibly make Monday my favorite day of the week. (Weird, I know.) So, after a belly full of tacos and a hard day of work I am linking up with Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It because I have been super, SUPER busy. Ready?

Background info: 
My landlord is kind of a slum lord hoarder and uses the garage behind my house to store all of the random crap goodies he finds in the dilapidated old houses he buys and rents out. Boy has been looking for doors to put in his studio, so I asked landlord if I could have the ones (eight) in the garage. He said no. :(    He might need them for something...  But, he also said I could have anything else in there that I wanted, just to get it out of his way. (I imagine that this is because he needs more room to put more crap antique collectibles.)

Anyway, I found this cool desk/table in there that was covered in spiderwebs and contact paper. Ew! Drum roll please.....

 

 There are actually two drawers that go to this. I just need to sand the other one down so it will fit again.

But check THIS out...

Items found discarded in dump garage and FREE:

1 Table

1 Gallon of Behr Satin White Paint (really there is probably five or six of these in there but I just needed one)

1 Roll of Scotch painters tape 

and

1 paint brush

Items I had to purchase at Lowes:

1 can of green spray paint 

($5 WooHooo!)

 But WAIT! There's more...
The table was my real Monday made it project but it had to be done on Sunday because boy made me slave labor help paint his studio today. A few weeks ago we learned how to stain concrete together and today we finally had a chance to work on the walls. He picked out the color blanket (which is hard to tell here, but is really more of a light blue-green minty color) and a espresso stain. Looks good, huh?

He wants the place to have a kind of rustic but industrial feel so all of the doors are going to look like barn doors except for the actual sliding barn doors, that will be the metal ones, seen in the right of this picture. Confused yet? Yeah.... welcome to my world.

I have never had so many conversations about doors in my life than I did today.

So, my job was staining today.... All day.... Well... except for eating tacos. I started by putting one coat of stain on all of the doors and after that dried put a second coat on in vertical lines leaving small gaps in between the strokes. (I also stained all of the trim and hanging boards for his art but pictures of all of those will come once they are hung. He is also going to install trim on the doors to make them look more barn doory. (Not a word, oh well.) I think I am done for the night.


Tomorrow I am hoping that I can get boy to take my fun new table to school, but don't worry there will be many more Monday Made It projects to come. Wait till you see what else I found in the garage....

Blog Hopping

I found this nifty little blog hop linky party on Teaching Maddeness and it was started by Janice over at Grade Three is the Place for Me.

I am eager to find other newbie bloggers like me. :) So here are the answers to her questions and then I am off to work on my old new computer table for Monday Made It.

1.  What state are you in?

I live in Wilmington, NC. 

2.  What is your current teaching position?

This year I am teaching second grade again... Soooooo excited!

3.  What is your teaching experience?

I started as an exeptional children's teacher assistant while I was in grad school. Then taught one year of second and one year of third. This will be year THREE!

4.   When did you start blogging?

About two weeks ago... Talk about newbie, huh?

5.  Share a blogging tip or resource.

Ummmm....Yeah..... I have A LOT of reading to do on everyones blogs because I am seriously struggling with just about everything. (Which is why my link on the blog hop says der.) That should pretty much sum it u. I couldn't shrink my link, so der.


This is a Blog Hop!




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About to get real.... (insert infuriating or thoroughly depressing adjective here)

Let me start by saying that I don't intend for this to be a gripe-y or complaining post. I need help and I am looking to you o' wonderful teachery bloggers of the world for some advice.

Last night I attended a clothes swap by a coworker. The event was AWESOME. I had never been to a swap before and didn't really know what to expect, but the hostess was amazingly organized and there were plenty of items to choose from. The guests that brought the most items got first pick and so on and so forth until everyone had their turn picking through the delightful piles of gently used goodies.

I walked away with four very cute dresses, two for work and two for play, but as I was rummaging the others' discarded garments, I realized that I had very similar items in my own closet and hadn't worn them in years. So, why was I hanging on to them while others had so easily purged themselves of their size two J. Crews? Did I really think I could still fit in them? Maybe? One day?

Who am I kidding? That was almost five years and twenty pounds ago. What has happened to me since I started teaching? I have tried to stay active; gym memberships going unused, running groups being excused, and day after day of maybe I will do that insanity video tomorrow.

So here is my question:  

What do you do to get yourself motivated to stay active in and out of the classroom?

P.S. After the swap, any remaining clothes were donated to a local charity. Here is a picture of ONE table of clothes that were left behind.

 

A Functional Space

It has been a week since my last post and I feel like I have accomplished so much and so little at the same time. After reading some of my favorite blogs, it appears that many, many of my teacher friends have begun thinking and/or planning for their first week.... AHHhhhhh!

Is it really that time already? Surely not. There is still soooo much to do. I am going to try and get back in my room this week, now that I think they are finally done with repairing our floors from the water damage. I need to do some serious library organizing and then once my room is somewhat organized, I can sit down and think about what beginning of the year activities from last year I can use for two years and which need to be saved for another round of third grade.(Holy run-on sentence BATMAN!)


     Side note: If you haven't figured it out yet, we loop and have the same class for two years. The loops go k-1, 2-3, and 4-5. Which is why I couldn't have a cutsey grade level blog title, but I love the amount of time we get to spend together and how much they care for each other after looping.

I also need to work on finishing up all of the crafty projects that I started weeks ago. This is a photo of done, almost done, and not even started. I finished my chalkboard paint calendar mirror thingy and it is now dangerously resting on the wall in my kitchen. As for the bucket seats, grrrrr. First of all, they ended up costing wayyyyy more than I had expected. (About ten dollars a piece, although this is partially my fault for not paying attention to the price of the fabric). Then I ran out of ribbon, so I am going to have to go back to the store and spend MORE money.... lesson learned. The fabric folded on the chair, that I didn't even realize is in the photo, is to make pillow cases for the pillows I already have. We had a HUGE lice problem in our school last year. They were RAMPANT!

*scratching head while thinking about it*

Anyway, taking the pillow cases off will be easier than washing the giant pillows. Now, I just need a sewing machine... Or a friend with a sewing machine.... Or an easily persuadable parent with a sewing machine...

That might actually work.

Until my next creative streak hits blogging world and if you haven't checked out my new button or my donors choose page, you should because they're awesome and it's all I have accomplished tonight.

What day of the week is it?

I have been asking myself that just about every day now and the only thing that keeps me on track is taco Monday. Mmmmmmmm TACOS! So that must mean that today is Tuesday.

I have been very, very, VERY crafty lately.

The following things are finished...
- Ocean themed job chart
- Ocean themed literacy station rotations
- Supply bin labels
- Welcome to 2nd door banner
- And one very adorable fish lantern (This one could use a little touch up on the eyes, but there are four more to go)

These things are almost finished...
- Math Journal labels
- Ocean themed math rotation stations
- Library bucket labels
- Chalkboard Calendar (for my house, but it just needs to be wired and hung)
- The remaining four fishy lanterns

And these are the things that I have yet to start but have every intention of completing before the end of the summer...
- 5 Gallon bucket seats
- Refinish stand up mirror
- Refinish roll top desk
Slightly ambitious, huh?

I am still debating on what color I want to repaint the last two. All of the other furniture in my house is the black-brown stain from ikea, but I really don't want to do anymore staining. I will have to keep thinking on that.

For now, I'm off to finish up some laundry, then getting ready to see Ted with the boy.

Hooray for my first post!

Today has been a day of many firsts.  It was the first day I met with Lisa as my teaching partner. It was my first day of planning for second grade at CFCI. And.... It was the first day of being in my PERMANENT 2-3 room (at least I hope.) Now to just finish unpacking boxes.


I wanted to start a blog so to keep everyone up to date on what exactly is happening in 2-3 this year and to begin with, Lisa and I sat down today and planned out our big inquiry units. We will be doing some oldies but goodies, along with some new, big and exciting things. Yay essential standards! 


Apart from working on our curriculum, I have also been working on my new classroom theme. Last year was Whooooo's in third grade? and I wanted to change things up so that I could reuse my owls again for something new for my kids next year. Ready???? This year's theme is....


Swimming into Second


And of course.... all of the cute stuff on pinterest and TpT is owls.... my luck.


Currently downloading and saving things for next year, while looking for more fishys and watching Sunday's True Blood. 


<3 Julie