Back to School Hallways/Bulletin Boards

If you’ve been reading this little blog for a while, you might remember the hallway decorations in my school during Open House this year. I also spotlighted some of our school’s hallway décor at the beginning of the school year last year. Well, it’s that time of year again!!! Time for more back to school hallway decorations, bulletin boards, and themes!

Each grade level adopts a “theme” for the hallway. This isn’t necessarily how we theme our own classrooms, just a way for us to start the year as a team and design brag tags for our grade levels. Once we decide on a theme, our sweet grade level parents come up the week before school and decorate the halls.

First grade did a little half & half action this year…we tackled our own bulletin boards and then our sweet moms came in and added the stars :) We went with a space theme for the halls and LOVE the way it turned out!! “1st Grade is a BLAST!!!!”

Found this idea on Pinterest. I posted about it here: http://emilykcole.blogspot.com/2011/06/look-what-i-found.html

A few of the little details…

Jump rope {from the Dollar Tree of course!}

Tissue paper for a little 3D effect…

And these darling little plate covers…perfect touch!

Now let’s head on down to KINDERLAND :) I LOVE this hallway!! I mean, seriously…who doesn’t love Candyland?!

And my favorite little detail…the dang “gameboard spaces” running through the hall!

Let’s steer our ships toward 2nd grade!! This year, 2nd went for a pirate theme. LOVE.

Look at this little guy!! LOVE him! Those are real/fake feathers!! HA!!

And a little close up of the treasures…real beads!! Love that!!

Time to gear up for an Amazing Race in 3rd grade. What a FUN theme!!!!!

Each classroom took on a different continent.

4th grade went all out State Fair style. SO fun!

Things are really “rockin’ out” with the ROCKSTARS in 5th grade!!!

Finally, we’re “hangin’ out” with the kids in 6th grade this year!!! LOVE this!

This little wall is my favorite!!

The halls are all ready and we met our babies on Thursday night. Can’t wait to have a classroom full of firsties on Monday!!!!

Mixed Bag Designs {WINNERS}

So excited to announce the Mixed Bag Designs winners!!! Without further ado, the winner, winner chicken dinner{s} are…

You guys have 48 hours {by Friday, 7:50 pm central/standard time} to contact me at thefirstgradeparade@gmail.com to claim your prize!! If the winners do not contact me within this timeframe, new winners will be selected at random.

If you just can’t take another day without some of these fabulous bags, you can shop the new fall line at Mixed Bag Designs and enter the code FIRST to receive free shipping!!

I’d love to post more about the wonderful week I’m having back at school, but it’s Mr. Spouse’s birthday and it’s time to celebrate!!

The Ultimate Planner…AN AMAZING Deal!

I don’t know about y’all, but I LOVE planners. Like, REALLY love them. I love getting a new planner every year and filling in birthdays, important dates, y’know…all that good stuff. I’ve been using a MomAgenda for the last few years and absolutely LOVE it. One of my favorite planners for sure! Last February, I was introduced to Erin Condren planners by a sweet friend of mine and ohmiword…my heart skipped a beat {or two}. Pretty sure these are taking over as my new favorite!

These Life Planners are seriously the ULTIMATE planner and they come in the neatest designs!!

And y’all…she even carries TEACHER PLANNERS!!! Say what?!?!? These are simply TO.DIE.FOR!!!!

The Teacher Planners come in a variety of designs, too. She’s seriously thought of EVERYTHING!!! There are pages for important info, volunteers, sub notes, birthdays, holidays, special events, absentee logs, checklists, year-at-a-glance planning sheets, monthly calendars, notes, and my favorite…

I KNOW!!!! Pretty dang fantastical!!! But y’all…all this organization comes at a cost. $50 to be exact. Not that it isn’t worth it…because it TOTALLY is…but that price doesn’t exactly jive with my thrifty ways, especially at the beginning of a new school year. As much as I love it, I don’t love the price!! HA!!

We’re SO very lucky because right now, One Kings Lane is offering an amazing deal on Erin Condren products!!! {One Kings Lane is kinda like Groupon, Living Social, etc.} You can buy an Erin Condren e-card {like a gift card} for $25 worth $50 of products!! SO…you can grab either the personal or teacher planner for a whopping $25!!!! Now that’s a DEAL!!!! Don’t wait on this because the deal ends on Monday, 8/15. Get on it, girls!! I just purchased mine last night and I CAN’T WAIT to put it to good use!! I’m torn between the personal and teacher planner, so I can’t decide at all! However, I have my design picked out and ready to go!! I’ll get my redemption code on the 18th, so you know I’ll be clicking the “purchase” button bright and early that a.m.!! When you buy your planner from Erin Condren, you can also enter the promo code WELCOME10 to get $10 more off your purchase and cover shipping costs.

I promise I won’t be posting anything else like this for a while, I just couldn’t resist sharing this deal…especially if you love planners like I do!!!!

If you sign up to start shopping with One Kings Lane, I’d love for you to add my email address to the referral box {thefirstgradeparade@gmail.com} :)

Happy shopping!

Mixed Bag Designs {A Giveaway}

As a teacher, I swear I don’t know what I like more…pens, storage containers, or cute bags. If you’d have asked me a month ago, I might have said pens…and Sonic coke :) However, after I got these in the mail, I’m ALL.OVER the cute bags & totes from Mixed Bag Designs.

Okay…so I *might* have a thing for zebra, camo, & damask. Don’t judge. Since these arrived on my doorstep, I’ve used them for EVERYTHING!! They’re made from woven polypropylene so they’re SUPER durable and they wipe clean with a wet cloth, too! That’s extremely important for me since I have two little boys who LIVE to make things dirty :)

SO, I’m gonna need you to go ahead and take a look at one of my favorites…

YES people!!! That’s a file box!! I’ve been carrying binders {STUFFED to the gills} back & forth from school in this thing and I LOVE IT!!

I LOVE this Weekender Zip Tote, too! It just traveled with me out of town and it was the PERFECT size!! Don’t think this won’t be making a few appearances in my classroom this year :)

I’ve also been crushing on this little Tote, too. I took it to the beach with my boys and it was a perfect fit for our towels. It’s been used as a little diaper bag for my boys, too.

Mixed Bag Designs is generously giving 5 First Grade Parade readers a 6-8 bag set {from their new fall collection} of your choosing {from the options shown below}.

I’m thinkin’ these would be great to take along with you to a weekend conference…just sayin’ ;)

All you need to do to enter is leave me a comment telling me that you LIKE Mixed Bag Designs on Facebook. Winners will be announced on Wednesday, August 17th, so make sure to enter before then!!

If you want to go shopping between now and then, use the code first to get free shipping!!

If your school is interested in fundraising with Mixed Bag Designs, send an email to dj@mixedbagdesigns.com.

The First Time

Ohmiword y’all. I went to school for the first time yesterday. AFTER I had a cavity filled. Did I mention that the dentist TOTALLY went drilling on the WRONG side of my mouth?!?!?! But there’s nothin’ a little Chick Fil A can’t cure. Chick Fil A & a Sonic coke, of course. So I took my numb mouth, chicken sandwich, and Sonic coke up to my un-airconditioned classroom and got to work.

This is what I walked into…

{Sorry about the quality! My little ol’ iphone was all I had!}

Not terribly unfortunate, but still A LOT to do!!! We were able to keep up our walls, but as you know, with a classroom full of 6 & 7 year olds, the paper just doesn’t hold up that well AT ALL. My Celebrity of the Week wall looks like it was attacked by gorillas and some spots of other walls are faded as all get out. I need to add a new alphabet above my SmartBoard and make random changes here and there. With only 4 days left til teachers go back, I’ve definitely got my work cut out for me.

Justin & I will be spending A LOT of time together these next few days…

In the meantime, I’ve got a couple of printables for you. They’re random as random can be, but maybe you can use them. I’ve got the peanut allergies in my class this year, so I’m framing this and putting it on a little desk that sits right outside my classroom door.

I also went and made new labels for my Math Tubs {Hollywood theme}. Don’t know if you can use ‘em, but thought I’d share just incase…

Graphics courtesy of Scrappin' Doodles

I needed a new set of Daily 5 posters/labels, and I found EXACTLY what I was looking for over at Kindertastic!! She’s got small choice cards and large posters and they’re DARLING.

Alright. Back to the dentist for yet ANOTHER appointment today. Let’s pray they don’t go drillin’ in my ear or something. I’ll be spending the remainder of my evening up at school because I put the PRO in procrastinate :)

Teachers Gone Viral

Okay friends. Abby and I have some pretty fun and exciting news we’d like to share with y’all, so we both made little videos to let you know what’s going on. You can check out my video below and watch Abby’s video on The Inspired Apple! Just to warn you in advance, my voice is naturally deep & raspy…I promise I’m not nursing a cold ; ) And…I use my hands A LOT, but I’m Italian and that’s how we roll :) Thanks for tuning in!

Enter video caption here

You’re all teachers, so we know you’re great at following directions!! We’d love for you to leave us a comment with the following info:

1. Your name & blog

2. Would you be willing to attend?!

3. Location ideas

4. The best month for travel

5. What would you be willing to pay?!

6. Suggestions for workshop topics and/or speakers you’d like to see present

We look forward to hearing from you!!! Thanks so much!

PS: The winners of my Ready, Set, Learn giveaway are Nick&Danielle&Mollie, crusso23, and Mrs. I!! Pens are my absolute FAVORITE!!! And since Livin the Life God Gave Me was the first to say Sonic drinks, I’m giving a copy to her, too!! Sonic drinks and pens just go hand in hand! Email me at thefirstgradeparade@gmail.com to claim your unit!!!

You’re all teachers, so we know you’re great at following directions!! We’d love for you to leave us a comment with the following info:

1. Your name & blog

2. Would you be willing to attend?!

3. Location ideas

4. The best month for travel

5. What would you be willing to pay?!

6. Suggestions for workshop topics and/or speakers you’d like to see present

We look forward to hearing from you!!! Thanks so much!

PS: The winners of my Ready, Set, Learn giveaway are Nick&Danielle&Mollie, crusso23, and Mrs. I!! Pens are my absolute FAVORITE!!! And since Livin the Life God Gave Me was the first to say Sonic drinks, I’m giving a copy to her, too!! Sonic drinks and pens just go hand in hand! Email me at thefirstgradeparade@gmail.com to claim your unit!!!

Help A Sister Out!

Hey sweet friends!! When one of our sweet Kindergarten teachers asked me if I knew where she could find a D’Nealian linking chart {with pictures}, I told her I had NO clue, but I knew about 500 other teachers who could help me find one! HA!!

If you know where I can find an ABC linking chart…with D’Nealian manuscript…would you mind sending me in the right direction?!! I’d really, really appreciate it!! Dangit…I really LOVE this blogging community!!! Thanks y’all!!!