Winners & Classroom Decor!

First up, thanks for all the sweet comments about little Sullivan! Here's another pic of him, just because  I love showing him off - out of all of my kiddos, this one is most like me so far - he has my hands and nose and chin and I am more in love every day!

Next, the winners of the DonorsChoose gift cards are Amy and Susan! Congratulations! I will be emailing your codes to you today!

School has been in full swing for 2 weeks here. That's 2 weeks of my wonderful, awesome, amazing sub going above and beyond for me! I nabbed her for my maternity leave back in April and I'm so glad I did because she is phenomenal! How many subs do you know that will go into work on a Saturday to run copies and get the classroom ready?! She did 90% of my classroom set up too! I also didn't do lesson plans for the first 2 weeks as she had it covered doing all the various drills and teaching my procedures! I apparently have a little behavior problem with my class and she is already on top of it - scheduled meetings with parents, admin and our BD teacher so that by the time I get back it should be resolved!

So yes, I am loving life right now (but don't talk to me about 4 weeks from now because my eyes already start to water just thinking about leaving Sullivan). I love my room because this year we went with a Cowboy/Western theme which I think is adorable. AND this year everything was created by me from my number line to my alphabet to my behavior chart etc! Love it all! I would share pics, but when I went up to school to show Sullivan off and finally take some pictures they had just had a lock down drill and the classroom was a mess since stuff had to be piled on the windowsills to block the windows and tables and desks were pushed to block the door etc. But, I will share close-up pics of just a few of the things I made this summer:

 My Western themed alphabet line came out too cute!

 I love my Cowboy Behavior Chart too - although not thrilled that 4 of my new friends ended the day on Reminder - makes me think this might be a doozy of a class this year!

 Love my Western number line too, its such a great reference for my kiddos!

If you know me at all you know that I love me some ten frames! I worked a lot this summer on different sets. This cowboy themed set is part of my Cowboys, Fire Fighters & Pirates Ten Frame pack.

I also redid my crate seats for my reading center and found a cool fabric for a tablecloth:

Now I just have to find something to put above my Lakeshore calendar - it has to hang low enough so my little shorties can reach it, but that leaves this gap at the top that bugs me....

My sub is going to be starting our classroom jobs this week too, so I am going to spend my Labor Day printing, laminating and cutting that out. Really, aside from losing ALL of my sick days, I couldn't have planned this maternity leave better - by the time I go back on October 1st my sub will have everything up and running so I only have to tweak things - I think the first 6 weeks are the most stressful, so I am glad I am missing them lol!

I hope everyone enjoys their Monday off for Labor Day (sorry to all my Canadian and Australian friends who had to work!) I am going to go start laminating now while Sullivan naps!