Monday Made It...It's Crunch Time!

I survived my first day of waking up at 6:00 am, professional development planning and classroom styling today. Whew! I feel like I am knocking things off my to do list left and right. Then adding things on my to do list at an alarming rate. Seems to be a trend with teachers.

In horrible devastating soul crushing news our school laminator is broken. I know that we are SUPER lucky to be able to use one for free but it being on the fritz has put a halt to any further room styling. I refuse refuse to hang anything not laminated, it just seems like a waste of time it will get ripped or drawn on. Tomorrow we are at district development at other schools so hopefully fingers crossed it gets fixed so I and 70+ other teachers can get rocking and rolling.

My plan is to have my room finalized Wednesday and spend Thursday and Friday working on syllabus, first week forms and lesson plans for all three preps through week 4. But you know what they say about plans...

In the meantime I am linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for a Monday Made It dos.

My first project is a new paper organizing system. I have tried a few different options for storing syllabus's, grade checklist and various other paper for 3 preps and all have failed and resulted in me and my desk being the manager of all things paper.

I decided to reuse a old fabric folder hanger and make it my new organization system. Anything a student would normally need from me: an extra syllabus, graph paper, printer paper, is all in one place and easily refilled from my locked cabinets. I always reluctant to put out too much paper because it will end up in my ceiling, so hopefully not using bins and being out of the normal student walk path will keep sticky hands away from the paper.

I spray painted the hanging system a navy blue instead of the red which just clashed, and hot glued laminated labels on each section to keep us neat and tidy. Side note, this also hid the ugly yellow/brown filing cabinet from sight! Double win.

Wish it wasn't so blurry!

Next is my word wall, which I am super excited about. Honestly, I know it looks a little uneven but I think the overall effect is great. On the back of each letter is a clothespin that has been hot glued to the wall. I have been seeing this tip everywhere on pinterests and blogs so I decided to borrow it! Each time we add a word to our wall we just have to clip it on rather than tape and eventually rip off.

I borrowed the title from Clutter Free Classroom word walls, rather than the standard Word Wall sign I think it's a unique way to stress the importance of strong vocabulary.

Also, I plan to let my students make all of our word wall contributions, rather than making them myself. Reinforcing vocabulary!

And finally, I painted a canvas for the room. My house is filled with my paintings so I thought it was about time I brought one into school.

Truth, my new desk is front and center so I can keep an eagle eye careful watch on all students during attendance and such, but this also means my cords were front and center for all students.

I have LanSchool on my computers, meaning I am the Big Brother of the classroom I can watch, monitor, close out and restrict all computers from my computer. Insert evil laugh, haha! But this also means if a student unplugs my computer, I have lost the power. And believe me it happens. So when brainstorming ways to outsmart  middle schoolers prevent this from happening I decided a canvas Velcroed onto the desk was perfect! I can easily take it down if I need to but for the most part, it just hides what needs to be kept hidden and adds the perfect pop of pink to my desk.

The quote is borrowed from Adventures in Sixth Grade and adapted from Harry Potter, I loved the meaning and I think it is a relatable quote for my age group. I added the learn on phrase, because I HEART it, first heard it will ziplining "zip on" and it just a great way to say lets start the action.

As the days before school starts dwindle I know I will run out of these Monday Made It's but I am sure loving hearting being apart of such an awesome forum for sharing ideas.

The Babbling Box!