Still Finding Dirt Everywhere and Monday Made It!

Hey there!  Well, I got down and I got dirty and boy, am I glad it's over.  If you missed my previous post, I ran the Merrell Down and Dirty Mud Run in Philadelphia on Saturday.  I did this run last summer with my hubby and oldest son and decided to go for it again.  Last year, it was my first race ever and boy, did I find it challenging!! But, I had been "running" for the past year so I knew I was in better shape for this year.  And this year, I got to run with one of my good friends and former colleagues.  

My hubby and son before the 10K

Stacey and I before the 5K

Climbing the cargo nets over a tractor trailer... scary as you know what!!

That slippery wall will not get me down!

All done... we are dirty teachers!

Now it's little man's turn!  The little kiddies do a 100 yard dash with obstacles and a mud pit!

Nearing the finish with daddy!

Mission accomplished!  He beat dad to the finish line!

Every time I find myself lining up in the corrals to do another race... I think, "What am I doing?  I'm not a runner!"  But since this is my third race, I think I need to rethink that.  I don't look like a runner but I guess I am one after all!  
Now off to shower for the upteenth time.  (I'm still finding dirt... ewww... just kidding!)

Now onto my Monday Made it!  I'm linking up with Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics again for her famous linky party!  Today I took my kids to my mom's house to swim (we're having another heat wave)!  And she offered to keep them for the afternoon... ummm peace and quiet for a whole afternoon.... yes, please!  So I used this peace and quiet to do some crafting.  I made a "How do we go home Clip Chart."  I've seen these floating around for a while and have been wanting to make one.  At my school, ALL students are assigned a bus, even if they live a block away... I know... weird, but that's how it is.  So we have 6 different buses, plus the after school program, and parent pick up.  I couldn't find labels that fit my needs to I made them myself.  I'm really hoping this helps up all keep track of who's going where... when.  Lots of my kids do different things on different days of the week.  (Monday- bus, Tuesday- Parent Pick UP, Wednesday- MVP after school program, etc) so when the kids come in, they will move their clip to how they are going home.  I love the visual reminder and I think it will help out with subs and other adults that come into the room.  

I had to post a picture of my lazy assistant- Otto laying on my work

Ta-da!  A part of the finished product. It goes with the jungle theme of my new classroom.   The actual chart has three more labels for more busses but you get the idea.  Each student will have a clothes pin with their name on it to clip to the chart.  Now to check out the tons of other link ups on Monday Made It for more inspiration for next Monday!  Thanks for stopping by!

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!

Monday Made It! (My First!!)

Hey there!  I'm so exciting to do my first link up with Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics for her Monday Make It Linky.

Let me preface this by saying I come from a family of crafters.  The women in my family paint, sew, do needlepoint, knit, crochet, and quilt... all except me!  Some how the crafty gene skipped me.  I use Modge Podge and end up looking like Ted in "Something About Mary" and on top of it my craft looks like something else that starts with cra__.  

Anyway, I did something somewhat crafty that ended up looking awesome.  Truth be told, I actually made it about a month ago, but haven't been able to link up until the stress of the end of the year ended. Shhhh! 

I had these nice generic-looking primary colored drawers.  They looked fine, but they just didn't work with my new theme, which by the way is a Jungle Theme (in case you are new to my blog).  

So, I used spray paint and duct tape and the end product looks mighty fabulous, if I do say so myself!

View from the front

View from the side

So there!  It's not fine needlework and I didn't make a quilt but, I did create something cool that I love.  

On a totally unrelated note, I just taught myself how to watermark my pictures and I realized I really need to work on the details of my button.  But, that's a project for another lazy summer day.  Thanks for stopping by.  I hope I have many more Monday Made Its, thanks to the inspiration out there in bloggy land.