New Inventory

Hello friends. Hope you had a great teaching day if you didn't get the day off. I spent the day running errands, having lunch with Mark at our favorite wing place, and doing spurts of nothing!


On Saturday Mark and I went down Ft. Myers. I have a credits and debits system in my classroom for behavior management. Students can earn credits for positive behavior and sadly, earn debits for behavior that is the opposite of positive. On Fridays when they are at Specials I write them checks for their credits. Then, they can take their checks to the bank and receive classroom cash. (I will do a LONG and DETAILED post about this whole system one day...just not today. lol) Every two weeks the class store is open. Students can buy various goodies and small trinkets with their class cash. Mark and I had a blast furnishing the store over the summer. I spent $200+ on the store but I wanted to ensure that it carried me at least to Christmas break. Fortunately it has brought me past Christmas break. Don't get me wrong, I still have a PLENTY in the store but you know how kids are...you have to keep them guessing and keep things fresh! So Mark and I set out on Saturday to replenish our inventory.


I don't know why we enjoy doing this but we do. It's fun to analyze children and how they think. We ask each other "Would you play with this if you were a kid?" "How much would a child pay for this?"  We spend hours in dollar stores, party stores, dollar sections, anywhere!! 

Here is our loot from Saturday's endeavors:

Please disregard the baby tub in the back. It's a gift for someone.

The noise putty (the jars in the back) sells out every time we put it in the store, so we keep raising the price. :) HAHA. It makes for a great economy lesson! Supply and demand. Apart from the noise putty and bouncy balls (what is it with kids and bouncy balls?), everything else are new items. Over the summer we talked about selling candy and how we felt about it. We wanted to stay away from it as much as possible. We do sell lollipops but the kids are over it. We are moving to Air Heads. We are getting desperate! LOL

I also made "Eat with the Teacher" Coupons, which aren't really coupons

because they cost $100. Students can purchase these as well. 

I'll have to take pictures of my class store. It's pretty cool. It covers my entire back table.

Work tomorrow....already? WOW, that was the fastest 3 day weekend ever. 

When the cat's away...

...the mice will play! Mark had to work today so I went out and did what I do best...SHOP! First stop....Books-A-Million. There is something about children's books that brings me total bliss. I love children's books more than shoes....well that was a little dramatic, but you get the point. Let me give you some background information before I share what I got at BAM. We read "Cook-A-Doodle-Do" every year which is part of our reading series. It's a different version of "The Little Red Hen," or what most people call a "mixed up fairy tale." MY KIDS AND I LOVE MIXED UP FAIRY TALES. 


When we read "Cook-A-Doodle-Do" we also examine different versions of the original story. I read them the following... 

Burro's Tortillas by Terri Fields. This story gives a Southwestern twist on "The Little Red Hen." Burro wants to turn corn into tortillas, but no one will help him. 

"The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza" by Philemon Sturges. Little Red lives in the big city in this adorable tale. She tries to employ the help of her friends to make a pizza, but of course they have other "plans" and cannot help. 

Both stories are precious and big hits in my room when I read them. Well today, I found a NEW story to add to my "Little Red Hen" collection. When browsing the aisles of BAM I found "The Little Red Pen" by Janet Stevens. SCORE! I'm so excited! This book is ADORABLE!

One word sums up this story... hilarious! Little Red Pen turns to her friends for help when she has to grade papers, but no one is willing to assist. Things take a turn for the worst when Little Red Pen falls into the wastebasket. The other office supplies must work together to save her. I cannot wait to share this story with my kids. 

*Click on the picture of the book to watch a preview video on the story.* Enjoy!

Next, I went to Target. Target must be making a killing on the dollar section with us teachers around. As I'm sure most of you know, they currently have adorable Valentine's Day stuff in their dollar section. I found foam stickers for holiday crafts and noise putty for my class store. I ran out of this stuff the first day it debuted at the store and the kids have been hounding me to restock it. :) 

Then I went to the mall and shopped around. Nothing too exciting. 

Contest update: I'm currently in 1st place with 55%. I'm hopeful I can keep the lead until the 30th, which is when the contest ends. Every one I know has been super supportive and voting like crazy, even my students' parents. They are so AWESOME!

Got to go clean and do laundry. EW. 

Themes in the Classroom

I know we are only half way through the school year but I'm already thinking about my classroom theme for next year. This was the first year I did a theme and it was a blast.


Step 1: I had to pick a theme. A tall order for someone as indecisive as myself. I have difficulty deciding what to make for dinner. Mark was of true assistance in this step..he wanted a nautical/ocean theme (naturally...considering he likes loves to fish). I on the other hand was hesitant about such a theme. What if the kids aren't thrilled with it? We went back and forth for days but in the end, stuck with nautical.


Step 2: Find decor that matches my theme. THIS WAS MY FAVORITE PART (naturally...considering I like love to shop). It was the beginning of Summer so I was suffering from the "I think I'm married to Donald Trump because I'm feeling richer effect" due to being paid 5 paychecks at once. I went nuts. I ordered anything and everything that had a life preserver or anchor on it. We took daily trips to the teacher store and packages were coming by the droves. It took about 4 days before I filled our office up with boxes and bags. Mark put a halt to step 2 with a glare and a simple "You're done shopping." Ok.....moving on to step 3....


Step 3: Decorate! Not for the faint of heart...this took several 8-9 hour days with both Mark and I working on the room. And let's not forget no air conditioning...and we live in Florida. Also, I should mention the "unique" situation regarding my room ...I have cement blocks for walls, which means you can't staple into the walls. Tape doesn't work either because of the heat...so what's left? HOT GLUE..I have to hot glue everything!!! It's a nightmare and each year I add a new "battle wound" to my scar collection. I use fabric to decorate my walls/doors and Mark is the Ying to my Yang in this process. Of course when there is hot glue, fabric, and a ladder involved, an argument always results and someone storms off. Mark took frequent visits to the gas station up the road for "breaks."  Anyone who decorates their classroom knows what I'm talking about. There are high expectations and "visions" that must be duplicated. We always end up laughing about it, but it's a lot of work..


End result? A great looking room (if I do say so myself). My mind is already bubbling with ideas for next year and I think I should start shopping soon so my wallet holds up. :) Mark, don't read the previous sentence!


Take a look at my classroom....

Job Bulletin Board - every student in my class has a job.

AR Bulletin Board - each student has an anchor with their name on it. They move around to the different boats as they progressed to the higher clubs.

Please disregard the Christmas decorations. :)

Well that's my room. What classroom theme do you have? Please comment and share!