Mi Casa

I haven't blogged in what seems like forever, so here goes. I downloaded the blogger app, so I am blogging from my phone. I cannot figure out how to put pictures in order, so thy may be all messed up.

In May, I accepted a job as Library Media Specialist as Bolton- Edwards Elementary Middle School in Bolton, MS! I am super excited about this position and the entire experience! However, I am not going to go into much detail about that becuase that will come in a different blog!

Having a new job in Hinds County meant I had to find some type of living arrangement in the area. After looking at every apartment in the Jackson Metro area, I was unable to find somewhere I could afford. Therefore, I started playing with the idea of buying a house- 24 days later, I became a homeowner at the age of 24. I am still a little overwhelmed, but I love it!

Now, I will give you a tour of my little casa. Enjoy!

Door Decor - Dr. Seuss Style

I love decorating my door, as you already know, and I also LOVE Dr. Seuss! Because I already has a newly decorated door for his birthday, I knew I needed to find a time that was appropriate to Dr. Seuss my door! April is the perfect month! For Earth Day, I like to use Lorax by Dr. Seuss as a guide, so I went ahead and used that as the theme of my door! Here are a few pictures!

 Here is a shot of the entire door!! 

 

There are a lot of great quotes in this book, but this is my favorite. 

It can be used for more than just Earth Day!

The Lorax!

MCT2 Madness

If you are working in or around a public school in Mississippi, you know as well as I do that it's crunch. Between mock test, sample test items, missed skills, more sample test items, and more crunching, it's evident that the state test, the mct2, it quickly approaching. 

Here are a few motivational signs that I've created to hopefully motivate and encourage our kids!

This first picture is something I threw together on Friday. The school has taken a "western" theme this year, so the principal wanted to follow that idea with some our test taking motivational signs. We are having shirts made by Southern Designs in Vidalia, LA, and they will be similar to this.

This idea came from some pencils I purchased from Positive Promotions.

This is also an idea I used from some bookmarks I purchased from Positive Promotions.

I cannot really remember where I got this idea, but I kind of like it!

Lock- In Fun!!

This year, I decided to do something crazy! My favorite thing about AWANA when I was in AWANA was our annual lock-in. We could stay up all night, and we got to say a bunch of sections. So, this year, I planned a lock-in for our AWANA kids!

We had some awesome worship services, handbook time, a mega relay, lots of snacks, game room time, manis and pedis, and a special visit from Mr. Budgy and Mrs. Judy. Their daughter and son-in-law are missionaries in Indonesia, so they presented a video to our kids about what it's like in Indonesia. They also gave each child a coin from Indonesia and a peice of durian candy. Now, i will say durian is a flavor that I feel everyone should experience at some point in their life. I've yet to sample it because I cannot get past the smell of natural gas.... I hear it tastes about the same... GROSS! Mr. Budgy even taught us a few Indonesian words!

The night was a lot of fun, but I was ready to see 8 a.m.!! I only managed to snap a few pictures of the evening, so here they are...

Our preacher's wife, Dawn, painting nails!

The boys playing a little basketball....

Mrs. Bradi painting more nails...

And now it's Mrs.Sarah's turn...

This was the only segment of the evening that I remembered to take pictures... hopefully I can gather a few more pictures of the night from some of the other adults!

Moor Door Decor- Spring Break Edition

I do actually have other things to blog about, but this is more fun... After spring break, I will blog about Disney!! For March, I wanted something springy, and I wanted to incorperate a little Disney into the door since I will be making magic at Disney World over spring break : )

I am in love with quotes these days... I find that most of the time other people can state think 10 times better than I can, so i have decided to just let them say it best. With that said, I try to let quotes inspire my door themes. For March, I found that easy. Walt Disney once said, "There is more treasure in a book than in all the pirate's loot on treasure island." I used this quote to inspire this little mural....

***i will be the first to admit that these ideas are much better in my head. i am inpatient, so i work quickly. this creates numerous flaws in the design compared to the image i pictured.....

This is a view of the entire door... Treasure Island

The inspiration...

Mickey in our ship... the kids named is U.S.S. Rice, but you can barely see that.

The tree on the island... poor tree. let's just say palm trees are not my specialty.

The treasure chest..... since Walt Disney says there is more treasure in books, the kids made jewels with their favorite book titles on them. So here you have a treasure chest of awesome books.  They had a lot of fun doing this.

A close up of the jewels.

Have a great spring break! I will make a little magic for everyone out there!!

More Door Decor - Mardi Gras Style :)

I think my favorite thing is decorating my door each month. For February, I left up my "Be Cool- Read" design until mid month. Somewhere between the flu and jury duty, I found time to get into the Mardi Gras spirit. Here are a few pictures of the "Lassiz le Bon Temps Rouler with a good book" door.

This is a view of the entire door -- masks, beads, festive colors, boa looking border.

A close up of the sign.... in case you do not know,

 "laissez le bon temps rouler" means "let the good times roll."

A close up of the border... I thought the polka dot resembled Mardi Gras beads.

I also had a banner in the hall from Oriental Trading that said, "Happy Mardi Gras: WCES 5th Grade."

After enjoying a parade at school, a month of King Cake, and a two day vacation from school, it's back to the real world. Mardi Gras holiday is officially over. Today is Ash Wednesday. Lent starts today, which is a time of sacrifice. Even though I am not Catholic, I think I will be taking part in Lent. Giving up something you really want for 40 days seems like it could lead to a lot of good. Now I need to quickly decide what I will be sacrificing during Lent.

5th Grade

It's been so long since I have blogged on 5th grade life.... That's probably because 5th grade life keeps me pretty busy.

Each month, I try to have a theme on my door... Yes, I do teach 5th grade and not kindergarten, but I promise that the kids like the door being decorated just as much in 5th grade as they do in kindergarten.... and, it's therapy for me.


Here are the themes I have used thus far this year.

August - I chose a theme that was store bought... it was a cutesy social network type of theme. I bought it from reallygoodstuff.com. If you're a teacher, and you haven't heard of that website, you should make yourself familiar with it!!

September means the start of football, so of course I had a football themed door. Unfortunately, I cannot find the picture I took of that door. The theme was "kicking a touchdown for reading," since I teach reading. It was adorned with sample reading questions on the skills we were covering in September.

During October, I had fun!!! I found some super cute ideas online, and I made them my own. The door theme was "We are Batty About Books." For an art project, the kids made bats out of coffee filters and they were attached to the door below....

If a door was not enough, I also decorated the hallway... we do not have any bulletin boards that I can use, so I use my door, the hallway, and the extra white board as bulletin boards. 

This is our bulletin board for October--- "Witch books have you read?" The kids wrote book reviews on the stories they were reading during October.

October is also Red Ribbon Week, so I decorated the hallways with Drug Free posters for the occasion. 

Because I was sooooo busy during October, I failed to get a new bulletin board up during November :( 

However, I made the time during December!! The #1 thing I was taught in education school was the power of being able to beg, borrow, and steal.... For December, I used that knowledge and stole a super cute Christmas door from Emily Babb at louisianabrideblog.com (if you do not follow her blog, you should)

The kids traced and cut out their hands, and I glued them to the predecorated door. It was really fun, and the kids liked seeing their hands on the board. 

This year, I have become obsessed with window clings... how silly... 

January!! "Be Cool- Read" I love my snowmen and snowflakes-- perfect for January's wintery conditions! 

February also has a lot going on!! This month, my door will be decorated in Mardi Gras (Laizzes le Bon Temp Roulez), the math teacher is decorating in Valentine's, and the Social Studies/Science teacher will do Black History. March is a secret :)

April will have something to do with MCT2 and Spring, and May will be MCT2!! 

Other than door decorating, we have been doing a lot of reading in 5th grade! We read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry last semester along with smaller things in between. It was a tough read for us, with a lot of interruptions. We are in the middle of reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham right now, and it is their most favorite book ever!! After we finish the Watsons, we will read Locomotion (my favorite)!! 

Well, that is all I have right now! It you are interested in donating money to a great website that benefits students, check out donorschoose.org.

Peace, Love, and Geaux Tigers : )