Posters!!

I've already started thinking about my decor for next year...
YES. I know the current school year is not over.
YES. I know summer has not even begun.
But once my brain starts, it won't quit. So I've already started planning, buying and MAKING!

I've made some adorable classorom posters for my room next year... I can't tell you WHERE or WHY the idea came about (that will have to wait), but I can give a small hint... Basically, I'm going to turn old, worn out aspects of my classroom (my school is kinda dated) into ADORABLE.

Remember what I did to my ugly cabinets last year? It's along those same lines... I'm seriously stoked about the end result. So STAY TUNED!

Last year I took my old, ugly mismatched cabinets and covered them with contact paper. From LAME to FAB! 

Anyway. Back to my classroom posters.
I love them so much I decided to make them a $1 download on my TPT. I've made them with clipart frames and without (both option is in each pack) so you can either print, cut and hang 'em right away OR print, cut and buy an adorable frame to put them in.

Here are the posters I've made thus far... If you like one, just click the pic to be taken to my TPT store, "Katie Texas"!

5"7"s

 

4"6"s

Want a free one? Just pin a pic of your favorite & blog about it and I'll hook you up! Just comment with the link below. (Limit 2 per person and only open to the first 5 people who leave a comment)

Have a cute saying you'd like made into a poster? Comment below and if I decide to make it, I'll give you a free one! YAY! 

~xo~

Catch Up and a SALE

So I've survived the first two weeks of school! Yay! My sweet students are already into the groove of things which is AWESOME. I'm so happy to already have routines set up and running well. We were  doing work by Day 2!

Here's a look at my finished classroom (before students!). I'm not working with as much space as I had the previous two years, but I think everything fit quite well.

Thank God for contact paper! I had an orange set of cabinets, a set of brown laminate, and a set of yellow.... UM, NO. So I bought a ton of black contact paper, covered them, and finished it off with my favorite rainbow leopard border. WOOT.

These awesome measurement cards are from LoneStar Learning. LOVE THEM!!!

 Here's my soon-to-be-fabulous math word wall! Math vocab cards by Blair Turner - get them HERE! 

The only area I had trouble finding room for was my library... It kinda sticks out but oh well-- It bothers me but not the kiddos! 

Here are the first day of school gifts for my class and team! 

I've posted some new goodies in my TPT store and guess what... EVERYTHING IS ON SALE! The sale starts tomorrow, Sept. 9, and will run until Sept. 12. 15% off everything!! 

I {heart} Contact Paper!

I have two beautiful cabinets in my new classroom- One is bright orange and the other is wood laminate... I'm kidding when I say they're beautiful. I decided they needed to be covered IMMEDIATELY.  So I bought black contact paper (which doubles as a chalk board!!!) and covered those puppies. Add my ABSOLUTELY FAVORITE BORDER IN THE WHOLE WORLD and you  get......

 +  = 

A - W - E - S - O - M - E - N - E - S - S!!!!

My Classroom :)

It has been WEEKS since I've updated, but I know my fellow teachers understand... The start of school is EX-HAUST-ING. But I survived and am back to share pictures of my classroom!

Here's my lovely desk area that I barely get to use... The arrow is pointing to my super secret copy machine (don't want the whole school to come use it) that my wonderful in-laws got for me!! My mother-in-law is a 20 year veteran teacher, but it was my father-in-law (who's married to a 20 year veteran teacher) who thought of this wonderful gift! LOVE THEM BOTH!

I LOVE my library area, and so do my kiddos. My husband made me that GORGEOUS tree last year and it's held up well. He's so talented! Right next to library are my Boggle & Noggle centers. If you're wondering what Noggle is, just click HERE! These are new activities this year and my students are LOVING them. They constantly ask to play them.

    

The colorful stuff on the left side of this pictures is my "Math Workshop" board. This year for math I'm mixing whole group instruction with targeted math rotations. My kids will have "teacher time" (one-on-one instruction), "math facts", "at your desk" (worksheet for the day) and "hands on" which will be reinforcing our topic with games/ manipulatives.  My Math Workshop is inspired by The Clutter Free Classroom (rockin' blog!). I'm also dedicating an entire bulletin board to math vocabulary that will correspond to whatever skill I'm teaching. No more missing questions because of a lack of math vocab! 

This is a whole classroom pic - what you can't see (which is to the left) is my small group area (just picture a rainbow table with little chairs and you'll get the idea). Way off in the distance you can see little cards which is my MATH ALPHABET! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THIS! It's a FREE download from Bridget at Lovely Little Leaders. I would have paid major dinero for it though! It's so stinkin' cute and gives my kids MORE MATH VOCAB! YAY!






And last but not least, my handsome boys & me on the first day of school!! My sweet angels are in 7th and 4th grade this year... They're growing up SO FAST! I love first day of school pics and I LOVE MY BOYS!!