Anxious

It's that time of year again.  Early August when you're in your classroom more.  Everything is getting very cute.  Your fingers are sore from cutting out laminate.  You're cleaning and putting your room back together (unless you're one of those lucky people who do not have to disassemble your room every summer). 

Also, you're also having those back to school dreams.  You know what I'm talking about.  They are a killer.  Usually.  Mine generally are pretty silly and funny.  Except the one dream I had before my first year of teaching where my new kindergarten class surrounded me and tied me up to a chair.  THAT WAS SCARY!  I woke up slightly panicked.  Sidenote: that didn't end up happening once the year started.  They were honestly a dream class!

The past few days mine has been about having a class of all boys.  We start on the 25th and currently I have only 4 girls.  Haha.  You betta believe that I'm making sure all my animal books/non-fiction books are out.  

I love reading non-fiction books, but this year I'm making sure I've doubled the amount I have in the kids' library.  Last year I learned that my kids LOVE these National Geographic books.  I mean, they were seriously obsessed.

I am taking a break from my room the rest of this week and I'll be back at it next week.  Here's what I accomplished on Monday and I learned a new trick!

Here is my new trick:  
I purchased some dry erase markers on sale at one of my favorite stores (they weren't Expo markers).  Unfortunately the kids used them the next day during RTI time and one interrupted my group (so I knew it had to be important) with a "Miss Millard, this is not coming off at all and I just wrote with it."  So I grabbed the marker, made a few scribbles...tried to erase.  It stained.  It didn't erase AT ALL.  I was disappointed.  So we immediately threw all those new sale markers away.  This happened in April so the boards have been stained since then.

Here it is.  See the lovely sight words stained onto the board.  I googled how to clean them.  I've heard of different things but the only thing I had right then in my room was hand sanitizer.  I also had a Magic Eraser that I scrubbed it with just because I didn't want to waste paper towels.

See the pink coming off!  I was thrilled!

Tada!  This was that same board and now it is crystal clear!

So: hand sanitizer helps!  I didn't have hairspray...plus I figured it'd leave that residue all over the table.  I was very pleased with all my clean boards!  They look almost brand new.

Next, I finally laminated and cut my Table Labels & Signs.  This is in my TPT store.  I picked the colors based off of my big rug.

Here are the labels in action on my tubs.  I put one tub on each table that holds their crayons, scissors, and glue.  It's worked great the last two years.

 I keep the scissors in the small metal bucket (from Target Dollar Spot), the glues go next to it, and the crayons in the small container.  I bought the containers from Target in the area that has the food leftovers containers.  I put a small blank white label on each with the student's name on it and we dump the crayons inside.  I can't stand when crayon boxes fall apart...which for kindergarten is about 2 days in.  I've used these for 2 years and I've only thrown one away.  Before each school year I just throw them in my dish washer.  

If you're interested in these labels (there are more, small square ones and 1/2 sheet signs in the pack as well), click on this link (Table Labels & Signs) or the picture.

Last but not least...here is the area around my door.  I have a great little, but tall, bulletin board next to the door so people in the hall can see it walking by.  This houses the lunch calendar, news, book order info, line leaders, and I staple up photos throughout the year.  It's pretty bare right now though.  Also, the other has my *FREEBIE* bathroom passes.  Remember, I use twine for the string...it's generally pretty strong.  

Would you be interested in my "near the door" items (those titles/headers, signs, no peanuts sign, specials (PE/Music, Art, Library) flip cards, and more?  Let me know down below in the comments.  I may post it to my store.  :)

Have a great day everyone!  Tomorrow I will post info about my new Reading Posters.  

**Don't forget to click "Follow Me" on TPT so you can see when I upload new items.  I've been uploading a few a day lately.