Quick Hello and a Cool Product

Hello from the U.S. Virgin Islands! Still on my honeymoon for a few more days but, before you call me crazy for blogging, I finally have a good wi-fi connection and its rainy here today. So, I decided to check in and give a little update.

We started our honeymoon in St.John. Did some snorkeling and hung out on the  local beaches. One beach we visited was Maho Bay. Just a few yards in the water we were able to see sea turtles, sting rays, nurse sharks, and a barracuda!

Another day in St.John we visited Salt Pond bay. It had stormed the previous day so snorkeling was not great the day we went, but we hiked about a quarter mile to Drunk Bay. It's a beach covered with rocks and washed up coral. People make sculptures out of the coral and rock that is around.

Now we are in St.Thomas and I'llblog about the rest of our honeymoon when we get back :)

But before I go, I wanted to see if anyone has used this product before:

Apparently you can safely adhere a whiteboard surface to the wall and they have a variety of sizes. 

I found out about this product because LivingSocial has a deal right now. So I decided to buy it because I have a large chalkboard in my room. How cool would it be to turn part of it into a white board?! I'll definitely post a little review when I receive it and put it up in my classroom. If you think you may be interested check out the deal HERE.

Ok well I must go back to honeymooning. Enjoying our last few days here, trying to make the best out of a rainy day on an island. Maybe we will go to happy hour ;) Until Next time ~Cara Lee

Ps: I am using the blogger app on my phone to write this post so I apologize if my posts look funny. Also, I can't seem to comment or reply to posts from my phone so I'll have to do it when I get home.

Monday Made It

Been so excited to post about my Ikea whiteboard easel makeover.  Last week I found  it at a thrift store for only $6!!  Plus I got 20% off I just remembered :)

It retails for $15 brand new (hey every buck counts right?!).   It had quite a bit of marker stains on the wood making it not so pretty. The white board was fine with some small scratches you could hardly see. On the back is a chalkboard as well which I won't really use.  I couldn't wait to get home and fix it up.  Here is my basic tutorial...

That's my husband in pic #3 fixing up my tape job... He's a perfectionist!

 

I love this color I found at Home Depot.  Matches my new classroom accent colors :)

Isn't it soooo cute?! This would be a cute idea not only in the classroom, but for families with kids. I could totally imagine this whiteboard in their room or playroom to match the decor and use as a creative outlet.  I personally cannot wait to put it right next to my rocking chair in my classroom.

Linking up with 4th Grade Frolics 'Monday Made It'.  Hope everyone has a wonderful week... In less than 24 hrs I will be headed to the airport with my husband and we finally will be going on our honeymoon.  Won't be posting much this week but will be checking in :) Happy Monday!! ~Cara Lee

Weekend Re-cap

Here is a little peek into the highlights of my weekend.  It's been pretty busy and I've had a lot to get done before we head off to our belated honeymoon on Tuesday.  I managed to fit in some fun things though :)

Friday - celebrated our 11th anniversary of being together by going to sushi happy hour, then going to the Oriole's game and grabbing a crab mac 'n cheese dog.  As you get to know me... my husband (weird to say since we have only been officially married for less than 2 months) and I are foodies :)

Saturday - Celebrated my friend Nicole's birthday with her and her fam.  It was so nice of them to include us.  They said not to bring anything... but as you get to know me, I do LOVE to bake.  So I made a simple cookie cake.  Move over Mrs. Fields!!

Sunday - My husband and I ran a near by trail and we ran a new record for us!  I'm not a natural runner but have always been athletic.  I'm excited for my first color run in September for my birthday weekend!! 

Well that was pretty much my weekend.  I really do love summer!!  Can't wait to post my "Monday Made It" project tomorrow :)  ~Cara Lee

PS: I have to brag a little... I just created my own buttons (see left hand side) and linked them!!  WooHoo... it's the little things that make me happy ;-)  Please feel free to follow me on: BlogLovin, TpT, and Pinterest.

Thrifty Thursday

This summer I have been trying to relax, but I just cannot sit still.  If I'm not at at home surfing TpT or Pinterest for classroom ideas, I'm out shopping and thinking about "ohhh this would go great in my classroom!"  I guess I'm still on that new teacher "high"?  I hope it lasts though.  I hear about the teacher burn out rate and it's quite astonishing.  I love reading all the teacher blogs and other teacher's experiences out there.  It really is building this internet community out there for all of us teachers and it's helping me to stay on track and keep the motivation to do a profession I love.

Well, as  I was saying in the beginning of this post, I do love shopping around for my classroom.  I do my best to find good deals (as do most teachers out there).  One place I LOVE to frequent is the thrift store.  Goodwill is ok, but if you can find a store like Unique Thrift Store or Value Village, then you've hit a gold mine!  I found at least 95% of my classroom library books at thrift stores as well as furnishings.  This week I spent $9 on two purchases for my classroom this year:

 

Now wait til you see what I did with that ugly looking IKEA white board!!  I'll be posting my little project for Monday Made It :)

In the meantime... one other place I often hit up for deals is Craigslist.  I'm always weary, because you never know who's out there, but you can find some good thrifty deals.  First, there is a list of yard sales.  Last year I did a lot of yard saling, but did not find as much things as I thought I would.  It's definitely hit or miss.  I tend to find more luck with people posting adds.  Here are two items I got on Craigslist last year:

That rocking chair glider is soooo comfy!  I can't tell you how many teachers stop by to just sit in my chair some days haha.  The bistro white board was great this year, but had some flaws.  I love the amount of writing space, but it was not magnetic.  It would drive me crazy if I needed to stick something to the board to display.  I always had to have tape or sticky gum around.  I did put a magnetic strip along the bottom, but it kept falling off all year.  So I am excited about my new IKEA white board which is magnetic.  Can't wait to post it's make over on Monday.

Hope you enjoyed my thrifty finds this week :)  ~Cara Lee

Monday Made It

Trying to start my blog once more... third time's a charm right?!  I have been scouring my favorite teacher blogs this summer and they always inspire me with fun and unique ideas for my classroom.  I actually am excited to go back at the end of summer to put my classroom together.  Don't get me wrong - I LOVE summer, but I am just so excited to try all these new ideas I have been inspired to try from all the amazing teacher blogs I read every day.

Since my last post, a lot has happened.  I survived my first year of teaching first grade.  I had such a wonderful class who I was happy to see everyday.  I also had a great first grade team to work with.  I was able to learn the ropes and they were also open to some of my new ideas. Oh, and I cannot forget - my last name has changed (well not legally yet lol).  I got married in May and it was one of the best days of my life!  My students said that I am now a "grown up."

One of my favorite pics a friend of ours took at our wedding.

 I learned so much my first year of teaching but I am still always critiquing myself.  I know one area I worked hard on this past year was incorporating our new Common Core curriculum for math.  I had a tougher class that needed a lot of support in the beginning of the year and throughout.  I have a good understanding of the math curriculum and how I plan to make it better this year in my classroom.   But this year I plan to really focus on incorporating the Common Core into language arts and work on my guided reading block.  (Our county has slowly rolled out the Common Core curriculum over the past year.  This past school year we focused on math and writing.  This coming school year we are incorporating the language arts curriculum.)  One way I plan to do this is with the Daily 5.  I love it!  A few of my teammates and I went to a workshop last year after hearing all about it and we were sold.  We did not start D5 until the late fall, so I am excited to actually start it from the beginning of  school year.

I've rambled on quite a bit here!  I guess I will get to my "Made it Monday" post.  This little project was inspired by all the cute personalized bins and drawers I've seen on pinterest.  Last year I made the project where you take the plastic tool drawers and write the different desk supplies for each drawer.  I loved it and it kept my desktop nice and organized this year (see top right pic below).

Pinterest inspired projects from last year.

This mini-project I did tonight was super easy.  I was at Homegoods today (LOVE that store) and found a clear acrylic desk organizer.  I am in need of one of these because the mug on my desk this year was NOT cuttin' it.  I had too many "things" in my mug and they were all jammed in there so when you would grab a pen or reach for the scissors, everything would come out with it.

Anyways... You can find these types of organizers at places like the Container Store or TJ Maxx if you don't have Homegoods.  First I measured the height and width of the back of the organizer.  Since this would show, I thought it would be a cute idea to make a name plate out of it for my desk.  I'm a little more exccited than usual to make this project because it's the first time I get to use my *new* last name ;-)  I have an animal print/jungle themed classroom so I picked an animal print.  I decided on giraffe since I already have so many zebra print things.  After I printed it and cut it out to size, I atached it with double sided tape.  Just a little in each corner is all you need :)

It's simple and I can always change it if I see something cuter.  I guess that is it for tonight as it will be Tuesday in about 2 more minutes lol.  Until next time ~Cara Lee