School pics!

Okay....so I'm a few days late, but here are the pics of my room. I went with a "circus" theme this year. Last year was monkeys and zoo animals (and was it a zoo in there). Maybe I should opt for calmer things, like Linda Ronstadt, turtles, or slugs.....

Here's my bulletin board outside the door. Sorry about the glare--ooops. It says "First Grade" on the megaphone, and then "Step Right Up!". At the top is says, "Starring" and then all the students names are on the stars. I need to send their photos into Walgreens tonight so I can have their pictures on their stars by Open House, which is this Thursday--egads!

The next Picture is of the "Big Top" reading corner. The class really loves this area. Since I moved my desk out of my room, I was able to create a large space for silent reading. Each day, the star student, and a different colored group (I separate my class into groups and assign them a color. This helps a lot in all kinds of classroom management) is entitled to spending time in the reading corner when they have all of their work finished, AND if they have not changed a card. Mean Mrs. Bledsoe.

To the left is the side view, and the right pic is the front view. My work area is to the right (hence the mess) of the big top.

Below is the reading bulletin board inside the "Big Top". I was going to use this as my welcoming bulletin board outside of the classroom, but when I told my dear co-workers, Mary Anne and Lindsay, that I was going to title my bulletin board, "Mrs. Bledsoe is nuts about her class", they giggled and turned away. They were concerned the passing Jr. Highers would take it too far. I'm glad they stopped me from putting it in the hallway, because my homemade peanuts looking like flying poop. Not good.

Now the fun stuff is out of the way and I'll show you my next project.....affectionately known as.....the closet. When I moved into this room last year, it had sage green shower curtains spanning the width of the closet. I didn't likey. My principal didn't likey. I took the curtains down and pinned them over my boss's door. I thought I could make it look nice and organized. TAke a peak at the pic. This is where the reader can form his own opinion and keep it to themselves...... Okay....This end of the room is needing some major CPR. Soooo, I bought a lot of felt tonight with a handy dandy coupon at JoAnns. I'm going to back the felt by sewing a sheet. Then I will attempt to slide a dowel rod, or something else into a pocket at the top of the felty curtain-like object. Hang it on a hinge and call it a "bulletin board curtainy door thing". Yep. I need some higher level vocab help.

So, my original goal was to complete the closet curtain contraption by Open House. Yeah. I had high hopes and then realized....I don't have the time. We'll see what the next 48 hours brings us. Probably nothing. I guess this is the part in my marriage that would be really great if I had a husband that not only worked with tools, but also...SEWED.

Speaking of husband, men, disorganization, and myself. I have a story--short and pointless--like most of my stories.

I was driving across Galesburg tonight and saw a garage with the door opened. I looked in the garage and it was CLEAN, ORGANIZED, INVITING, and....had some weird but cool garage-like CHARM. Yeah, this guy's garage looked like a sweet ocean cottage next to my home. All those words in caps above are antonyms of my home. Let's not even begin to discuss our garage. I figure, if a man has that much time on his hands to keep a GARAGE that nice, there's a problem. Does he not like spending time with his lady? Is his house so organized and clean he had to move onto something bigger and better...the garage? Maybe his garage IS his home. Anyways, it was lovely, but wrong.

Okay, I've senselessly babbled for way too long........need sleep.