Classroom Bulletin Boards

The countdown is now at 3 days. Wow! This summer really flew by. I have been up at the school all week with all the other teachers for Staff Development. Today was our last work day before kids come Monday, but let's be real... I'll be there tomorrow, too. My to-do lists (yes, plural) seem endless. When I cross off one thing, I seem to add at least two more. That being said, I am very excited about my new classroom, and I am excited to reveal a little bit more of it.

My Technology/App-themed bulletin boards...

The Instacram and iCal boards are inside my classroom, and the Notes board is right outside my classroom and is a place to put schedules, tutorials, etc. For each of the boards, I backed them in black butcher paper and then with black burlap. Since burlap has holes, I didn't want the board to be seen through, hence the butcher paper behind it. For the borders, I used a thick (probably 3 inch) burlap ribbon. My hopes are that they do not get worn and torn as quickly as paper borders do. The apps in each of the corners were painted by yours truly in attempt to recreate the apps we all (including my students) know and love to use on a daily basis. The Instacram was penciled on white poster board and then cut and glued on blue poster board. All the contents on the boards are laminated, again in hopes of preventing wear and tear, but we'll see how they hold up all year.

I have also been very good about trying to link-up when ideas come from another source. This idea, however, came to me one morning while driving home from church. I must have been praying for good classroom ideas that morning. I wanted the boards to have some sort of theme, and the goal was to have something that they could relate to, so hopefully this theme has accomplished that goal.

There will be more to come on classroom specifics and the first week of school soon. Happy Friday! :)

All the Small Things

Blink 182, anyone? Don't judge.

Today was my first official day back to work. To recap a little, last spring I taught 7th grade science, and I found out on the last day of school that I would be moving to 7th grade math. I loved science, but math just clicks. I have always been a math person, and while teaching kids is my passion, getting to teach kids math makes it even more fun. So, with the moving of content area comes the moving of classrooms. This week, I have been up at the school trying to get a head start on my new classroom. Everything seemed to be getting decorated very slowly... until today. I really got quite a bit accomplished today, but I am still not totally finished, so I will not post everything now. For now, I am going to showcase some of the things that I believe are either essential or just plain cute. Whenever I am asked about my philosophy of teaching, I want to respond like this...

Okay, just kidding (kind of). I really am into cute classroom decor and if you know me at all, you know I am into organization. Now if my husband was reading this, he may beg to differ--sometimes I fight with my closet, but I say it's an ORGANIZED mess! :) My organization mostly comes from being a planner and having many planners. (See what I did there?) These two items are two things that I believe are absolutely essential. I have to give a shout out to Erin Condren for making merchandise that speaks to my heart. Her desk calendar and her teacher's lesson planner are the two things I am talking about.

If you are wondering, these are NOT the only two calendars I keep, but maybe that's for a future post. However, these are two of the most important. The desk calendar brings just the right amount of color and uniqueness to your desk without being over the top. As for the lesson planner, it is every teacher's dream. It has tabs, two-page monthly spreads, pocket folders, zipper pouches, graph paper, notes pages, and on top of all of that, it is customizable. Perfection. Next on my list of small things in my classroom is my assignment board. You will get a full view of the board when I post more of the classroom, but going along with the "small things" theme, here are the cute days of the week printables I found. Once I printed them off, I laminated them, and cut out magnetic strips to put on the back of them.

 Have you seen this pin on Pinterest? It is called a "teacher's toolbox." You buy this small, plastic toolbox from Lowe's or Home Depot, and instead of filling it with nails and other manly stuff, you can store highlighters, staples, and paper clips (and whatever else!) A friend of mine made one first and told me I should, so I did, and I really like how it turned out! There are lots of templates you can find online by searching "teacher's toolbox," but I had a lot of time on my hands, so I decided to create my own labels using scrapbook paper that I had. Here's the finished product:

Are you starting to notice a theme in my classroom? I promise I really didn't go over the top with the seafoam color and chevron print (I hope). This next thing may be nothing new to teachers, but I love it and think it is great for classroom management. My mentor teacher had them, and I thought they worked great, so I borrowed the idea from her. Start with empty and washed out aluminum cans and color code them according to your different classes. Then, place popsicle sticks in them with all of your students' names on them (one student on each popsicle stick), and during class instead of choosing the same three students that continue to raise their hands while allowing the rest of the class to get away with not working a problem on their own, you choose a stick out of the can... randomizing! These are very easy to make, and another "essential" in the secondary classroom.

One of the last things I am going to preview before the classroom reveal is some of the cute posters I have hung. They really all speak for themselves. 

I literally laugh out loud when I see the "Please raise your hand if you 'mustache' a question." AND "Chill." Gets me every time. 

I hope you have enjoyed seeing a few of my favorite things from my classroom so far, and I am excited to reveal more in the days or weeks to come. Good luck to all of my fellow teachers who are also setting up classrooms! 

Pancakes and Pizza

Wow, is it really August already? Last week and this week, I went through GT Training through our school district, and while being busy getting ready for school and finishing up some professional development, I have been cooking a lot. Like a lot, a lot. One of my college roommates gave me my very first cookbook before I got married last year, The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond (pictured to the left).

Ree is awesome. I feel like I know her. She now has a new cookbook out there, and I cannot wait to buy it. First though, I am hoping to make my way through this one. I have already made many of the dishes that are in this book. Recipes are my friend. Have a mentioned that I am a math teacher? Or maybe it's the OCD in me, but if following a recipe to a tee is what makes a good cook, then you can call me a good cook. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure that doesn't count. Oh well. Here are two recipes that are a family favorite in the Bormann house--the first is from Ree's cookbook and the second is not...

Sour Cream Pancakes 
Ingredients
- 1 cup sour cream
- 7 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Butter
- Maple or pancake syrup

Preparation
- Heat a skillet on medium-high for a couple of minutes to heat it up.
- Place the sour cream in a medium-sized bowl along with the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
- Stir ingredients very gently, being careful not to mix too much. You want some texture.

- In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs.

- Add the vanilla to the egg mixture and stir.

- Pour the egg mixture into the medium bowl with all other ingredients.

- Stir gently.

- Add a tiny bit of butter to the hot skillet and follow by pouring the batter into the skillet about ¼ cup at a time.

- Cook for about 1-2 minutes and then flip pancake and cook for another minute. Repeat for as many pancakes as you can make with the batter.

These pancakes are really delicious! Don't let the sour cream ingredient freak you out. (AKA don't tell your husband they are called "Sour Cream Pancakes" before he tries them.) Also, just pretend they are healthy when you are eating them :) 

This second recipe is much healthier. It is not one of The Pioneer Woman's recipes, but it is still very delicious. I met up with some of my college roommates for a reunion dinner right after school got out back in June. We went to Tiny Boxwoods, and I ordered the Summer Peach and Balsamic Pizza, so I had to try to make it this summer for hubs and me. It is actually very easy.

Peach and Balsamic Pizza

Ingredients
- 2 whole wheat flatbreads as crust

- 1 cup balsamic vinegar

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- 8 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced

- 2 ounces soft goat cheese, crumbled

- 1-2 peaches, pitted and very thinly sliced

- ½ cup basil, julienne

Preparation for Balsamic Reduction

- Pour balsamic vinegar into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.

- Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until it has reduced to about ¼ cup.

- Set aside to let cool.

Preparation for Pizza

- Preheat oven to 375° F

- Lightly brush 1 tablespoon of olive oil on flatbread.

- Top flatbread with mozzarella, goat cheese, and peach slices.

- Drizzle some of the balsamic reduction on pizzas. 

- Place pizza directly on oven rack. (I actually put mine on a cookie sheet to keep my oven clean--still worked just fine!)

- Bake for about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

- Remove pizza from the oven.

- Top with basil and drizzle with balsamic reduction.

- Cut into slices and serve with peach slices on the side. 

And again, we have a delicious dish! Both of these are super easy and husband-approved! Enjoy the last couple weeks of summer!

DIY Pencil Vase/Blog Changes

The blog is currently under construction as I will be the sole writer now. As you may have already been able to tell, I kind of took over the blog. So, be looking for more changes to come, but for now...

Where my teachers at?? Are you ready for August? I know I am! Looking for an easy Back-to-School project? Here's an easy one. Have you seen this on Pinterest? I think it is supposed to be a teacher's gift, but I liked it and wanted one of my own, so I made one. The link on Pinterest takes you to a page that no longer exists, so instead of trying to find a tutorial, I decided it looked easy enough to just do myself. So I did. And it was!

What you will need:
*Empty aluminum can (cleaned)
*Unsharpened pencils (I used 42 of them)
*Hot glue gun
*Floral foam
*Flowers
*Ribbon

Steps to make your very own:
1. Lay all the pencils out, take the first one and put hot glue EITHER directly on the pencil (which I found to work better) OR directly on the can (but make sure you have a very steady hand and can make a straight line).

2. Press and hold pencil down on can until glue is dry. (FYI: Be generous with the hot glue, because you don't want these pencils falling off.)
3. Continue hot glueing each pencil around the can until you have no empty spaces.
4. Take the floral foam you have and put it into the can. You can also do this in the beginning- I just chose to wait.

5. Put the flowers that you have inside your vase.
6. Tie the ribbon you have around the pencils. You can even put a dab of hot glue to keep the ribbon in place.

Teachers, I hope you are enjoying your last few weeks before going back to school!

DIY Tinted Mason Jars

We all have that DIY board on Pinterest, am I right? Well, I am going to DO some of those DIY's and post them on here so we can all see what they look like when regular people do them. No-these projects don't always turn out the way the picture looks, but since you did them yourself, they are perfect. Have you seen the pin of the beautifully tinted mason jars? If not, here it is. Well, it has been in my "Home Sweet Projects" board for a while, and Matt and I went to dinner at some dear friends' home this past weekend and she had some. I told her I was determined to make them. So I did. You should too. If you follow the pin, the tutorial is really great. But, here is my version of a tutorial for your reading pleasure...

What you will need:
*Mason Jars
*Food coloring
*Mod Podge (glossy)
*Dixie cups (or something similar)
*Wax paper

Steps to making your very own:
1. Add food coloring generously to about a tablespoon or less of water, and mix.
2. Add in 2-3 tablespoons of Modge Podge to the mixture, and mix well. I found adding more was better so that the mixture would be thicker.
3. Pour this mixture into the mason jar and rotate the mason jar around so that the mixture hits all parts of the inner-surface of the jar.
4. Repeat these steps for however many jars you are making. (I actually made the blue mixture and used it, then made the red mixture and used it, and then I just mixed the two together for the purple mixture.)
5. Turn jar(s) upside down to dry for about 25 minutes. (I put them on a stack of paper towels.)

6. Place jar(s) upside down on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet. Put them in the oven on a "warm" setting for another 10 minutes. The lowest degree my oven would go to was 170°, and it was fine.

7. USING OVEN MITS, turn the mason jars over so they are up-right, and leave them in the oven for another 20 minutes (or until the desired look you want). 

8. Take them out of the oven and let them cool. And, you're done :)

My finished products are pictured below. They have streaks, they are imperfect, but aren't we all imperfect? So, here is one DIY done.

         

           




















Have you pinned anything that you have always wanted to do but haven't? Hopefully, this gives some of you a little inspiration to DIY.

Anniversary Trip, Part II

The second part of our vacation was just that--VACATION. We drove from Santa Barbara to Sonoma.  The drive took us about 7 hours. We knew it was going to be a long drive, but we were so excited to be in Sonoma for four days. The drive was absolutely gorgeous. We stopped at In-N-Out Burger, and I had gotten us cupcakes earlier in the day for a road snack.

     

     






















We loved Sonoma! Our little cottage was perfect. We walked, we wined, we dined, we swam, we tanned, we enjoyed. Our first morning there, we walked from our cottage at the Marriott to downtown Sonoma. We picked out different places to eat, shops, etc. that we wanted to try or go to while we were there. The first wine tour we went on while there was Gloria Ferrer. I am a big fan of sparkling wine, so I really loved it. We went to a couple more that day, and then we enjoyed a great dinner at Hopmonk Tavern.

                        

        

       


















We did a bike tour through Napa Valley on one of our full days. It was definitely something that was out of my comfort zone. I had not ridden a bike since I was in middle school, but we did it! We visited three wineries on the bike tour and ended up riding about 17 miles. We had a fabulous tour guide who was very knowledgable about vineyards, wine, Napa, and Sonoma. He even stopped us to pick wild blackberries.

        

      

After a full and wonderfully relaxing four days in Sonoma, it was time to make the trek homeward. We drove from Sonoma to San Francisco for our last day and night. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge. We ate at two delicious restaurants for lunch and dinner thanks to some recommendations, The Grove and Delarosa. We spent the afternoon at Pier 39, got to see sea-lions, a juggling show, and Alcatraz from afar. We rode on a cable car and made friends with the man who controls the breaks-a good friend to have if you ask me.

     

      

All in all, we were able to spend some quality time as husband and wife. I could not be more thankful for this wonderful man God put in my life. We had a blast on vacation, but nothing is better than living our life here at home as The Bormanns. 

Anniversary Trip, Part I

Summers are just as much for teachers as they are for students, but just like when I was a student, there comes a time in the summer when you think you are ready to go back to school. That is how I am feeling right about now, and I am thinking the Mr. is thinking the same thing. I have the shopping trips to prove it.

However, summers definitely have their perks. One of those perks is vacation. Anniversary-wine-country-Sonoma-California vacation. We got to enjoy nine days of that vacation at the end of June. The first part of our California vacation was actually what we like to call a "work-cation." Matt worked during the day, and I got to play! Here is a picture of all of our luggage--now picture the two of us walking through airports and hotels with all of it. Hopefully you got a good laugh, because we definitely did.



We flew into Los Angeles, but we were off as soon as we left the airport. First stop, Long Beach. After walking around for a while, Matt had a lunch meeting and needed our car, so being the math/science teacher that I am, I decided to spend a few hours at the Aquarium of the Pacific. In true teacher fashion, I asked if there was a teacher's discount (because hey, we are newlyweds) and there was! I loved this place. I would definitely go back, and I would suggest it to anyone in the area. I drained pretty much my entire phone battery taking pictures and videos.

We spent the next two days and nights in Bakersfield. If you have ever been there, you know there is not much to do in Bakersfield, but we enjoyed seeing two movies while we were there. However, by far the most exciting thing that happened to us was that we got a flat tire our first night there after coming out of Movie #1. Good news is that my hubby is extra manly and changed it within about 10 minutes of us even realizing it.

Our next stop was Santa Barbara, well Carpinteria. After unloading our luggage at our hotel, we went into Santa Barbara and shopped til we dropped, went to the wharf for dinner, and then walked on the beach.

On our last day of the "work" part of our vacation, I got to enjoy a coffee date in the morning with a great friend from college, Kaitlyn. It was so great to see her, and I loved getting to catch up! While Matt was at meetings that day, I walked around and found a cute little place called Crushcakes, and got lunch and cupcakes for our road trip to Sonoma that afternoon!

Anniversary Trip, Part II coming soon...