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2011 Resolutions

Happy New Year!

I realize I'm a few days late, but it's better late than never, right?

I started thinking about my New Year Resolutions the other day and thought it would be a good idea to write them here. That way maybe someone will hold me accountable?

1. Drink at least 40oz of water a day. (about 1 of my pink ODU water bottles)
This one will be tough for me since I find it SO hard to drink water all day long.

2. Run at least 12 miles a week.
Ultimately I'd like to run more, but I think 12 is a good number to strive for even on those tough weeks.

3. Run the Virginia is for Lovers 14k (8.7 miles) in 1 hour and 30 minutes or less with the husband.
Ok, so this is shooting high, but I will be SO proud of myself if I can accomplish this one!

4. Read more books!
I don't have a set number here, but I've just rediscovered my love for reading and want to read ALL OF THE TIME! I even joined a book club!

5. Make and send Birthday cards to all of my nieces and nephews this year.
I always say I'm going to, but never get around to it!

6. Take more time for me.
I would LOVE to put more time aside to do things I love. Scrapbooking and card making have really been thrown out the door since I started teaching. I REALLY want to make it a point to do more this year. (Especially since I got a PINK Cricut Expression!!!)

7. Take and conquer things one at a time.
Maybe this will help relieve a lot of the stress in my life.

8. Be a better friend.
I have wonderful friends and I'm really bad at keeping in touch with them.

9. Be a supportive and loving wife.
I already have this one under control (hehe), but it's important that I continue with all of the changes that may to us this year.




Ok, so my husband just laughed at me and said, "It's funny that you want to take things one at a time, yet you have 9 goals."

*sigh* I guess he's right. That one may have to be erased :)

Holiday Gift Giveaway: Twilight ECLIPSE DVD

Holiday Gift Giveaway: Twilight ECLIPSE DVD

This is the movie of the holiday season!! Twilight Eclipse will hit stores on December 4th, 2010 and you can win it here!!

Just go to Country Girl, City Life's blog and enter to win!!

Girls on the Run

In September a friend and co-worker of mine decided to coach a Girls on the Run team at our school.

"Girls on the Run® is a non-profit prevention program that encourages preteen girls to develop self-respect and healthy lifestyles through running. Our curricula address all aspects of girls' development - their physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual well-being. "

*Taken from the Girls on the Run website*

It's an amazing mentoring program that incorporates running. I loved the idea when my co-worker asked me about it and we set out to start the club at our school. We were allowed to have 8 girls for our first season. We decided to start with the 5th grade girls that would soon be moving on to Middle School.

We met twice a week for 90 minutes and learned valuable lessons about how to love and respect ourselves. At the same time, we trained for a 5k race (3.1 miles).

This past Saturday was our race! It was the first race for 7 of our girls! What an exciting day it was! We ran the Jingle Bell 5k race at Old Dominion University.

EVERY girl finished! I am SO proud of what these girls have accomplished and am looking
forward to our Spring season!

Our team signs!

The team BEFORE the race

Our team AFTER the race
The girls with their finisher medals

Creative Scraps Challenge Week 4

Hello there! I decided I wanted to try taking part in a card challenge this week! I've been stalking blogs for months and have never attempted to enter any of the challenges. Anyway, I didn't have much time (or creativity) this week, but here's what I came up with...

This card was created for the Creative Scraps Challenge at Scrappin 5 Little Cupcakes. The challenge was to create a card using the colors blue, black, and ONE other color. We were supposed to use the Cricut cartridge Life's A Beach, but I don't have that one. I used my Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge. I chose to add yellow to my blue and black since there are a lot of "blue and gold" schools out there. My stamp is from Stampin Up! Warmest Regards. It's not my best work, but for the lack of time and creativity I think it will work!
Thanks for looking!

*Squeeeeeal*

Say hello to my little friend......

**AMAZING**

My first project :)

Dan said I should make a LARGE snowman... so I did :)

How to Build a Jungle Tree!

Hello blogging world! It's been awhile and I'm sorry for that. Life isn't all that interesting when you don't have kids to talk about :p Now that school has started though I have 22 of them to talk about!

Before getting into the year I HAD to make my classroom look amazing. I love walking into a fun, creative, welcoming classroom each morning and wanted the kids to feel the same way. The school's theme for the year is SAFARI. I decided to go with "Jungle Safari" because there was a lot more "out there" for Jungle. The first thing that popped into my head for decorations was: A TREE! I wanted an awesome tree in the reading corner. In my head I planned this tree for months. How tall would it be? What would I make it out of? What should I hang on it? Will the kids like it? Will my room stand out from everyone elses? (I like to be different.... I wanted my room to be the "cool room" this year!)

So, the night before school started for teachers (I know, I successfully put the project off ALL summer!), my husband and I went to Lowes. We spend about an hour looking at materials and setting up a game plan. We came home and got working!My husband is fond of his garage and his tools. This project gave him the perfect excuse to use both.

Here is how we made the tree (along with pictures!)

Materials:
1 2x4
3/4 inch plywood (or any plywood would work)
screws!
1 PVC pipe (as tall as you'd like the tree)
4 10 foot skinny pvc pipes (in the plumbing aisle)
Butcher paper to decorate with!

The first step: making a wooden tree stand so that the tree would not fall over!

Dan got to buy a new tool for this so he was excited.

Next step: Putting the "frame" together!

Stick small pvc pipes into larger pipe. Stick into stand!

It's starting to look like a tree! The next step was the hardest (for me at least!) Decorating!!
I used brown and green butcher paper and about 6 hours to complete my tree.

Trunk is covered!

Branches!

Next, I needed leaves! I added huge leaves first. It definitely didn't look right so I added a bunch of smaller leaves. I also added a blow up monkey and some cut out bananas and coconuts.

I still wasn't happy with it.The branches were too droopy and there weren't enough leaves. So, I continued working!

I used fishing line to tie the branches to the ceiling. I also added lots of leaves. I used pipe cleaners on the leaves to get some of them to stick up.

The rest of my room looks something like this:

Looking in through the door.

To the right. My Guided Reading table and "Good Work Board"

Attendance and Behavior


My desk area. Sloppy... I know! School hadn't started yet :)


"Front" of room.


Math and Centers Board


Sign outside my door


The beautiful quilt my mother-in-law and sister-in-law
helped me make out of my students work! (Outside my door)

That is it for now! I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and my classroom tour! More to come at a later date!