Friday, July 27, 2012

Teachery Things I Can't Live Without

As the summer winds down, my kids are out of town, and I have no access to school yet, I have been having a good time checking out a ton of blogs.  They are giving me a plethora o' ideas to help start the school year off right.  Now, if I can just remember whose blog I saw what on.

Speaking of blogs, the other day my real-life friend, Jaime, over at Bloom, stumbled across a fun Linky-Party being hosted by Teacher Idea Factory and suggested I join.  When I realized it was a list of my top 5 must haves for school, I was all over it!

There are no two ways about it, my number 1 is my number 1, but the rest of my must haves are in no specific order.  I wonder if any of you out there can relate....

1. My super amazing, incredibly handy husband.

I have found that many husbands act like a classroom is their wife's domain and it is not to be messed with.  They have no interest in coming within yards of the school, nonetheless into the classroom.  I am learning that my husband is a hot commodity in the world of teaching.  He builds things for me, he hangs things for me, he schleps to school to barbeque for my class, he even (bless his heart) brought a power washer to school one Saturday to help me clean up some grease I had spilled on a concrete pad.  Don't get me wrong, he's not perfect and he sometimes goes to school kicking and screaming, but he still goes.  I am grateful everyday to have a husband who is willing to help me out on this wild ride.


2. The Internet
O.K., I guess I lied earlier when I said my list was not in any special order.  My husband is still number 1, but the internet is a super close number 2.  I don't even want to begin trying to guess how many hours I spend online each night looking at blogs or shopping TPT/TN, as I figure out what on Earth I am going to be teaching my kiddos in the near future.  I also can't imagine being a teacher back before the internet and teacher blogs.  I knew there was a reason I had my kids first and a career later.


3. Vinyl wall decals

Last year, as I was getting ready to set up my room I came across some super cute vinyl wall decals.  I had no idea how they would work in my room or if they would actually stick to the walls.  They worked like a charm and have held up better than I could have asked.  I love how customized and inviting they make my room look.  The kids really enjoy the little extra something they add too.



4. Target/Michaels/Amazon

Need I say more????  Living in Alaska we do not have a Lake Shore, Hobby Lobby, Dollar Tree, etc., so we have to take what we can get.  I LOVE these three stores.
5. Mod Podge

Oh, my word, Mod Podge has changed my life.  I can't begin to list the countless items I have made for my classroom thanks to the power of Mod Podge. It seems like whenever I have a question about how to adhere something, the answer always seems to be Mod Podge.




What items do you swear by in your classroom?

13 comments:

  1. Definitely the Internet, my colleagues, my boyfriend (who even goes as far as to bring me another pair of shoes if mine are killing me!), my Cricut (best. invention. ever!), and the library!

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  2. Love that you have a super supportive boyfriend! It can make all the difference. I am glad to hear you would throw a Cricut on the list. That is one purchase I have been vacillating on making for some time. I have never even seen one in action, but based on the amount of cutting and tracing I have been doing, and the cool things I have seen others make, I think I just may need to invest.

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  3. OMG! I use the Cricut all the time. I have my name above my door that I cut out of vinyl using the Cricut. It looks painted on the wall! I also use it for vocabulary words. I cut out flowers for the words and the flower pot underneath 5 flowers has the stem that we're working with. I'm going to have to put pictures on my blog. :)

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  4. Post it, sister! I can't wait to have a visual. You may have just given me the excuses I need to justify the purchase. Not only vocabulary words, but VINYL, now we're talkin'.

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  5. I posted the pictures I have! I took a lot of pictures on my phone...and it was stolen back in November. Check out how sad it was :(

    I have to snap a picture of my name above my door. I left it up over the summer and it was still there last week when I helped another teacher move classrooms. I'll let you know when it's up too!

    --Andi

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  6. I love this! I found you on blog hop (quite honestly because of your super awesome blog name!) and I am so happy I found you. I am your newest follower!

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    1. Heather, I'm glad the name of the blog drew you in. That was a nice comment, because I did try to come up with something that was fun and different. I think that too many people have no idea what teachers do in their "free time". I'm also shocked that so many teachers I talk to have no idea teaching blogs exist and that this wonderful resource is out there.

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  7. Mod Podge is my new best friend! I just started using it and I'm pretty sure I'll never be able to live without it!

    I nominated you for an award! Swing by my blog to pick it up!

    Nichole
    Craft of Teaching

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    1. Thanks, Nichole, I'll be swinging by this weekend.

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  8. Thank you so much for taking the time to link up with me. Your post was über fun to read. I especially loved that you put your hubby down. Any teacher's "leading man" deserves some serious credit. They often come second or find themselves cutting out plastic covered game pieces for hours on end :) Thanks again.

    Kelley Dolling
    Teacher Idea Factory

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  9. I think it's great that your husband is so supportive!! I have a "honey-do" list a mile long already for my incredibly super handy hubby after seeing all of the wonderful ideas in blogland. My future classroom as I see it now... it going to be AWESOME with his help!

    Im your newest follower! Stop by sometime!

    Jess
    From Blood to Books!

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  10. Hi Stephanie,

    I just nominated you for an award! As for Rule #5 of the award rules, check out my Tell Me More post. Hope you'll check out my blog while you're there!

    Lilian
    me teach good

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  11. No Hobby Lobby! Tragedy! I'm a new follower. Glad I found your blog!

    Megan

    I Teach. What's Your Super Power?

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