I HEART My Silhouette Cameo

Last week was our first week of school.  On Friday, I shared my own "All About Me" bag with my class to explain their weekend project (to simply fill the bag for our own little "show and tell" during the 2nd week).  What was in my bag you may ask?  Weeeellll, only my top 3 most PRIZED items:
1. My teaching badge.  Need I explain? 
2. My laptop.  Again, need I explain? 
3. My fairly new Silhouette Cameo.  (This one I'll explain!)  :)

A few months back, I splurged and made the switch from my Cricut to a Silhouette Cameo.  AND I'M IN LOVE!  Have you seen it before?  Have you used it?  Take a quick peek into how my new favorite "toy" has helped me prepare my classroom for back to school:

- I've made new small vinyl labels for my turn in trays.  Nice neat and cute fonts!

- I again used vinyl to quickly cut and label my students' book boxes with their names.  Adorable!

- I cut out cardstock and chalkboard papers to create personalized clippies for my kiddos' work outside.  Love them!

- I labeled my new table bins.  (Which, if you read my original post, I'm still a little on the fence about these after the first week...)

- I made my personalized teacher flower/nameplate for the front of our building to fit our "Peace, Love, & Learning" theme.

- Plain black paper was a quick cut to make cute letters for our grade level bulletin board.

- And really, I could go ON and ON!  But I won't brag ;)  I just thought I'd share my latest obsession!!! 

As a quick "aside", it was a pretty funny chat I had with my new students about my Silhouette.  Trying to explain to a group of 2nd graders the concept of buying yourself a present is somewhat difficult!  They just couldn't believe that I have to buy my own fun toys!  I even got a, "Yea, Ms. Hubbard...my mom says she has to buy her own things, too.  She said being an adult isn't as fun as being a kid!"  Very funny!!!

Well I'm off to school, then later, maybe I'll "tinker around" some more with my new toy.  I'm thinking of cutting our class jobs out in vinyl...hmmm....decisions, decisions....   :) 

To Bin or Not To Bin...

Hokey title?  Yes, I know..   :)

I honestly couldn't think of anything catchier.  Probably a sign that it's time to head back to school so my "creative juices" will begin to flow once more! 

Speaking of going back to school, I've been in the process of getting ready to head back to school.  I'm in the process of cleaning, organizing, making new labels for things, and slowly putting my room back together for the new school year.  (Remember my last post about my cord organization?!?)  :)

One of the new things I'm going to try this year are table bins.  I've honestly NEVER done it this way before, but I know SO many teachers (including most of my team) that do it this way, so I thought I'd give it a try!  Of course, these super cute, colorful bins that I found at Hobby Lobby totally made me set on my decision to go full-on table bins!!!

So, what do you think?  Aren't they adorable??!? 

Like I said, I snagged them at Hobby Lobby.  Then, of course, I had to fancy them up a bit with some white bows and a fun table number cut out from my brand new Silhouette Cameo!  I'm pretty much in love with how they look.  Now, if only I'll be in love with the practicality once school starts! 

Anyone out there want to ease my worry?  Do you use table bins?  Have you tried them before?  Still have them?  Got rid of them?  Ahhh!  See, I'm full of questions here in my "uncharted" table bin "territory"!!!  :)  But I'd love to hear your thoughts (good or bad)!  Happy Tuesday, almost Wednesday!

A Little Cord Organization

Cords, cords, cords.  Ugh.  A cord to this computer, a cord to that.  A cord to the fan, a cord to the printer, a cord to my mini fridge, the list could seriously keep going on and on.  But today, it is I who conquered my cords!

It may have taken me all morning, but I went into my classroom, moved around my computers, and decided that after 2 years of crazy cords behind my student computers, it was time for some organization!  So, after I untied numerous knots, sorted out what went to what, I got it all straightened out.  And, man, let me just say, does it look beautimus now!  :)  (Yes, it really was NOT my plan to spend all morning on that one tiny task, but I guess it was totally worth it!)

So, after I got it all sorted, I tied them togethered by computer with colored ribbons.  Each computer has a different color, so that way they don't get mixed up again!  Here, take a look:

You can't REALLY see, but they have white, pink, blue, and yellow bows!

AND, if that's not organized enough, I went ahead and tied a color coded knot down by the outlets to "label" which plugs went with which sets!  How organized am I?!?!  :)

So, one teensy task down today, and about 3274927402 more before school starts on the 27th!  Aye, aye, aye...I may be starting to get a little overwhelmed here...but, I truly am proud of my one supery dee duper mega organizational triumph today!!!  :) 

November Learning Intermission-- An "Upcycled" Craft!

I'm taking a quick intermission from all my serious "techy" November Learning knowledge to share with you my quick D.I.Y. Summer Project #2- an "upcycled" chalkboard!

How many times do we see super cheap (or even FREE) older chalkboards at garage sales, thrift stores, or even lying out in the hallways from other teachers?!  But, I'll have to admit, most times they do look pretty "crusty".  (Haha, I just HAD to interject that word...one of my teammates uses it ALL the time, and it always cracks me up!)  So, anyways, why buy a new one (and send the old one to the landfull!) when you can "upcycle"!!!

Here's how!  For this project, you will need:

-1 old, "crusty" chalkboard  (any size)
-felt (any color)
-ribbon (any color)
-hot glue gun
-chalkboard paint (I prefer mine in a spray can...you can get it on Amazon.)

Okay, so now that you have all your supplies, you can begin!  My old chalkboard started out like this:

Now, on to the process!

STEP ONE:  Clean your board really well.  I used a damp paper towel, then went back over it again with Windex.  Don't forget all the edges, because you may want to paint that, too! 

STEP TWO:  Set up a workspace to spraypaint in!  I lay down papers in my garage and put up anything important I don't want "overspray" on. 

STEP THREE:  Lay down your board and put your first coat of paint on!  Here's what my "step three" looks like:

STEP FOUR:  Let your first coat dry and apply a 2nd coat.  Let this dry completely and see how it looks.  You may need a 3rd coat, depending on how sad your board was before.  :)

STEP FIVE:  Let all your paint dry overnight.  Yes, I know the can says "dries in 30 minutes!" buuut its better to be safe than sorry!

STEP SIX:  Plug in your glue gun, and glue your ribbon around the edges of your board.  Don't worry about the corners being perfect, because we will cover those up later on!

STEP SEVEN:  Create some felt flowers, and glue them on the corners!  Don't throw away your scraps, because you can even make some cute, baby flowers to go on there, too!

STEP EIGHT:  Hang and enjoy! :)

Don't you just adore it?  And what a quick and easy project!  I can't wait to hang mine up to use!

*UPDATE:  I've added this fun D.I.Y. to sweet Tara's "Monday Made-It" Linky Party (even though it's Wednesday...)!  Click on over to her blog to see TONS more fun ideas to make!  :)

I'll be back tomorrow with more "high-tech" learning tid-bits from my workshop last week.  But until then, Happy Wednesday! 

Extra Paper Organization

Silly silly me.  Isn't it funny how the best ideas are always the simplest?  And these are also the ones when you kick yourself, saying, "Why didn't I think of that?!"

Well that's how I felt recently!  For almost 2 years now, I've been storing my worksheets, handouts, activities, etc. (basically any and all copies), in my hanging file folder rack behind my desk (and, unfortunantley, I must admit, in a few piles, too).  The year ALWAYS starts out SUPER organized, by subject, then by when I'm going to need it (since I like to have copies made in advance).  Over the year, though, it ends up looking like this:

I stuff papers in the files, and shove papers around them!  Extra copies that didn't get used generally get put right back in it, too, so if ever a student needs an extra (after making a mistake) or if ever I need an extra (for "redo"s), I'm left digging through this huge mess, which sometimes can be time consuming and frustrating! 

Well, long story short, I needed an extra copy of a sheet, and I could not find one anywhere!  I also could not find it saved on my computer, either!  So, I called across the hall to my lovely (and organized!) teammate to see if she had one, and she said, "Oh yea, I'll get a kid to grab one out of the "extra paper" bin and bring it to you!" 

Simple as that!  I quickly got a copy and was back in business.  Later that afternoon, I of course stopped by across the hall, to see what all this "extra paper bin" business was about!  (Even though I'm in her room nearly twice a day!!!)  But let me just tell you, it's the best idea EVER!  It's low to the ground, easily accessible to kiddos, and as long as things are stack on top each time, it's kind of in order!

So of course, instead of a sentence strip or desk plate, I had to make a cutesy label for my own!  Click on it below if you want to print yourself a free copy! 

Well needless to say, I totally felt silly for struggling with my "system" all the millions of times I needed an extra paper!  I would like to think, in general, that I'm pretty well organized, but I've learned so many tricks from teammates and from blogs that have come in handy! 

I'd love for you to leave me a comment about any other little organizational "tricks" you use!  I'm sure everyone else would like to read them, too! 

Tinkerin' to get organized (for today, at least!!)