Seven Weeks

School starts seven weeks from today. My summer vacation is almost halfway over. I try not to think about how little time I will have to set up my classroom. I understand that there are multitudes of teachers that cannot get into their classroom during the summertime. My hat goes off to you. Up until this year, I have always had access to my room within a week of school getting out the previous year.
Now, all my supplies are crowded into countless boxes and bins, awaiting that glorious day when I can move it from one school to the next.

My classroom is coming along. I was able to tour the school yesterday. The outside doors are in and the construction crews are now concentrating on the rooms and the part that we get to see.
The layout of my classroom is almost identical to the layout of the classrooms in my previous school. This makes it nice because I have the same amount of storage, the same amount of wall space, the same amount of whiteboard surface area. There are several exciting changes that we will receive that I am stoked to show you...when I can move into my currently unfinished classroom.

One final note before we break into the pictures: (Normally I abhor it when bloggers mention this, but I have a specific reason why I am mentioning this.) The picture quality is not great because...no windows. That's right. I have zero glimpses of the real world from inside my classroom. Unless I stand at the door and the teacher across the hall from me has her door open with an unblocked view straight outside. I do, however, have four awesome mini skylights.

My room is green this year! It sure beats maroon/brown. I love the color. I also kinda want to borrow that scaffolding because my husband and I need to paint a very tall wall next to our staircase.

My lovely wall of storage. The cubbies are different from my last school. I believe we only had 30 cubby holes last year. Count 'em up. 35 slots. One month I had 36 students, but then someone moved and I felt like I could breathe again.

Here is my bookcase and tall cabinet with a mirror. You know I need to look good while I wrangle 10-year-olds.

Last year I had some open space (no door) between the tops of the cubbies and the cabinets. This way it will look cleaner.

One more view of my green wall! One fantastic reason why it is good to have an inside classroom is that I do not have radiators. The classrooms on the outside of the building have radiators that flank that wall on either side of the cabinets.
(The wall to the right will have two whiteboards and a cool little piece of technology. It is not a smart board.)

Let's take a look at my counters. Green again. How lucky can I get to have green everything. I might just have to retire after this classroom because she is so beautiful.

I have two of these against my back wall. They house my classroom library.

And for some reason I felt drawn to my sink yesterday. Here is my sink. I hate kids getting drinks during class. I'll have to rethink my policy in the next seven weeks. She's a looker. I just hope the water doesn't taste gross.

I never thought I would go through the process of watching my school being built and counting down the days to when I can move in because my room doesn't have a ceiling yet. They are estimating that we can get in a week before school starts. I was chatting with my previous principal a week ago and mentioned that fact. He shrugged, "I guess some teachers can get ready in that period of time."
True, true.
It will be a first for me.

Woven Paper Baskets

One thing that has been constant throughout my classroom decor since I started teaching is hot air balloons. I use them for my table numbers. Every year they change slightly, but I feel like I almost have them right where I want them. This year I switched out the super cool 3D letters I made out of paper for some super cute glitter numbers I found in the Target dollar section. The other big change this year is the baskets.
I got the idea from this website and got started with brown paper bags, but decided that would be too intense, so I rushed off to the dollar store to grab one of their kraft paper rolls. Unfortunately, there were no plain brown rolls, but I was happy to discover all their kraft rolls are plain on the back.

Each strip was cut 1.5"x14"

I tried folding it in thirds just by eyeing the strip, but I failed miserably. I had to use my cutting mat to help.

 Down to 0.5"

Once I folded 13, I was done and the weaving began.

And I am left with a basket. Put fruit in it. Give your neighbor some cookies in it. Use it as a miniature hot air balloon basket. The options are endless.

It's perfect! 2.5"x2.5"x1.5". I cannot wait to attach them to my balloons and numbers.

Linking up!

End of an Era

On the last day of school, my classroom looked like this:

So boring. So empty. Such a lack of banners and pennants. It's official. I'm done...with my second school. No one dreams of working at three schools in four years (well, maybe they do, but I certainly did not), but an amazing opportunity came up for me to help open a new school just a couple miles away from my last school.

I interviewed for the new school at the end of March. I didn't think much of it. I love my school. I love the culture. I obviously love the patrons. I interviewed as a "why not." Besides, I needed practice interviewing for when my husband drags me away from this beautiful state and somewhere else in a couple of years for our PhD phase.
After interviewing, I realized I really wanted to work for this principal. He is opening up a brand new school which is an amazing opportunity. His vision is aligned with mine. He is energetic and excited and forward thinking. I had to wait about a week to find out the results.
What to do...
Geometry homework?
Crafting?
I did it all. I even did extra housework.

Thirty minutes before school got out that Monday, the new principal dropped by as I was reading Elijah of Buxton to my students. Just like that, he gave me the job.
Such a whirlwind.

Want to see my new classroom as of a month ago?

Looking great, right? Ha. If the school is finished a week before school starts, it will be a miracle.

Now, onto what I've been working on for this fresh, brand new, super clean classroom with stain-free carpet. (Linking up with Monday Made It.)

#1. Magnets.
I seem to have an obsession every year. There have been banner years, clothespin years, and the last several months have been full of decorative magnets.
There has been an amazing scrapbook warehouse sale going on in my area for over six months now. They have adorable embellishments that were perfect to tear the backs off and turn into magnets.

I made...a few the other day. I made over 100 magnets! All of these were made from the darling embellishments I found. The total to make all these magnets was less than $10. I like to buy the small rare earth magnets from Etsy in packs of 50 or 100. They are much stronger and cheaper than the ones from craft stores like Hobby Lobby or Joann's. After putting something on top, they are super cute and easy to pick up.

My favorite ones are made from adhesive badges. When I discovered how much I love them, I went back to find more, but I couldn't find any more. I'll be heading back soon so hopefully more show up.

#2. Brand new alphabet.
I made a cute alphabet out of craft paper and teal cardstock. It was cute, but I was never in love with it. Surprise! More supplies from the warehouse sale. I love the teals that have been in lately. Plus, I was able to get a huge pack of glitter paper (over 100 sheets) for $10. (Can anyone tell how much I love it when this sale rolls around?)

#3. Cubby numbers! When my students pulled off their old cubby numbers, I realized they looked really trashed, but do I really need a reason to make cute labels?

Canoes!

#4. New birthday chart. I love the idea of my birthday chart, but wanted to redo the style.

Linking Up

Musings

I love teaching. I cannot imagine a career that I would adore as much as teaching. My students and lessons completely fill my thoughts, even when I am not at school. This can be a good thing.
You see, about a month ago, I went through something terribly tragic that has set me through a whole slew of depressed ups and downs. I took a few days off school to recover and was not myself when I came back to school. My students were worried. I gave them the bare minimum information so they would know where I was. Still, every week I would have concerned students asking if I would tell them where I had been and what happened to me. Worried mothers cornered me in the halls because their kids were worried at home. One girl told me she was having nightmares about what had happened. I wasn't ready to tell them.
Finally, yesterday I let it all out. I was expressing my thanks to them after an amazing teacher appreciation week. I thanked them for caring about me and for being an amazing class. I thanked them for keeping me happy and laughing through the week even if I was still a bit depressed--but mostly just on weekends now.
Several hands were raised. I knew the question was coming.
"What happened to you? Where were you?"
I told them. I awkwardly fumbled with the words that I had only told five other people in the world.
A few tears escaped. A couple of my students cried with me. And then what happened? They all quietly came up and hugged me. Every. Single. One of them. The boys that are "super cool" and the girls that are shy. Thirty slightly sweaty 11-year-olds were wrapped around me at the same time. Thirty 11-year-olds get that close on purpose very frequently.
We ended up laughing and almost falling over, but we stayed upright.
I dread the end of this school year more than any other. These kids are amazing. They are all friends with each other.
"We're all friends?" One girl asked me the other day after I told her how proud I was of this class for all being friends.
"Okay. Not friends. How about you all get along so well and you can talk to anyone in the class and everyone likes each other...but not in the crush sort of way."
"That's a better way of describing it."

Yesterday I watched some students slowly work their way through a math problem that was a culmination of several months of learning. I taught them (or they learned from someone else this year) almost everything they needed to know to get through the problem. I felt so proud. Not of myself. Of them. I got a glimpse of what parents feel when they see their child accomplish something tricky by himself.
I wanted more students to be back with me so I could keep that feeling going. It's a good feeling. So proud of kids that have complained and fought and resisted, but have mastered something hard.

Two Years

Yesterday marked two years since my lovely mother passed away. I feel I spent it in a very appropriate manner. I was doing what she loved to do. It was what she received two degrees in. Teaching.
I always keep an old photo of her above my desk and yesterday I definitely looked at it more than usual.

Onto teaching stories.
(Aren't we adorable? Last year right before Christmas break, I made a Christmas photo booth and we had to get a picture of the 5th grade teachers.)

So here are some awesome quotes of students as of late.

Quote #1:

It's the end of the day. Student comes walking towards me, crouched over and hobbling.

"Oooooh. Mrs. Jaeger! I hit my private parts with my lunch box!"

Cut to me turning around because I started laughing! I wish I had told him that he probably should not say that to his female teacher in 5th grade.

Quote #2:

It's math. The kids are working quietly on a problem. One boy is rocking in his seat and raising his hand. This particular child has one of those voices that is not quiet. I don't think I've ever heard him whisper.

"Do you have a question or are you done with the problem?"
"I have a question." With this, he gets up out of his seat and walks halfway towards me, right smack dab in the middle of the class. "I really need to use the bathroom and when I have the feeling to use the bathroom this badly, I usually pee my pants."

Thankfully, I somehow kept a straight face on this one. Thank you for announcing to the class that you pee your pants.

Quote #3:

Yesterday I was trying to be extra happy so that I would not be depressed about what day it was. Apparently the kids noticed.

"Mrs. Jaeger, I love it when you're funny!"

"I'm not funny all the time?"
"Oh...uh...no...I mean...you're extra funny today."

This child's mother even emailed me and added this as her p.s.:

"He swears you are THE funniest teacher at school.  He loves your class!"

My heart is warmed when I read things like that.

Case #4:

I am probably the only one that finds this funny. Half the kids are great at pushing their seats in. Half of them are not. Some of the kids are great at pushing in other kids' chairs. We were playing a game during social studies. One of my students got up without pushing his chair in. Another student stood up to push the first student's chair in, failing to push in his own chair. Thus a third student got up to push in the second student's chair. It was a domino effect of chairs.

The kids found it amusing that I found it so amusing.

It's been a long day. We've had kids dropping their drawers in the hallway, and a biter which ended up being a kid biting herself to get another student in trouble. I just cross my fingers and pray that my kids won't do anything like that.

Back To School Night!

Well, it's arrived. Back to school night. One of my favorite nights of the year. The kids are excited or nervous or couldn't care less. They are adorable and I have a non-stop smile for two hours plastered on my face.
I was just glad my classroom was ready. I started to panic around noon. I took on a few too many projects this summer, especially with the fact that I was gone for one month.
This year, I had different steps for the parents to follow. Even with that addition, many steps were skipped. Oh well. I guess I'm doing packets next year.

28 of my darling 30 students showed up. They were impressed I knew their names. I was impressed with how different they looked from their 4th grade picture.
I love my parents this year. I even had a mom that came in and said something like, "I have had the crappiest parents to work with before this year, but these are some amazing parents!"
Many of my former students made a guest appearance. Lots of hugs (and a guilty happy when a mom teared up and said last year was the best year for her child and she wishes her son could have me again).
I cannot wait until tomorrow. Those adorable children are my kids for nine months. I'll love, scold, cry for, pray for, struggle with, admire, worry about, and nurture those kids.

Here's to the best year yet.

What my classroom looked like two weeks ago:

What my classroom looked like at 3:30 today:

Suitcases for their back to school presents with a bag of pretzels and a foam airplane inside.

The vice-principal gave me this awesome map today.

You'll never know how messy it is behind the emerald curtain. (Okay. There are actually just power cords for the Chromebooks and large bins.)

I incorporated our school's theme this year (airplanes) into my hot air balloon theme. Hey, it fits pretty nicely. I love my new arrow sign outside my classroom.

One of the projects I took on was to make airport signs for the entire school. My favorite are the drinking fountain and bathroom signs. I love them. (Look closely.)