Sunday, July 28, 2013

Books, books, books!

Hi friends!  I have had such a productive weekend!  I fired up the laminator for the first time and laminated everything for my calendar and a "how we go home" clip chart!  I've decided on a nautical theme for my classroom and I've been picking up red, blue, and yellow things all summer.  I bought a super cute nautical decor pack on TPT made by Natalie from Teachery Tidbits!  She has really cute things in her store and you should definitely go check her out!  If you follow me on Instagram (mceachernh), you've seen my lamination in progress.  I also bought the cutest nautical alphabet from The Printable Princess' TPT store!  I am obsessed with it!  I'll be laminating those at school since each letter/picture is an entire page.

 
What I'm most excited to share is the box full of books I got at a library sale on Friday!  My county's library has a program called Friends of the Library and every so often they have book sales at different libraries in the county.  They have all kinds of books for sale starting at $1 and children's books starting at $.50.  I went to one earlier this summer and got about 20 or so books for about $22.  They were all used and in great condition.  When I heard they were having another sale I got SO excited!  I planned on getting there right when they opened so I could get the first look at all the children's books!  I was overwhelmed by how many great books they had at this sale!!  I admit, I went a little crazy and picked up 65 books!!  In my defense, I'm a first year teacher and I need to build my classroom library.  Everyone was staring at me like I was crazy because my basket was FULL of books.  I'm talking books spilling over onto the floor and I was having to drag the basket because it was so heavy.  It must have been obvious that I am a teacher because everyone asked me and told me how great they think teachers are!  Anyway, so I get up to the register feeling very nervous (and a little relieved that it was payday) the girl tells me my total is $65.  OMG.  I just spent $65 on books!!  But the more I think about it, I got a GREAT deal!  Many of the books are hardback AND each book ended up being $1!  I got some awesome books!  I usually check out all the Goodwill stores near me for books, but this was a much better deal.  There is another sale in October and I am SO excited about it!  Here are all of my new books!

Great books right?!  And I don't have any of those yet!  One other thing I'm excited about is a stamp I ordered from Invitation Box.  There was a deal on Groupon for half off a personalized stamp.  I jumped on it because I really wanted a stamp with my name on it so I didn't have to write my name in all of my books.  I ordered it the first week of July and it finally came!!  I immediately started stamping my books and I am in love with it!!  They have really cute designs and you can personalize them all!  Here is the one I ordered!


  
The stamp is about 2 inches tall and stamps perfectly!  I thought about having it say "From the library of Ms. Hendricks", but this way I can use my stamp for anything!  I definitely recommend getting one!  It's so fun to stamp!  :) 

Well my laminator is hot and ready to go!  I just want to laminate a few more things before going to bed!  (I think I'm addicted!)  Thanks for keeping up with me!

9 comments:

  1. What a cute stamp! I've always wanted something along those lines...but I want to wait till I get married so I can use whatever name/initial that is!
    A Tall Drink of Water

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    1. Thank you Rachel! I bought it on Groupon so I only paid half price for it! That way I won't be too upset when I have to get a new one when my name changes.

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  2. Wow those are some great books! Do you like that laminator? I've been thinking about purchasing it but what do you think about it?!

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    1. Yes I LOVE the laminator! It has been great since I haven't been able to use the school one yet. It is so easy to use and it's fun! They're not too expensive either. I would definitely recommended getting one!

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  3. Hi McEachern! Such a unique name! I love it! I found your blog through Meet Miss Parker. I am student teaching in Kindergarten in the fall and I love finding other bloggers who are on the job hunt or first year teachers. We have many things in common like a love of book sales and laminators! I need to get a book stamp too so I am getting on that right now! I can't wait to read more about your teaching journey! Stop by my blog if you get a chance! I am having 26 days of giveaways to celebrate my 1 year of blogging and I know they would be very helpful to a beginning teacher! Hope to see you around! =)

    The Polished Teacher

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    1. Thank you! McEachern is a family name. It's pronounced Mc-Erin. I've never met anyone with McEachern as their first name or anyone that pronounces it like we do. I love it! I'm so happy you found my blog! I did my student teaching in the fall in first grade and I LOVED it! I am so happy you're student teaching in the fall because you get to see all of the setup and trainings that teachers have to do at the beginning of school that most student teachers don't get to see because they do it in the spring. I feel so much more prepared for the first day of school because I've already experienced all the work that goes into it! Good luck! I will be checking out your blog right now! Thanks for following!

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  4. My library book stamp with my name on it was one of the very best things I did before my first year of teaching :) Think I got mine off Etsy! Sounds like you're off to a great start girl! Best of luck in your first year! I was in your shoes this time last year. Please let me know if you ever need anything!

    Lauren
    The Sweetest Thing
    Follow me on Bloglovin'!

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    1. PS - Just saw you're from SC. Where in SC?? I am, too!

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    2. Thank you!! I'm from Charleston! Born and raised! But I went to college in Spartanburg and in Greenwood!

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