Facelift!

I have decided to come out from under the books and boxes and spiders and mess that is my classroom to do something for myself for a moment.  Did you see that I said spiders?  Yes, I have killed at least 40-50 spiders since returning to my classroom.  Does that not make you cringe?!  Welcome to my world.

Well, as I have been scouring the Internet to see how to best update my classroom so that I am the most effective teacher I can be... I have come to a couple of moments in which I realize that I am far from the teacher I wish I could be.  I know this is only my third year, but I always desire to be and do my best.  When I see these amazing teachers posting on their blogs and showing all of the products they are creating... from classroom design to center organization to reading notebooks to upcoming lessons... I think to myself...

DO YOU HAVE A LIFE?!?!?


The answer, I think, is no.  There is absolutely no way that any human being has the time to do all of this and also enjoy the wonderful blessings of life in the outside world.  I mean, at least not that I have come across.  SO, while I have beaten myself up numerous times trying to figure out how to do all of this at once, I have also had to remind myself that these people have been teaching for YEARS, and they didn't just magically wake up one day and be awesome... they have developed into that person over time.  I just have to be okay with taking on small pieces one at a time. 

For instance, my classroom has a Hollywood/Movie theme.  I saw on an old blog from The First Grade Parade, who also had this theme, a cute behavior management system that I was already planning on making, but it had CUTE clip art and fonts, etc.  I have come across this problem many times this summer.  And I have had to ask, where in the world are these people getting such cute stuff?  All these products they are making... are these teachers so incredible that they also can design clip art and fonts??!?!  The answer for the most part is no.  I've been asking people and scouring the Internet to find these gems.  In case you have been wondering where to go... here are some of the places I've found...

FONTS:
Kevin and Amanda
These are FREE and they have a variety of finds on there.  You can even submit your own writing sample and they will create it as a font for you!  NUTS.
Dafont.com
They have TONS of fonts.  Like... everything you can think of, basically... and most are free.

CLIP ART:
DJ Inkers
Their stuff is SO CUTE, but it comes on CD's that they have to send you.  Each CD comes with a bazillion items, but it also comes at a steep price.... Maybe if I was rich...
Scrappin' Doodles
Absolutely precious, teacher-friendly clip art.  They come in different size packages, reasonable pricing, and when you buy it, all you have to do is click a link to download.  SIMPLE!
Etsy!
Who knew?  I though Etsy was just for craftiness.  (Is that a word?)  But they also sell digital clip art that you can download.  Also reasonable pricing.  I ordered a package from JCSweetpea Designs.  They look like scrap booking material!  It's AWESOME!

Do you know of any other places to find cute fonts or clip art??  Let me know!

Also, as you can see, I have updated my blog with a scrappier design.  I have sat googly-eyed staring at some of my favorite blogs' headers and wondered how they created such beauty.  Welp, I have also decided to share with you my findings so you can make yours pretty, too!

Custom Blog Designs
One word... EXPENSIVE... They are BEAUTIFUL, but it costs to be beautiful, right??  Well, they have pre-made blog designs, but they are "CUSTOM" which means no design can have two owners.  You are limited to choices that no one else has already claimed.  These, though, are like $20-$30.  No, thank you.  But you can also make your own design by starting with one of their packages...  The least expensive is like $65... yiiiiiikes!  My thoughts are... unless you are starting a business blog or something... not worth it.
Shabby Blogs
YES.  This site is incredible.  They have designs that look like scrapbooks, and they are... get this... FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!  Also, they have tutorials that tell you how to use their stuff.  Wow.

So, the only problem I encountered was with blogger.com.  I got the beautifulness on here, but I'm having some trouble designing just the basic stuff on my blog.  I can't get my post background to be anything but grey.  And it took me a couple of attempts before the background worked right.  Also, I don't know how to center my header, so I just made the width of the blog smaller.....

Welll... that's what I've got.  Any thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Helpful hints? Sanity-to-go??

Design on!

Project Success!

Married friends- Do you and your husband wake up at the same time in the mornings?  During the school year, D and I are definitely on different schedules.  Every morning I will get up and get completely ready and walk into the bedroom to give him a kiss before I head for work.  He looks so cozy all sleepy-faced, smushed between the covers.  I hate love it!  I will already have been teaching for an hour before my husband even gets out of bed.  How unfair neat is that?? 

So, you'd think I would love to have the tables turned during the summertime since I am the one without anywhere in particular to be.  Notsomuch.  Dwayne has the luxury of showing up to work somewhere between 8:30 and 9:30... ish.  Yesterday he did not get out of bed until 9:07.  9:07?!?  Yes, that's what I said.  Because I am bitter and feel the need to take advantage of my summer sleepability, I choose to stay in bed even though I've already been awake for an hour.  This morning, however, it got to be 9:30, and I just had to get up and going while he slept for another hour and 15 minutes.  The sad thing is that my body has adjusted to being able to sleep late.  During the school year, I will be awake at 7:45 on a Saturday morning, and D will STILL sleep until 10:30 or later!!! 

This also causes problems at night because I have been up for 7985734958 hours, so come 9:30, I am OUT.  Whereas, he could stay up until midnight or later.  Am I the only person who experiences this dilemma?  Do you have a solution?  Kids I hear you say???  Give me time for that...


WELL, that was a long rant that had nothing to do with my main purpose for this post.  What I really wanted to share was my excitement in some DIY Pinterest projects that were a SUCCESS!!!  This week, I took three main projects on that would improve my classroom, and let me just go ahead and say that I am STOKED!  Yes, I said stoked.  Here is why:

Project #1:  Turn a place mat into ten frames for Math Stations
I got this idea from a blog I follow.  She mentioned some place mats she found at Walmart.  I actually did not go get them right away.  I just so happened to be walking down the Clearance aisle and saw one by itself.  It had no price on it, and there were no other ones like it, so the cashier gave it to me for $.25!!!  SCORE!!!  Here's the end product:

Original idea here.

I got 5 ten frames 4 five frames!

Project #2: Turn paint chips into word work!
Saw this on Pinterest, but also saw something earlier in the year that made me want to get out and do this, and I finally did!

So the students can use the long strips as the beginning sounds of a word, and slide the word ending chunks along the strips to see what words they can make!  Yay!  Next step is to make some into contraction flippables (not a word, I know) and some math strips.  I'll update you when I get there.

Project #3: Get a drawer organizer from Lowe's and turn it into a labeled desk organizer!
Another Pinterest idea, there is a blogger who totally set every teacher up for a good deal by showing this idea and also providing the document for the labels that are ALREADY sized appropriately for the drawers!  THANK YOU FOR THAT!  I have left a few drawers blank to decide what I will need to put there the most!


Original idea here.

Finished product!

So there you have it!  I have already taken it to school and filled it up with all kinds of goodies.

Speaking of goodies, has anyone been down the school supplies aisles of stores lately?? EXCITING!  I feel like a kid on sugar!  Give me school supplies any day!

Crafted out.

The Pursuit

Well!  It's been a little while.  Plenty has happened, but I shall contain my need to spew forth every detail of my life because what is exciting to me is not always as exciting to the rest of the world.  Crazy, I know.

However, I do want to share about our wonderful week at Centrifuge last week with our youth group.  Hang in there with me because there is a lot to share!

First: Gary Morgan, Pastor of Mosaic Church in Nashville, was our camp pastor for the week, and he TOTALLY brought God's word to the 1,100 youth at this camp.  (Only 20 of which came from WHFBC)

Night 1: "Pursue"
God longs for us to see the depths of His love for us.  In Romans 5:5-11, God wants us to clearly see how he proves*shows*demonstrates this love.  In Ephesians 2:1, we realize that we are spiritually dead without God, so HE engages in pursuit after us.

Night 2: "Proclaim"
Acts 8:1-8... After the stoning of Stephen, believers were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, but suffering strengthens us to become who God desires for us to be.  Gary challenged us to "sneeze" the gospel! 

• God never calls us into a relationship with Him without radically sending us out.
• Our greatest fear in life shouldn't be failure, but in succeeding in something that doesn't matter!

Night 3: "Stand"
Romans 12:1-16 Gary challenged us to realize that we need a correct estimation of ourselves.  No one is superior to anyone else.  In that, we called in a relationship with Christ that is personal, but not individual.  Are we involved in the lives of those around us?  Are we those around us to be involved in our lives?

Night 4: "Walk"
What's next?  Where do we go from here?  Is this it?  No!  We need to seek to know scripture and live life that way.  The world's system shouldn't be what dictates the way we live.  Take a stand, get uncomfortable, get IN the world, and exude Christ!!!



Next: I was so proud of our youth this week.  We had a combination of middle school and high school students.  Sometimes this age difference can cause separation.  However, I was blessed to watch them come together.  These girls (I talk about them the most because they're the ones I spent the most time with) were so great to each other.  They also expressed their compassion by celebrating one of the girls on her birthday and secretly covering her door with signs and writing encouraging notes.

We also had an emotional couple of nights in Church Group Devotions where each person shared their biggest struggles and the rest would provide encouragement and love in response.  I will say that there wasn't a single person sharing that didn't at least get choked up.  Some of us were all out bawling, but it was such a beautiful thing to be real with one another!  So many times we are afraid to open up because we don't want anyone to know that we don't really have it all together.  But when we are able to share our hurts, that allows for our brothers and sisters in Christ to come alongside and share in the burden.  We don't have to do it alone!!!


Then: I got to help a friend surprise the girls.  Tiffany Thompson was on her way back home from her training for the Army National Guard.  She and I had planned this for awhile, but I had to keep it a secret.  Let me just say that I should win an award for that because it was HARD!  But I did, and it was a perfect reunion!

On our way to surprise the girls!



The happy girls!!!





Jordan nearly pummeled Tiff to the wall

Oh yeah : I could not finish this post without showing off some of the talents from our track times.  Students could go to different tracks each day that were interest based.  Since I am not outdoorsy, and I do not take an interest in sports, the tracks I attended were more artistic in nature.  Here are some of the moments I captured...


Crafts Track- pillowcases



My final result!






Duct Tape Art... Niki struggled....





Duct tape roses!... kinda...

 

Creative Writing



Poem by me





Another poem by me

And that was Centrifuge!  I know this is a long one... but so worth sharing!

Now, get uncomfortable.



Bringing Revival to White House

Hello, friends!  I wanted to take this post to share a little about what God is doing here in White House, Tennessee.  I have absolutely loved becoming a part of this church family here, and God is doing such great things in the people of our community.  Lately, though, we have been going through a little bit of a tough time financially, and with that, there has been some kind of looming sense of worry and concern throughout some of our congregation.  Often times, we can get in a lull in our walk with Christ.  We become complacent and content in where we are, and we are afraid to get uncomfortable in our faith.  Let God's glory be known that just because we are struggling that does NOT mean He isn't moving!!!  Recently, there has been an abundance of prayer toward the direction of our church, and let me just tell you.... GOD IS ANSWERING! 

I have been blessed to be able to sing in a rotation on our church's Praise Team.  Looking out at the congregation this morning, I was truly humbled at seeing our church rise up in uninhibited worship.  Tears filled my eyes to see such zeal and passion. 

In our Pastor's sermon, we were encouraged to recognize that a "revival" is not a movement in which we look for something new and sparkly to ignite an emotional response that will fade at the first obstacle in our path.  Instead, a revival begins in the heart.  It's about each of us getting ourselves right with Christ and pouring out ourselves that HE might take our place and intercede for us. 

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

- Galatians 2:20

We must die to ourselves daily and offer ourselves up to Him who is so much greater than our tiny brains can comprehend.  Christ longs to fill us and bring us everlasting joy.  He desires to uphold his glory, and it is our blessing that He might use us to do so. 

God is doing something here in White House, and I am excited to see what that looks like.  I pray that we all strive for a revival in our hearts.  Let it not be out of an emotional response but of the outpouring of our faith in God, our Father! 

PS... I'm out for a week as I taking a trip with our youth.  Please be in prayer over these kiddos that God will be real, relevant, and PRAISED!

Pinterest and Practicality

So behind the times am I that I have JUST joined Pinterest as of a week ago, and I am now understanding why everyone is so addicted!  I only have two boards so far: Crafting and Education.  My brain is so filled with the desire to create things that I have barely been able to sleep for the past several nights.  Well, I have finally created my first Pinterest inspiration and...... I'm slightly disappointed. 

I saw this idea for keeping scrapbook paper and stickers organized on an easy-to-see, Roladex type creation made from a paper towel holder, binder rings, and plastic page protectors.  (Original idea found here.) The process is easy enough:

1. Fill page protectors with cardstock (so as to provide stability).

2. Slip in your sticker pages.  It's best if they are flat.

3. Connect your page protectors with 3 binder rings.

4. Slide the rings onto the paper towel holder.

See? Easy peasy. 

PROBLEM: My paper towel holder is not weighted, so it falls over if the weight is uneven.  PROBLEM: My paper is not sturdy enough?  They lean.  PROBLEM: Mine doesn't look as full and fluffy as the Pinterest version... But I've got a LOT of empty page protectors, so there's no reason to add more just for kicks...

Pinterest version

My version

See the difference?  I think I'm going to have to put better paper in each page, but it took me long enough to fill them the first time... I'll come back to that another day.  It's alright for now, but I don't know if I'm sold yet.  Thoughts??

On the other hand, I 've been on a successful spree of reorganizing my classroom books, and I am well pleased with the results!  I wanted a way to structure my classroom library where my books

• take up less space
• are easy to find by theme/author/etc
• are accessible to students by Reading level
• are visually appealing

Here are my results thus far:

Isn't it just lovely?!?! These are my books organized by themes.  They will be easy for me to find for the appropriate occasions.  At times, students will also be able to read books from these tubs as they pertain to classroom content.  I just think it is so beautiful.  And look at how much room is still available for more!!  Oh, the excitment!

 These books are organized by DRA Reading levels.  Students know what level they can read, and so they can select appropriate books from these tubs!  Each book has a dot sticker that matches the dot color from the tub so they know where it goes when they are finished.  Now let's just see how long they stay this organized... HA!

Thanks to our Title Teacher Mrs. Abraham for giving me the inspiration to make this work for my classroom!  I am so excited to try it out and see if it's truly successful with the kiddos!

So... one semi-fail and one anticipated success!  I'm happy with that.

Capture the Moments

Have you ever felt like life is moving so quickly that you seem to miss out on so many precious moments? 

It seems like just yesterday I was a 16 year old girl freaking out about driving on the interstate and what my first date would be like.  (Panic!)

It seems like just yesterday I was unpacking boxes and moving into my college dorm, trying to grasp the fact that I was actually on my own, responsible for myself!  (Scary thought.)

It seems like just yesterday I was standing, for the first time, in a classroom of my own... No materials, no decor, no CLUE what I was doing.  (Poor kids.)

It seems like just yesterday I was crying in a room with my Dad as he was preparing to walk me down the aisle to give me over to the new man in my life.  (Praise Jesus he said "I do!")

I am such a sentimental person, and it makes me crazy to realize that all of these moments are in my past.  I'm an adult now... a MARRIED woman... THIS IS IT!  This is the life you dream of as a little girl, and now I'm living it!  Life is just beginning, and I don't want to miss any of the wonderful moments, grand or simple. 

SO..... I guess that's why I'm creating this blog.  There's nothing extraordinary about what I have to say, so if you choose to read this, don't expect to be astounded.  I'm simply choosing to capture the moments and have a place to store them. 

Let's see what happens!

(PS...We ran out of sunlight on our actual wedding day, so we didn't get to take pictures of just the two of us.  Luckily, D and I got the chance to dress back up in our wedding-fancy as our friend, Matt Tobias, traversed with us throughout the greater Middle Tennessee area to snap some FANTABULOUS shots!  This is one of my favorites!)