Monday, August 5, 2013

MMI and Classroom Pictures!

Hi friends!  I am SO excited to blog today!  First, I have a HUGE announcement!   I HAVE A JOB!!!!  I've been keeping this secret for 2 whole weeks and I can FINALLY share that I will be teaching CD next year!!!!  I had an interview exactly 2 weeks ago, on my birthday, at a school I fell in love with while I was subbing.  I got a phone call less than 2 hours after my interview and got offered the job!  Can you think of a better birthday present than that?!?  I can't!  For those of you that don't know, CD stands for Child Development.  Here in my district, it's like 4 year old kindergarten.  This past school year after I graduated in December, I did a long term sub for 4 months serving as a preschool itinerant.  I traveled between 9 different schools working with 12 different CD students with IEPs.  I could not be more excited to be teaching CD this year because I've had the opportunity to work with so many wonderful CD teachers around the district.  I've been able to be in lots of different CD classrooms so I have tons of ideas that I can't wait to implement in my own classroom!  And did I mention my mom and godmother are CD teachers?!  I'm so blessed to have so many people I can turn to for help! 

Now, on to my Monday Made It!  I'm linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics to share my Monday Made It!  (It's actually more like Monday My Mom and Dad Made It) 
While my friend and I were cleaning out the "cheer closet" at our high school's gym, I came across a few milk crates that we weren't going to be using.  Of course I grabbed them as fast as I could because I knew I could make seats out of them.  Here's what they looked like before:
I decided to spray paint them red to go along with my nautical theme and to match some super cute fabric I picked up at Wal-Mart the other day.  After I spray painted half of one, I got really busy and never got to finish them. (And the spray paint dripped everywhere and made me so mad!  Don't use Krylon spray paint for plastic!)  I had to go out of town unexpectedly and when I got home last night I came home to these:
My seats had been finished!!!  My amazing parents spent all weekend finishing the seats for me!  I was so surprised and excited!!  Not only can you sit on them, you can lift up the seat for storage!!  They're better than I imagined!  If you follow me on Instagram (mceachernh), you might have seen the picture of my sweet cousin Avery showing off my new seats!  (I won't be storing children in them)  AND they also finished a chair I was planning on repainting!  I found a chair at Goodwill for $20 that had too much potential to pass up.  I planned on painting it red, white, and blue, and recovering the seat cushion with the Wal-Mart fabric.  When I left, the project had barely been started...but when I came back...


My mom is SO crafty!  We might add a few more finishing touches to it but it's basically done!  I didn't get a chance to snap a before picture, but it was painted a navyish blue color before and needed a good sanding.  It looks awesome now if I do say so myself!  Here's a picture of my adorable cousins showing off the display of new chairs I came home to last night!
That's Cooper (6), Cameron (1 1/2), and Avery (3)!  They are our babies!  And don't they look adorable?!

Last, but not least: Classroom Pictures!!  I was finally allowed to get in the school to see my classroom for the first time today!  I had no idea what to expect when I got there, but I was a little surprised to find a completely empty room!  I was told my furniture wouldn't be delivered until Wednesday!  OMG!  Since this is a brand new class being added this year, all of my furniture will be brand spankin' new!  Fantastic right?!  The only problem is...it's not here yet!!  I really don't have an idea of what is coming besides tables of some sort, chairs, and hopefully shelves and things for centers.  So after meeting all of the wonderful teachers I will be working with on my hall and doing a little unpacking, I spent the rest of the day with my mom staring at the walls trying to envision what I'm going to have and where it is all going to go!  My classroom is much smaller than a normal CD classroom.  It's going to be a tight squeeze when the furniture is delivered and even harder to find places on the floor for 20 mats for rest time!  Even though my room is on the small size, I LOVE the location!  I have a door that goes straight out to the playground and my room is easily accessible from the parking lot and playground which will be amazing when it's time to unload the massive amount of stuff I have taking up space in our playroom.  And I'm right next to a very nice and very helpful teacher that I already know I can go to for anything!  Ready to see some pictures??
 This is my classroom from the doorway!  There are cubbies, a cabinet, and bathroom on the left.  The SMART board and some bulletin boards are on the right.
 This is the view from the SMART board/front of the room.  The shelves on the left I get to keep, but the things inside the shelves belong to the last teacher who had this room.  BUT the boxes on top are brand new manipulatives that are ALL MINE! :)
 Another view from the SMART board/front of the room. 
 The view from the wall where the door is.  That board on the right is a bulletin board.  See my super convenient door that goes right out to the playground?!  I'm going to paint the door with chalkboard paint! :)  I can't wait!  I also LOVE my HUGE window!
 This is the front of the room.  The cubbies are behind me.  The SMART board is right smack dab in the middle of a large dry erase board.  The dry erase board has seen MUCH better days and is in need of some serious TLC!
 This is the view of the hall doorway from the playground door.  Under that blue paper is a chalkboard and another bulletin board. And yes, that wall is pink!  I would normally be thrilled, but I think it's going to clash with all of the red and blue I'm using for my nautical theme.  Luckily I'm free to paint the walls whatever color I want!  I'm thinking a light yellow?  Thoughts? 
And here is the outside of my door!  Room 109!  :)

So, it's obvious I have A LOT of work ahead of me, but this room has SO much potential!  I have trainings the rest of the week so I probably won't be able to get back to school to check out my new furniture.  But I'll be back bright and early Monday morning to get started!  Please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions!!  :)

8 comments:

  1. Congrats! You will love teaching those little ones! I taught CD for many years and just loved it! Best of wishes to you for a fantastic school year!

    Karen

    An Apple a Day in First Grade

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congrats on your new job!! I've often wondered if I'd like teaching the little bits! Have a great year!
    A Tall Drink of Water

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the chairs! So cute! Congrats on the new job!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cute chairs! I'm looking forward to seeing your finished classroom pics. I'm doing a nautical/pirate theme as well. It'll be cool to see what someone else does with it!

    - Pam @ Moments to Teach

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Pam! It's coming along slowly but surely! I can't wait to see your pictures as well!

      Delete