Day 4... Trash Talkin'

I think Pinterest is haunting my dreams!

One of the first items I ever pinned was this:

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Whenever, I would look at my Pinterest boards, this was always the first pin that would catch my eye. Last week, I was having a back-to-school dream, and there was a polka dotted trash can in my just-a-dream room. But the reality was: I really wanted a trash can like that!

For years, I had one purple and one magenta trash can. There were big cylindrical cans--just right for a big class--and, of course, the perfect colors for my room.

Time got the best of them, however, and, after years of devoted service, they both cracked. I tried glue. And tape. And I can strongly suggest against both options.

I searched for a looooooooong time for a another colorful replacement, but the best I could come up with was black. In fact, I never really did see many other suitable-for-the-classroom options besides black, white and various shades of red.

So, for a year, I suffered in a state of trash-can-boredom with my plain back cans. And then Pinterest came along...

After pinning that picture, I was determined to buy a Cricut. Or a Cameo. Or both. I needed circles. Thankfully, those purchases didn't happen, because I have since decided that crafts just aren't in my future. However, I DID find these...

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These are circular decals. And I found them in PURPLE! And they are available in LOTS of other colors too. Click on the picture to see some options at this site. They have sales all the time!

And, happily, JOYFULLY even, I now have two trash cans that look like this!

I think I should have taken the picture without the bag... but you know that this is an authentic picture because the can is nearly full after a day spent readying my classroom. (And you can tell it is a public school by the so-sad baseboards and the who-would-pick this-color aqua tile!)

I just love my trash cans. Sometimes it IS the littlest thing that can make a teacher happy...

Day 5... Bean Bags and Pringles

I am trying to get this post done (before midnight!), but I keep falling asleep on my keyboard... which results in the post looking like this: uyrsfnvjchfvdavscfw!

We worked for hours in the crazy heat at my school today. It was at least ninety degrees in my classroom for much of the day and not a hint of a breeze...

Still, I accomplished almost everything on my list and I only have a few things to wrap up tomorrow in order to be ready for kids. Alas, my grand library re-do may need to wait a week or two. I am hoping to involve the kids in the set-up, but I had wanted to clean out a few bins and make some new labels before they stepped into the process. At least I cleared everything off of their desks so that they will have a place to sit!

Yesterday I talked about the bean-less bags that kids use in my classroom during independent reading. I love them--they look like giant Skittles. Or they used to. They weren't meant to be bean-less, but plenty of use had left them... ummmm... deflated!

As I mentioned yesterday, I found some beanbag refills at WalMart that came in these semi-giant bags. They took up a lot of space in my living room and I kept catching the collection out of the corner of my eye and thinking that someone had mistakenly dropped off a toddler at our house. No... Just a big bag of Styrofoam beans (Four to be exact!)

In the comments section under this product on WalMart's site, someone had posted a nifty little trick. It was such a great idea, I just had to pass it along...

Refilling beanbags requires some pre-planning. If those little styrobeans get loose from the packaging, you will have a disaster to clean up... and, with the slightest provocation, they will easily go flying like some kind of magical lava. In order to keep them under control, the reviewer suggested using a Pringles can.

I do not need extensive prompting to eat snacks. Pringles can... check. Empty Pringles can... check! (crunch crunch...)

Cut a small hole in the corner of the bag. Wait! Before you do that, put the roll of tape nearby. If the tape is not nearby, and you put the now cornerless bag down... Well, you get the idea...

Place one edge of the Pringles can in the corner of the bag and tape it down, making a spout of sorts. Insert the other end of the Pringles can inside the beanbag... and then tip. I ended up holding the bag o' beans over my shoulder sort of like bagpipes (or so I am assuming), and letting gravity empty the contents. Of course, a few beans did escape, and I must admit I had a great time capturing those that were on-the-run by chasing after them with the vacuum hose. It was like living in a video game! Times like that make me glad I work by myself in the far corner of the school. That gleeful cackle would have sent any listener in seek of the authorities...

If you are interested in a re-purposing of one of Jennifer Smith-Sloane's Interactive Notebook pages, you can read my guest blog post from today at Jennifer's blog, 4mulaFun, by clicking on the picture below.

I've never been a guest blogger before. I thought it was kind of scary! It made me glad that Jennifer usually does the writing at her blog because I learn a lot more when I am only doing the reading. Let me know what you think.... and I hope you will try the place value flippable. All of Jennifer's notebooking products are great, and my kids loved using them last year. I am confident we will be doing a lot more notebook activities this year as well.

Two more days until I meet the kids. I am experiencing an odd mix of nervousness and excitement. Mostly, I am looking forward to having the room tidied up and being ready to meet my new friends as they walk through the door...

Day 6... A Case of the Uh-Ohs

Suddenly, B2SP has begun to set in... Also known as Back-to-School Panic!

I have "in progress" projects all over my house... and I can't imagine how I can possibly get them all finished and transported to school before time runs out.

We had meetings until almost lunch on the last two days. And it has been insufferably hot in the afternoons (and our building is not air-conditioned), so it has been difficult to keep up my motivation and my energy level. Tomorrow could be a good "work day" if I can hide from any would-be visitors and just work for several hours. It will be the last day that we can spend in our classrooms, although I am hanging onto the hope that someone from the office will come in on Saturday to give us a few more extra hours of access.

Here are a few things making it difficult to navigate to the front door...

 

Scary looking, huh? I need to re-stuff the bean bags... mine are currently bordering on being bean-less bags! I'm afraid these may take up most of the space in my car!

I need to add ribbons to my pennant to get it ready to hang up at school. Actually a necessary first step would be to find the spools of ribbon. I know they are in a WalMart bag. That does not narrow things down significantly!

I need to sort through my treasures and organize the supply baskets. At the moment, I am wondering where the other scissors are. I am thinking they are in the garage. Times like this, I wonder whether if it is better to buy new ones and just return the old ones when I come across the correct box... which could be some time in 2017 if you were get a glance at the garage!

I need to organize the supplies in the math Tool Kits. I have to add a few things because of the changes involved with Common Core. And I bought some wonderful new "moveable" number lines from Really Great Stuff.... but they don't fit in the boxes! (I hate when that happens!)

I need to finish the student binders so that we can start out organized on the first day of school. There are parts of this project in several different rooms in my house!

 

I need to get the technology set up at school. Our printers are connected into "the system" (?) with Ethernet cables. Of course, I could not pass on the opportunity to have this PURPLE cord in my room. So much prettier than the "standard issue"!

I need to clean and repair these fans--which will be one of my first projects tomorrow morning at school... so that I can make it through the rest of the day! Why does the weather always wait until a few days before school starts to really heat up?!

To top it all off, this afternoon I got this message on my computer... Or at least I thought that this was what it said...

And I thought that sounded a bit judgmental! I had to read it again more carefully. Here's the bad news... This is what it REALLY said:

Our poor secretary has spent a lot of hours inputting all of the students into our new computer program. And at some point today... POOF. They. Just. Vanished. Apparently, the system was overloaded and all of the class lists (and other things!) disappeared. When I left, they were going to have to re-type everything. Ahhhh technology. So often it simplifies our lives... and sometimes it  makes our lives a little harder.

I am hoping to get a class list tomorrow afternoon so that I can personalize a few things. If not, I guess we will be trying out some lower-tech options Tuesday morning!