Looking forward to the 2013-2014 school year!

I am so excited and ready for my twelfth group of seventh graders on Wednesday.  I have been preparing my classroom and getting my lessons together.  We will spend the first few days together getting to know each other and discovering our course for the next 180 days.

 I have some great ideas in mind and few things I want to change this year.  I have to admit that I am a little nervous about implementing the Common Core standards, but I am accepting the challenge with a renewed passion for teaching.

I have enjoyed decorating my classroom, especially my new "read" pictures.  These were really easy to create.  An added bonus was spending time with my sixteen year old daughter as she helped me paint the pictures and letters.  First, I took an 8x10 in. canvas and painted it with acrylic paint.

As the canvases were drying I painted the letters, also with acrylic paint.  Once the canvases were dry, I hot glued a piece of ribbon horizontally across the canvas and another vertically down the canvas.

Next, I cut a self-adhesive glitter foam sheet and placed it in the center of the canvas.  Then I hot glued the letters to the canvases.

 Lastly, I hot glued a piece of ribbon to the back of the canvas to use as a hanger for the canvas.


I hung them on the wall using Command hooks.

Now I just need to complete the bulletin board.