Home Decor

I always go on Pinterest and see photos like this and let out a huge sigh.

Who are these perfect people with perfectly organized, beautiful homes? I seriously want to be them! The major thing I am jealous about (besides all the beautiful furniture that I cannot afford right now) is the fact that everything in the photo is placed strategically and seems to have a perfect spot! I can do that!

I decided to start with my jewelry. I love how Krista from Covering the Bases  displays hers:

I love how the jewelry is showcased instead of stuffed away in a box. I especially love how she stacks books underneath to give the display some height. Here's my attempt:

Obviously, my photo quality is not even remotely close to the one of the previous photo. But you get the idea.

I also love the idea of using drink-ware (like the martini glass) as a storage option for trinkets. I have many "collectible" glasses from breweries, bars, etc. I also have many rogue hair-ties, barrettes, claw-clips, and bobby pins. I corralled them together in this never-used glass alongside my hair products.

I saw this post and decided to revamp my coffee table:

I got the tray and bud vase from Target. The whale coasters were purchased from Open House, which is one of my favorite stores for cute and affordable home decor! Last Christmas, one of my students had given me the tea-candle holder. I never really knew what to do with it, but I feel like it looks great on top of the stack of books!

I actually didn't think I had any books worthy of coffee table status. The only one I knew for sure was appropriate was our engagement photo album (we've just sent the photos in for our wedding album, and I can't wait to stack that baby on the coffee table soon!)

 Ahhh, NYC in the snow. What a magical time!

After looking through some of my cake-decorating books (many of you may know I love to bake, and even had a brief stint working in a bakery before I found my true calling as an educator), I realized the photos in those books were also beautiful to look at! Finally, I found Michelle Phan's book on sale and thought it had some great tips and tricks...not just for putting on make-up, but for being a woman in the modern world! As my friend put it the other night, it is almost like an etiquette book for women of the 21st century. Why wouldn't people want to see that in your home?

I hope you all liked some of my decorating changes! I hope to keep organized and tackle my closet next...wish me luck!

Aaaand We're Back!

For me, it's always a hard adjustment to go from "festive holiday" winter to just plain old winter. Especially because we haven't yet had ONE snow day :(

There's not much to get excited about, so I find ways to make it interesting! One of my new winter faves is the salted caramel hot chocolate from Shake Shack! MMMMM!

It's been a little over a week since returning from winter break. After such a long, relaxing vacation, I have to admit I was a little hesitant to get back to school. However, once we came back, it was really like we had never left!

The kids were most excited to return to our block area. One of my goals when I switched from a 3rd/4th grade to a 2nd/3rd grade was to integrate more block building into our daily schedule. Back in October, I asked the kids to name the blocks in our block area. We came up with a chart that shows the shape of each block and their name.

After we named the blocks, we put labels on the shelves to designate where each shape goes when it isn't being used in a structure.

On Friday afternoons, the class suggests some ideas for structures they would like to build throughout the following week. We vote, and the top two are the structures that kids can begin building on Monday. As a class, we decided that there should be no more than four children working on each structure (it can get kinda crowded in our block area). At the end of the week, during our morning meeting, the children who built that week share about their experience and answer questions and hear comments from the rest of the group about their structure! It's really awesome!

How do we know which kids are working on the structures? Well, as a class, we came up with the idea to pull eight popsicle sticks (each stick has a classmates' name on it) from a bucket, making sure to omit any popiscle sticks that have names of children who built the previous week. When your name is picked out of the bucket, you can sign up for one of the two structures we voted on.

Here's an example of one structure that was built this week (it's an air-base, FYI):

I'm looking forward to seeing next week's buildings! Happy weekend!

Packing for a Cold-Weather Trip

Packing always excites/terrifies me. It excites me because usually it means I am going on a fun trip, but terrifies me because I know I am going to agonize over what I want to pack versus what I actually need (and should) pack.

I find it EXTREMELY difficult to pack for cold weather. Everything is so bulky! This year, my family and I are spending New Years in North Carolina at the Outer Banks (where we spend a couple of weeks every summer).

Throwback to OBX summer '14: 

I have been compulsively checking the weather to see what clothes to pack. We have been to the beach during this time of year in the past. Some years, it is gorgeous, with sunny weather in the upper 50's. Other years, it has been freezing cold! This year it appears that it will be in the low-mid 50's, and mostly rainy :( If it were summer, I would be terribly upset by the rain, but since there's no beach-lounging in late-December/early-January, I am perfectly happy to relax in the house and read, bake, cook, play games, and go to or watch movies.

That being said, I think I have a handle of what I need to pack, keeping in mind that there will be tons of lounging around. There is also a washer/dryer at the house, so of course, I can wear something more than once (a crazy idea, I know!)

Surprisingly, all of this stuff (minus the boots) fit inside my duffel (similar style here)! 

My main focus in packing for the trip was making sure I had plenty of items I can mix and match together. Plus, the beach is such a casual place, so there's really no need to bring any fancy dresses or high heels. Any of our favorite restaurants down there are totally cool with jeans!

My parents are spending the weekend in NYC, so they're going to be nice and pick up me and my husband in Philly on their way back to DC on Sunday. On Monday, we're on the road again for OBX. The car ride from DC to OBX can last anywhere from 4.5-8+ hours (eek!) I typically have a hard time sleeping in the car, so I stuff my tote with lots of things to keep me occupied! Everyone has been talking about the podcast Serial, which I have yet to listen to, so that is definitely my first form of entertainment for the ride. I've also downloaded the audiobook version of Z: A Novel, which is a fictionalized story about Zelda Fitzgerald. I loved the novel Gatsby's Girl, which I read a few years ago, and am curious to see how the stories differ! 

I can't wait for a quiet, food-filled week with my loved ones! What are y'all doing for NYE?

Happy Holidays!

It's officially WINTER BREAK! Hooray!

Today we had our winter assembly, where my class performed a wonderful skit retelling the Indian legend of the Six Blind Men. I love this story, because it shows that everyone has different experiences and perspectives, and often each experience and perspective is valid and correct. A great lesson for everyone at this time of year!

This year, I really enjoyed sharing read aloud picture books to my group about different holidays and holiday traditions. Some of my favorites for this time of year include:

 

   

 

 

 

What I like about all of these stories is that they all speak to the importance of love, magic, friends and family. The kids in my class all enjoyed hearing the stories and talking about our different holiday and family traditions. 

Speaking of holiday traditions, my husband and I are celebrating our first Chanukah as a married couple! I really wanted to make it special for us, so I decided to get a little festive! I've been seeing a lot of cute DIY Chanukah decorations on Pinterest. I really like the mix of metallics and blues, especially on hanging banners. Being a teacher, I fortunately have access to lots of arts and crafts materials, so I got to work and made one of my own:

 

You will need:

- sturdy tag board

- paint (silver, gold, blue--or holiday colors of your liking!)

- glitter

- glue

- hole punch

- string

First, I cut out circles of tag-board and painted them silver, gold and blue.

Then, I decorated each circle with either a glittery design or one of the letters that spell out "Happy Chanukah", using plain old school glue. After the paint and glitter dried, I punched a couple of holes in each circle to thread the string through.

 

Begin threading the circles through the string (making sure that the string goes on the back of the circle). I did two banners, one for "Happy" and another for "Chanukah".

After you have strung your circles through, use hooks to hang up your beautiful banner! We put ours up behind our kitchen table, which is where we light our beautiful Menorah (given to us as a wedding gift) each night.

 

Of course, I also made Latkes (I used the boxed mix this time--hey, it was a school night! I don't have time to peel and grate all those potatoes!) Now that I am on break, I might just go ahead and try one of these recipes!

I hope everyone gets a chance to relax a little bit this holiday season! Peace and Love!

Fall Conferences Happened Already?

It's a miracle! Fall conferences are done!



They creeped up pretty quickly, and seemed to pass by pretty quickly too :)

For those readers new to my blog, at my school the lead teachers do not come to school the whole week so we can focus on writing up notes and preparing for conferences with parents in the evenings (and then everyone gets Friday off! Yay!)

 I structured my conferences a bit differently this year. In the past, I kept literally every paper that my students completed to show parents.

 

I realized that showing them worksheets isn't really demonstrating what we do in my classroom every day, as I typically teach in a very hands-on way.

Yes, I had a few spelling and math assessments to show each child's progress, but what I really wanted to share with parents was how their child responded to the different activities we do to teach subjects like spelling, math, writing,  and reading.

I set up different materials (pattern blocks and geo-boards for math, vowel-sound sorting games for spelling, several of our read alouds) on the table.

 Parents had the opportunity to interact in learning the same way as my students, as I shared my observations and notes about how their child was doing with the different concepts. Parents seemed to really enjoy this structure, and I plan on doing it again in the spring!

A perk of conference week is that all of us teachers get spoiled with dinners prepared by the administration and office staff every evening during our hour long break. I had delicious meals like hearty split pea soup, pulled pork tacos, mushroom risotto and pumpkin bisque all week.

My husband is always super jealous of this, so I had to make sure he had some yummy dinners to eat while I was at conferences! For my wedding shower, my grandmother got me a slow cooker from my registry. It has quickly become one of my favorite things to use in the kitchen!

Since I was home during the day preparing my notes, all I had to do was find some simple "set-it and forget-it" dinners that hubs could just heap onto his plate when he got home from work (some sides required reheating in the microwave, but really, who can't handle pushing "2" and "start" after a long day?). The best part is that these recipes make a lot, so he could reheat the leftovers the next night (or I could eat them for lunch the next day, which is kind of what happened...)



Conference week menu (for hungry husbands):

BBQ Ribs with roasted potatoes and a leafy green salad
Healthy orange chicken with brown rice and peas
Italian chicken sausage and whole wheat linguine in pesto sauce (Okay, so this one isn't a slow-cooker recipe, but super quick and easy! Just brown up some chicken sausage, boil some pasta, and add some jarred pesto sauce--I also like to dash on some red pepper flakes and some oregano for extra flavor)

Bon appetit!

Painting Pumpkins

If you've been following my blog this past year, you might know that my school makes a BIG deal about Halloween.

In preparation, we decided to paint some pumpkins with our 5th and 6th grade buddies.

We got these little pumpkins for about $1.50/each from the local produce shop.

Then, we gave the kids paint and let their imaginations go wild! It was great to see how differently each child painted their pumpkin. We had some scary faces, cool graphic designs, and even some landscape scenes! We ended up keeping the pumpkins inside of our classroom for some fun Halloween decor.

After the kids were done painting, we gave them a special "seasonal" snack. Who doesn't love some spiced cider and ginger-snap cookies on a crisp fall day?

I wanted to decorate the classroom for Halloween, but not go crazy, so I decided the easiest thing to do would be to make a candy corn banner!

I simply took some paper plates and painted a circle of orange and yellow on each one, like so:

Then, I cut each paper plate in half, and then cut each half into three wedges (looks like candy corn, no?):

After that, I punched holes in each "candy corn" and threaded string through for hanging. Viola!

Of course, I had to wear some fun Halloween attire! I love candy corn (if you couldn't already tell from my classroom decorations), so these socks were the perfect fit!

I hope everyone has a super and safe Halloween! Tonight, I am looking forward to snuggling up with some popcorn and watching Halloween (with a blanket to cover my eyes at the scary parts!). What are your Halloween plans?  

Back to School Night

First of all, let me just apologize for being very MIA for the past couple of weeks!

The school year really has been go-go-go since the very first day, I've barely had any time to update everyone on what's been going on in my classroom! Plus, with the fall Jewish holidays, my husband and I have hardly spent any down-time at home as we have been driving to visit family almost every weekend!

I have to say, I am SO loving my new group. 2nd/3rd mixed age is where it's at! Developmentally, it just works a whole lot better than a 3rd/4th mixed age.

A couple of weeks ago, we had Back to School night. I am always a little anxious before the evening begins, but this year I felt very confident. The other 2/3 teacher and I have been collaborating all summer, and we got the OK from our principal to conduct BTSN together. It was fabulous! We had all of the parents from both groups in the gym for our presentation on curriculum, and then invited families to come to their child's classroom for the last 20 minutes of the night to see what their kids have been up to!

We gave families a packet of information about our curriculum, including an outline of our reading/language arts program, the NCTM standards that is the basis for our math program, and a print-out of my curriculum report from last year. Even though last year I taught a different grade level, I feel that allowing parents to see my curriculum report gives them a better idea of what I like to teach and how I like to teach it!

We started out playing this game with the whole group to show the parents how we have started to get to know each other in our class communities. Each segment of the beach ball has a question written on it. Whatever section your right thumb is touching when the ball is passed to you is the question you respond to! Questions included:

- What are you most looking forward to this year?
- Tell us something fun you did during the summer.
- What do you want to be when you grow up?
- What is your favorite animal? Why?
- What is your favorite food?

When parents came into our classroom at the end of the night, they were so impressed with our self-portraits. This year, we are starting math with geometry (more on that soon!), so children created self-portraits using only geometric shapes. In connection with understanding shapes and patterns, children also only used 3 colors. The results were amazing! I loved hanging them up for the families to see!

In Back to School night tradition, I had my students write notes to their parents about all of the things they would like their families to see when they came into the classroom. Some highlights that many kids included in the letters were their portraits, our loft, and our library area!

By the way, how do you like the new furniture? Snazzy, right?