Pets in the Classroom

Teachers! Have you ever thought about getting a pet for your classroom? Well, I'm not sure if you have heard of "Pets in the Classroom," but it is a organization out of DC that provides teachers with a pet for their classroom. A few weeks ago, I applied, and today I received the paperwork as well as coupons to use at Petco for a free aquarium! The link is below, if anyone is interested!

http://www.petsintheclassroom.org/

-Laura :)

Phone Communication Log

Relationships, relationships, relationships and documentation, documentation, and documentation are two things that teachers constantly think about.  Last year, I made it a goal to not only build relationships with my students but with the families as well. For where my school is at and the families who support us, a phone call is essential in building relationships.  For the past year, I used a phone communication log to document the conversations I had with them.  This year, I found one on the internet but I didn't like the way it was set up so....I created my own!  Please feel free to print this if it will benefit you! :)

Painted Laminate Sink Project

I love decorating and "fixing up" furniture.  One of my latest projects was fixing the sink area in my classroom.  This sink area looked like it had about 100 years of wear and tear and about 20 years of dirt. I honestly didn't really know what to do with this sink or what options were cheap and easy.  First,  I tried to cover it with contact paper but it didn't looked the way I thought it would. So my next idea was to paint the counter tops, sides, and inside with black laminate paint and actually it turned out really well! I was really surprised! To restore a laminate/wood counter/cabinet...

Materials:

- 1 can of the laminate paint (tinted to whatever color you would like...I chose black)
- 1 can semi-gloss spray paint for the peg board doors (again..I chose black, but whatever color you would like is fine) 
- 2 inch angled brush
- sandpaper
- painters tape (i never used it...i really HATE taping things off...) 




BEFORE:The doors and sink area. (I realized I didn't get a picture of the entire sink area with the doors on but just imagine a small ugly sink area...)

 For the doors, I actually took them home, sanded them quickly, wiped them off, and then spray-painted them. Once they were spray painted with 2 coats, I just let them dry and they were done.











  

I honestly have been only teaching for a 1/2 year and I had no idea what was under my sink...until now...I found stuff from the 1960s under there!!

Anyways, before I painted the sink area, I sanded down all the sides and counter quickly with sandpaper and then wiped everything off.  Once everything was clean and ready to go, I started painting.  WARNING: OPEN THE WINDOWS AND BUY A MASK!! No one, told me about how smelly this paint was and I didn't take the time to read the label for this paint (...nobody got time for that...).

As I started painting, I was really struggling with brush marks.  This paint was really thick and sticky...it was not like acrylic or oil.  It almost seemed like old nailpolish.   I suggest a think coat, but not too think where you have to go over the wet paint again. Once the paint is on the counter, it's on. DO NOT PAINT OVER IT AGAIN (this was a difficult concept to get through my mind as well)!

DURING THE PROCESS: It's starting to look good!!! :)

 

AFTER: This is after 1 coat. I still need to paint the back of the cabinet as well as the left side.

Once I painted the majority of it, I let it dry for a few days. For now it will stay like this, until I go to my classroom where there isn't anyone. The fumes were bad and when I first put the first coat on the lady down stairs wasn't feeling well.  Until then, I will just have to keep decorating and getting ready for another wonderful school year! :)

 

**I will post a final picture once the second coat is painted on.** :)

Fun Fonts

I don't know what it is about fonts but I LOVE them. One of my favorite websites to download fonts is dafont.com. All the fonts are free and they are very easy to download.

A few of my favorite...

Ani Beatrice Cursive by Barbara Nixon

 

 

Another great graphic artist who has created some really cool fonts is Kimberly Geswein. 

She has several of her fonts on dafont.com. 

 

One of my favorite is KG ONE THING.  This font is super simple and super fun.  I use it for labels and binders in my classroom.

 

 

One of her other fonts I love to use in my classroom is the FRACTION fonts of KG. As a math teacher, I love being able to create fractions quickly for posters, ratio activities/lessons, and for homework assignments. 

Save Water...Drink Wine

Today I saw a shirt on Facebook that said, "Save Water...Drink Wine," and of all days, today would probably be the best day to actually drink wine, wear the shirt, or heck, do both! :) As seen on CNN and Fox News,  I'm sure you are all aware of the "water algae crisis" occurring in Northwest Ohio (and yes I am one of the 500,000+ affected) which prohibits all drinking of tap water.  So this morning, I decided to go get a case of bottled water. Well, another 1,000 people had the same idea. I never imagined a day in August to see thousands of people at the grocery store all to buy something as simple as water! It was as crazy as Black Friday except you weren't able to get your cup of coffee through the drive through at McDonalds or go to Bob Evans for breakfast. 

Something to Smile About

Welcome! I am so excited that you came and hope that you will learn a few things, laugh a bit, and leave with a smile.  As a teacher and and EMT wife, life has it's crazy moments but in the end, my day ends with thanking the Lord for each and every moment.