Return of the Teacher

Disclaimer: This post contains sponsored content, affiliate links, and review products. Regardless, these are 100% my own opinions.

I'm BACK! After taking a year off from working to stay home with my son, I have returned to the classroom for the 2017-2018 school year. I just finished my first week back and I am thrilled to be there. I miss my baby, of course, but I belong in the classroom and I missed it tremendously. Baby is home with work-at-home Dad and is growing like a weed! He just turned ONE and I can't believe it! Here's a collage from all his monthly photos. <3

A new year means a new bunch of kids and I feel refreshed and ready for this new start. I decided to change up my classroom this year and went with a fun and exciting Star Wars and outer space theme. I am excited with how it turned out! I got many of my decorations at the usual IKEA, Dollar Tree, and Target, but I also snagged some amazing goodies at Oriental Trading this year, too. Take a look at the photos I took of my classroom setup!

I made that long poster and sacrificed a LOT of black ink to make it a reality. But it is definitely my favorite classroom decoration! It was worth it! I snagged the Vader poster at a yard sale for FREE! And with it being at the entrance to the classroom, students are asked what their expression is for that day. Let's hope it is a good one!

The next classroom view is to the left of the door. You can see my shelving unit and some classroom seating. I have a "Paw Wars" poster also found at a yard sale and some cheap DVD shelves for some DVD case centers. If you'd like to store your centers in DVD cases, here's a FREE template to make the covers!

Here's a better look at my shelf. Some cases are still empty so they are blank, but you can easily see how the printed template wraps all the way around so you have spine label, too!

This view shows my Jedi Focus Wall! I am loving my sparkly blue border paired with the plain black border from Oriental Trading. I used black fabric this year, which is something new for me. I usually do paper, but I'm tired of the fade!

The next few photos are just a tour around the room.

Why, yes, that is a sideways IKEA bookshelf.

How adorable are these library pockets from Oriental Trading?! Paired with the space name tag labels, also from Oriental Trading, they are perfect for Exit Tickets on the door! They have a ton of designs of name tags and they come in rolls of 100! Click HERE to see what they've got. I'm sure they've got your theme, too.

Plain and boring now, but those cabinets will be covered with Science Vocabulary as the year goes on!

Hard to see, but those blue labels are the CUTEST Star Wars stickers of all time. The folders will house recording sheets or corresponding worksheets that go with the centers in the same color (and sticker label) bucket which are on the shelves to the right (not pictured here).

Those are the colored buckets mentioned above. They are the colored drawers from those drawer systems from Michael's... but sadly... the metal part didn't hold up.

Probably one of my favorite B2S purchases are these Star Wars buckets. Students who are seated at that area place their pencil pouches inside and their notebooks underneath. Nothing fancy needed and they LOVE the characters on them!

Here's what they look like up close:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE these star and moon garlands that I attached to tension rods for this huge window in my classroom. I got them on Oriental Trading and they are HUGE! I was surprised at the size of them. They go across the entire massive window with no problem and they are perfect for my Star Wars/space classroom this year. The cool part, too, is they are made of foam. Not cheap cardboard. They will hold up a long time!

The VIP Desk! This is the first time I've ever used a VIP Desk. Do you have one in your room? I have an awesome antique desk, which was a gift from my mom, cozy IKEA pillow, a VIP journal, and that box is filled with all kinds of special supplies... including the highly sought after "shuttle pens" which are super cheap on Oriental Trading right now:

Kind of reminds me of my childhood! These pens were all the rage! They come in a pack of 12, ya'll. Can you say, "epic rainbow write?!"

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you are having an amazing back to school season.

Five for Friday: Anniversary Edition!

Always a good time over at Doodle Bugs! I love the Five for Friday linky. :)

What are ya'll up to today?

First off, I hope you had an AMAZING time shopping for goodies earlier this week during the TpT site wide sale!!! It is my favorite sale of the year. I stocked up on some clipart goodies since I won't be headed back into the classroom this year. Check out what I got! I'm so excited!!!

How could I not get this?? I still haven't even decided what I'm going to use these masks for... Impulse buy that I do NOT regret!

Ah, be still my heart. Whimsy Workshop makes some of my all time favorite clipart sets (believe me, I own MANY of them...). And you know Interactive Notebooks are my favorite, too! This set is so exciting! Look for some new Interactive Notebook packs in the future!

This font pack goes down in history as one of the BEST purchases I've EVER made on TpT, EVER. I'm obsessed...

Sonya DeHart makes the most beautiful backgrounds! I own so many, but this one was too pretty to pass up. <3 I'm thinking of some New Year's freebies with this set in January!

Any time I shop for Science clip art, Artifex is my first stop. I'm still working on the Rocks and Soil Science pack, but when I'm done with that, come back and look for a Matter Science pack! These packs will be similar in types of activities to my Human Body Unit.

I absolutely love this art work! This was one I almost didn't buy because I do not have an immediate use for it... but I just couldn't pass up the sale. My favorite is the excited girl in the green shirt at the bottom!

This is another one of my favorite clip art stores! If you are a Second grade teacher like me, you probably spend a decent amount of time on life cycles, so this set is perfect. And she's not done with it yet, which means SURPRISES in the future! The best kind of surprises are clip art surprises, am I right?

Today is my wedding anniversary! 3 years! I also had several mild contractions all day and night yesterday, so we were thinking this baby boy would come on our anniversary... but nothing today. :/ Happy anniversary to the love of my life! 3 years married, 8 together!

If you are looking for a photographer in Florida, check out 1000 Words Gallery! She did our engagement photos and will be doing some baby photos in the future as well! <3 her!

Are you setting up your classrooms right now? I'm actually envious because that is one of my FAVORITE THINGS TO DO EVER! I love getting creative in my classroom and have certainly been jealous of all the amazing classroom photos and videos I've seen circulating the internet lately. 

If you are still looking for a theme or just want something more to add to your room, check out this newly UPDATED decor pack. The pirate bundle has most items individually as well, so click the link and in the product description will be clickable links to the sets individually in case you are looking for just one or two things. :)

Here's my very first Kindergarten classroom:

If you don't follow me on Facebook, you'll want to take a look! I have recently ventured into the world of video-making and am having a TOTAL BLAST! My Facebook will begin to feature videos on tips and tricks for the classroom, new resources (some free, of course!), and all kinds of fun topics! Here's the first video on a fun game I like to use with my students on Place Value.

And of course, a baby update! Well.... I got nothin'. He isn't coming yet. Although, as mentioned above, I did spend the evening with some mild and inconsistent contractions that were certainly different than anything I've experienced thus far, so that's a good sign, I suppose. He is due in exactly ONE MORE WEEK! So, really, any day now, folks. I can't wait to meet him! <3

If you missed my post a couple of weeks ago, my husband and I decided for me to take this school year off from teaching. We are very fortunate to be able to manage this on one income. I wrote a blog post about my mixed emotions on skipping this year that you won't want to miss out on. Click the image below to head to that post now!

Have a great year back, teachers! And stay tuned for more videos, baby updates, and all kinds of new resources and freebies to help you along your way with this brand new bunch of kiddos.

Five for Friday: July 8th!

What's this?! Am I doing a Five for Friday?? I absolutely love this linky hosted by Doodle Bugs Teaching, but every time a Friday rolls around I lose my mind and forget to post! Not this time, Friday! I got this!

Still pregnant. And melting. I live in Florida, by the way. Check out this weather forecast...

Yep.

But also look at this adorable Daisy shirt I got! Perfect for being pregnant. It's so soft and thin. And any time I see anything related to daisies, I have to have it!

Woah. #pregnant #34weekspregnant #babyboy #babybrutall

A photo posted by Amanda Smith - Daisy Designs (@daisydesignstpt) on Jun 30, 2016 at 1:14pm PDT

If you click the image above, you'll head to my Instagram page (my favorite social media site EVER!). Lots of images and updates on products, but also just real life stuff. :)

I have been having loads of fun with my best friend's 3 year old, Liam, this summer. He is spending some time with me while his mom finishes up her internship for her Master's program. If you haven't checked out the two posts I have up called "Learning with Liam," click any of the pictures below to go check them out! The activities we are doing are super fun and easy (I'm a giant pregnant whale. It's gotta be easy...)

I've been working on some products for my store and am pleased to announce the newest addition to the Reading Wonders series! SECOND GRADE! Unit 1 is available now and the growing bundle is really inexpensive at the moment and will increase in price as more units are added.

Click to go there now.

Click to go there now.

Are you getting ready for next year? I'm not returning to work this year to be a stay at home mom (just one year! I'll be back!), but I have to say when packing up my classroom, this storage solution was great and easy to move. I have a blog post all about it, so click the image below to see more photos. There's also a FREEBIE available for getting you started.

Click to download!

One of my favorite times of the year is back to school and I won't be there to experience it this year. :( It is CERTAINLY for a good reason. Baby boy is due August 13th and the first day of school in my district is August 10th. I've made the tough decision to stay home for one year and go back in August of 2017. I adore my job, but I know this is the best decision for us.

My favorite thing to do is set up a classroom, though! I like to change things up every year as it makes things more exciting and fun for me and the kiddos. It also makes each year feel fresh and new and gives me great specific memories of students that I won't have with other groups. If you're looking for some classroom setup ideas, take a look at the pictures below! You can also click the My Classroom tab at the top of the page to see more.

All these pictures are from last year. The year before I was in a portable and I had a pirate theme! All the old images are in the My Classroom tab at the top of the page. Enjoy! And enjoy setting up your classrooms, teachers. I'll be enjoying my new bundle of joy in about 5 weeks! EEK!