Monday, July 1, 2013

It's Bloglovin' Time and some Made It Monday Fun!

You must have heard by now, but quick it's time to make a move so you don't lose all of your favorite blogs.  Google Reader apparently will not exist tomorrow (all this fuss reminds me of Y2K), but I did it!  I made the move a few weeks ago to Bloglovin'.  Up until about 6 months ago, I used to bookmark my favorite blogs and then check them periodically.  Then I joined Google Friend Connect to follow my blogs that way.  Now... dum, dum, dum... Google's Reader is going away.  What's a bloglover to do, you ask?  Switch to bloglovin' to follow your favorites (hopefully mine is one of them!)  I love that there is an app for my iPhone and I can check up on the blogs anywhere... while waiting for T ball practice to be done, at the dentist, at the salon... you get it!  Here's a great tutorial to help you make the switch from Tori's Teacher Tips.  Click here to check it out... but don't forget to come back to my blog after you sign up to click on the button on the right to become my newest follower.


Now onto Monday Made It!  I'm linking up once again with Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics.  This is one of my favorite inspirational linky parties.  You can get so many FANTASTIC ideas for your free time (or lack of it in my case) this summer.  After you check out my post, be sure to visit Tara and other blogger friends to be inspired!

 So, I've been working on a "wild" classroom makeover for a couple of months now and I posted last week about how I was able to go in and set my new classroom a little bit.  I put up my bulletin boards (background and border) and then covered them to protect them from fading and cleaning products this summer.  I wanted to use some animal print borders with a black background on some of my boards, but when I went to my local teacher store- Becker's they only had tiger print.  I need a little variety in my room and I didn't want just tiger print so I had to come up with something different.  Duct tape has become my new best friend.  I used cheetah and zebra duct tape as the border.  I think it turned out pretty good.  I did use the tiger on some other boards though.  


This is going to be a board to display reading and writing anchor charts.


This is the header for my word wall.  The lower bulletin board is my famous starched fabric fake bulletin board.  If you are interested in reading about how I used fabric to jazz up an ugly and dated chalkboard to make a neat fake bulletin board, click here.

I know... I'm late to the party on this project.  It seems like every blogger has one, but just because I'm late doesn't mean I can't join in.  And ya never know... maybe there are others who haven't discovered this little cool organizer.  To the best that I can figure out, the original "Teacher Toolbox was created and shared on Create, Share, Teach.  You can click the link to see the original post and her directions.  I did mine a little differently.  First, I purchased the black 22-drawer organizer from Home Depot (for about $20.  I removed the drawers.  Then, I used spray paint (be sure to use the kind that bonds to plastic) to change the color from dull gray to glossy black.  After the paint dried, I used my trusty duct tape--- I told you, obsessed-- to cover the sides and top.  It took three strips. 



Then I found this wonderful FREE template on TPT compliments of Fun in 4B.  I downloaded it and customized my drawer labels.  I think it turned out pretty good and I hope it keeps me more organized!

Thanks for stopping by!





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