Busy, Busy, Busy

And it really hasn't even begun yet!  lol  I don't officially start school until the 20th (with students starting on the 22nd).  We also don't do any Meet the Teacher type event anymore either, so I definitely have time.  We can start officially working in our rooms starting the 13th, but I went in on Monday as my 15 year old niece Lizzie was available to come help me.  This was her 3rd year in a row coming to help and she is a big help.  We were told that air conditioning would only be on in our building until noon, so I wanted to get as much done as we could in the time we were there (so I didn't stop to take any before pictures, sorry!).  First up we loaded up my car and brought almost everything I brought home for the summer and the recent stuff I've purchased into my classroom (having the extra set of hands, VERY nice).  Then since I was changing some stuff around, she helped me to move around some of my furniture and figure out how I wanted it (most of our stuff is built in; cabinets, cubbies, my desk, so there is only so much you can do).  She also helped me take everything down from the top of the cabinets and shelves and put it where it needed to go.  We were there from 10-1 and I was super happy with all that we accomplished!  So much so that I don't think I'm going to go in anymore this week, I'll just wait until next week when the air will be on all day.  lol  Then today I went to the dollar store so I could get the silly straws for the birthday balloon gift idea that's floating around (now I just have to figure out what container to use because none that I already have at home were big enough for all of those straws).  I also found things for my calming caddy I'm going to make (gotta love the dollar store!).  Then I went to Michaels to get stuff to make a glitter bottle for the calming caddy, glue and magnets for my marble magnets, and stuff to make a desk blotter (plus of course other fun things).  Then when I got home, I got crafting.  I have been saving Pringles cans since March when I saw a cute gift idea with them (I decorated one in a baseball theme and put my dad's favorite kind of cookies in it as one of his gifts), so I used one to make a cute container for my spelling sticks (just had to cut it down).  I'm also going to use one to make the ruler holder that's out there, but I realized I haven't washed most of them (crumbs were rumbling around inside) so I have to do that and let them air dry for  a day or so before I can do any other projects with them.  Then I made my desk blotter (but it's not 100% done, about 75%).  Last of all I made my magnets.  I'm using them for my behavior "clip" chart.  I keep mine on my white board, and I like using magnets.  I was going to do my kids' names, but decided to go with their numbers instead.  For 1 because I was getting antsy with wanting to make them and we STILL haven't gotten our class lists yet, 2 this way I don't have to make new ones every year, and 3 because this way it's not glaringly obvious to every person who walks in the room who has been having a hard day (which was something my co-teacher said to me when I told her I was doing this system this year).  I used my silhouette sd (it's like the cameo that everyone seems to be using right now, but it's an older model.  It only fits up to 9 inches across and doesn't have all of the features the cameo has.  I'd REALLY like a cameo so I could use whole 12 x 12 sheets, instead of always having to cut the paper, but I just can't see shelling out more money for a cameo when there is nothing wrong with my machine).  I made 30 1.25 in. circles and had the machine cut them out, then I typed up numbers that I made sure would fit in the circles and the machine cut those out, then I used my xyron sticker maker to turn the numbers into stickers and stuck them on the circles.  Then I used clear packing tape to kind of laminate the circles before adding the glue, plant marbles, and magnets.  I'm very happy with them (I realized only 27 plant marbles were in the bag I got and I made 30 circles, but hopefully I won't have 27 students anyway! Although we're at 25 and registration is going on now.).  So that's what's been going on with me, what's been going on with you?  :)