Positive Encouragment

I headed into my classroom today to do a little more work.  I thought I was getting somewhere last week and then today I had to go through all my books and reorganize this.  We all know this is a tedious task and my books were literally spread out across my entire classroom. O.M.G. That is how I was feeling when I walked out of my classroom this afternoon.

HOWEVER the fabulous news is that when I walked into my classroom today I had this apple bell sitting on my desk with a note.  It caught me by surprise.

 It says "Ashley - Welcome back!  Hope this helps you to ring in the new school year with hope and happiness! :) Lecia  (I already miss you!)

Lecia is a first grade teacher at my school and she used to teach across the hall from me.  She was a really great friend and I got to know her well after teaching her son in second grade.  Since I have now moved into a new building, I am really going to miss her too being right across the hall.

Last year, Lecia was a leader in my eyes.  She would make us different quotes to inspire us and really try to keep us smiling.  Here are a few of the quotes that stay on my desk.

 "Am I the kind of teacher that notices new shoes?"

"Are we feeding the elephant or merely weighing it?"

I want to continue to be a positive leader and role model on our staff this upcoming year.  I think simply encouraging others and keeping other smiling can make a huge difference.  Last year my teammate and I put a sign in the bathroom that really created a lot of laughter at the beginning of last year.  It said, "Smile, you're on candid camera."  We put them anonymously in every bathroom last year!  People could NOT figure out who put it there or if there were really cameras.  It was hilarious!  Don't worry, eventually we told people!

So, what are some things that your staff or buisness does to keep the morale high in your workplace?  I would love to use some ideas to bring to my school to start the year off on a great foot!

My Not-So Boring Monday

Oh Monday's!  I woke up this morning grateful that my alarm wasn't going off at 5 something in the morning but a little depressed because it is the last full week that I am not in "Back to School" mode.  Next week is the BIG week where I make my fourth grade teacher debut. (Enter nail biting here)

Today I ventured to the mall for what I thought was going to be a short trip to get another pair of Toms. Yikes..can we say addicted?  I ended up not even finding a store in the mall that carried them.  However I did end up doing something completely random while on my shopping trip.  I was walking through Belk's minding my own business when I was approached by a woman (Hi Amy!) who asked me to be her model for a Mac Make-up project.  I instantly though, "Me?"  I don't think of myself as model-esque or even that really pretty girl walking through the mall. I barely wear makeup and I don't even feel that comfortable wearing a lot of it.

I found myself agreeing to do this for her. In my mind I told myself I was being crazy.  Amy first took off all my makeup.  Be prepared....

 (Thank goodness the pictures are from my cell phone which is not fabulous quality.)  She had to do a day look and a night look on me for me to model. Yikes!  Amy was really great about asking me the colors I would normally wear and she really wanted to make me feel comfortable as well.  For my day look she used Studio Fix Fluid NW30 for my foundation, Mineralize Medium Plus for my powder, Pinch Me Blush, and then some fabulous colors for my eyelids, brow highlighter, and even lipstick colors.  Aye aye aye..already WAY more makeup than I usually wear.

 Then after my fabulous day look (which I really liked), she was on her way to creating a spectacular night look.  Let me be the first to say that my make up stays the same whether it be day or night. Is that bad?  I just don't have make up style I suppose.  She did a smoky eye, bright cheeks, and bright lipstick.  It was more dramatic.  The ladies working at Mac thought I should have left with it all on and I declined and asked poor Amy to please remove the make up when the modeling was done so that I could shop and not look weird.

My parents used to joke with my sister and I about becoming models one day and so today my dream came true! LOL!  It was really fun and I give major kudos to Amy, who has also been featured in the NY Times for her video tutorials on youtube where she has 11,000+ followers!  She has done make up for many fashion shows and I enjoyed looking through her look book as I waited when my makeup was done.  She did a great job and I want to give a big thank you to Amy for turning my boring Monday into a super fun makeup filled Monday!

Until later,

XOXO

-Ashley-

P.S. Any Bachelor Pad watchers out there?  Tonight is the night! :)

I caved in!!!

Since this weekend is Tax Free Weekend my sister, hubby, and I headed out to do a little shopping at the mall and some boutiques close to our house.  The hubs was just thrilled, let me tell you.  I was able to get a couple things from The Loft but that was about it.  I didn't have much success elsewhere. :(

My sister and I were a little disappointed with our not so successful shopping trip so I made a casual comment... "We should both just buy something that we would never usually buy for ourselves."  I figured this would make us happy and curb that shopping appetite.

We headed into a boutique we had never been in, Bevello, and browsed the clothes!  Let me tell you it is a super cute store with dresses from tons of designers (True Religion, Michael Kors, BCBG, and more)  I have to give a shout-out to the sales associate who helped us out, whose name I didn't even ask for, because she was really helpful and sweet! :)

So after looking at the clothes, I saw a wall dedicated to Toms.  I have always seen people, teachers, students, basically everyone BUT me wearing these shoes.  Honestly, I didn't see what the big deal was when it came to these homey shoes.  I knew the story behind it but I guess I never really paid too much attention to it.

Well, my sister (Visit her blog!) encouraged me to try on a pair!  Next thing you know, I did.

Guess what I ended up buying?!?!

 You guessed it!  I got the silvery sparkly pair!  They are ridiculously cute and I can't wait to rock them!

I even decided to check out Tom's website to see what other pairs I may like.  I am IN LOVE with...

 The Calculus 101 pair

And...

The Polka Dotted Pair!

I feel like I could start collecting these shoes and wearing these shoes ALL THE TIME! Oh great...a big thank you to my sister who has now gotten me addicted to these shoes. 

So you're turn to share...

Do you have Toms?  Which ones do you like best?

Until next Tom purchase...

XOXO

-Ashley-

Random DIY

TGIF!  Although it has been one rainy, gloomy, and dreary day here in NC.  My day has been spent watching as many talk shows as I can including The Talk, The View, Maury (sadly), Ellen, and many more.  I usually don't get time to just sit and watch t.v but today was the day!  Do you ever have days like that?

After the hubs got home from work today, we headed to Home Depot to price and match our hardwood floors.  Our next project is to pull the carpet up in our t.v room and put down hardwoods.  A big thank you to our three dogs for ruining our carpet.  We greatly appreciate it. :) No but really.

While in H.D., I grabbed some paint samples to casually make some bookmarks for my classroom.  Is it just me or do teachers constantly think about things for their classroom while out shopping?  I did this spur of the moment so don't expect anything too fantabulous!

Materials that I had around the house:

- scissors

- glue gun

- ribbon

- paint samples

 I just decided to cut the ribbon and hot glue it alongside the side of the paint sample.  That way it covered up the writing.  I'm not a huge fan of them but I don't think the kids will know the difference.  They will be happy to have something other than a post-it note, right?

I plan to have a basket near my classroom library that will keep these little guys.  I am going to make at least 40 of them before school starts so the kids have something to use at the start of the year.  I was thinking that during holidays I could do certain colors to match the seasons.  Black/Orange - Halloween, Red/Green - Christmas, Red/Pink - Valentine's Day, etc.  With teaching an upper grade, I don't think there are as many class parties as I am used to so this may be a cute way to incorporate the holiday's into my classroom.  What do you think?

TGIF!  Enjoy the weekend!

XOXO

-Ashley-

I'm Making Progress

It's Thursday!  Woohoo - tomorrow begins the weekend!  I have to admit that I haven't appreciated the weekends as much as I do during the school year simply because the summer is one giant weekend.  I need to start appreciating them now because during the school year it is those two days that are my saving grace.

I was able to work in my classroom a little bit today.  If you were able to read my last post, my room looked like a tornado had flown through it.  It is by no means looking like a classroom yet but it is on its way and looks a little better than before.  Let's check it out!

I decorated the sink area with the character traits that our school recognizes monthly.  I put on my "To-Do" List to get some things to accessorize this area a little bit more.  I plan to put the classroom jobs on the bulletin board.

 One idea that I would love to share is this pencil "rule" that I keep in my classroom.  The kids LOVE to have the smallest pencil in the classroom and it would drive me nuts because their handwriting would be terrible.  I am hoping that in fourth grade we don't have that problem but I think I am going to leave it up until I know for sure.

 This is where my calendar will be!  I snooped around in the other fourth grade classrooms and I found that they all dedicated a whole board to the just the calendar.  I did that in my second grade classroom but there was more surrounding the calendar (weather, days of the week, etc.)

 This is where I am going to keep my math manipulatives and my writing area.  I plan to put fake flowers in the basket and to hang the blue board.  I also made more frames to put on the shelves in the writing area that have quotes about students and writing.  I hope to inspire my students this upcoming year to really focus on expressing themselves through writing.  (In case you couldn't tell, writing is my FAVORITE!)

This is where I have my bathroom passes and pointers that I made during the summer!  I'm not sure I am in love with where I have them but, it'll do for now!

I have to say that I love bold and bright colors in my room.  I don't really have a theme to my classroom, I just LOVE to have bright colors to keep the students interested in their classroom.  Too many times I walk into the upper grade classrooms and see sort of boring rooms.  I want to be the change this year that helps my new teammates really take pride in their rooms and really take the time to decorate their room so the children WANT to be there.  Here's to hoping and inspiring!

I can't wait to work back in my room next week a little bit because I feel like I am making some progress!  BTW I have LOVED getting to see the rooms of my fellow bloggers!  They look amazing ladies!  Keep up the amazing job! :)

Until next time,

XOXO

-Ashley-

What a Disaster!

Let's talk....

I have been really excited this week because...

I worked Monday and Tuesday in my new FOURTH grade classroom!  

Reasons Why I am Excited:

- new challenges

- I know the children from two years ago

- getting to know other educators better

- forcing myself to learn North Carolina history

- independence

- maturity

- implement new ideas from my fabulous 4th grade blogger friends!

Reasons Why This Move Has Been Difficult:

- The building has no air currently.

- I am moving from the clean "new" building to the ancient dirty one.

-  The previous teacher's things are still in the room (not her fault though)

- And the condition of the room with two teacher's things in it

Proof #1

 Proof #2

I am telling you that my room looks at a disaster and I am freaking out about it.  We go back to work in two weeks and I can not go to school with the room looking at a tornado.  I plan to go back to fix this MESS (maybe) tomorrow for a little bit.  With having no air, it makes it really difficult to work!

I am super excited for my teacher friends who I follow because your rooms are so inspiring.  It makes me WANT to work in my room so I can show you all the end result.  But until then I leave you with my MESSY MESSY NEW room!

XOXO

-Ashley-

DIY

It's time for another DIY project!  Since I received the news of becoming a fourth grade teacher, I have gone from feeling shocked to feeling super excited.  I am actually heading to my school building tomorrow to move (once again) my classroom and check out the new space.  Don't worry...I will take some pictures to post the adventures of this new 4th grade teacher.

Since I am also obsessed with Pinterest, I recently saw some stools for guided reading tables that I fell in love with instantly.  I decided I had to make some of these stools for my new classroom.  Since it is my birthday today, I had mom come over and help me put these bad boys together.

Materials Needed:

- One large roll of foam

- Home Depot Buckets (& lids)

- Staple Gun

- 2 Yards of Fabric of your Choice

- Scissors

 Step 1: Trace the tops of the buckets on the foam.  Cut the circle pieces out.

 Step 2: Cut the fabric big enough to fit over the lid and foam.

 Step 3: Staple gun the fabric onto the lid.

 Tada!  How easy is that?!?! 

 They are the easiest seats to make for your classroom!!  I will say that I am exchanging the orange bucket for another purple.  It just doesn't "fit". 

I absolutely love the way they turned out and it really wasn't that expensive of a craft!  I would say it was about $35.00 for the buckets, fabric, foam, & lids!  Not too shabby considering real already made stools can be pretty pricey.

So give it a try!! :)

Until next craft,

XOXO

-Ashley-