Memories Made in First: Class Designspiration and Ten Pins for Math

Hey friends! I've been making the most of my summer hanging out with my girlies by the pool, at the movies, visiting the zoo, and more. My three year old had her first dance recital last week and she did great!! She wants to know when she can perform onstage again - her dance teacher has created a monster :-) That's us backstage in the pic below.

Today I visited Hobby Lobby. Oh my! I wanted every bird and owl decor item I saw, but I didn't want to pay for them (ha!). So, I practiced some self control and headed for the fabric department cuz fabric is what I came for. I have to create my own bulletin boards...no, literally...out of foam core board or something because my room doesn't have bulletin boards. Instead, my room has accordian walls. Anyway, I was inspired by a yellow & white chevron print I saw at Step Into Second Grade and a gray & white chevron print that I swore I'd buy when I saw it at First Grade Magic. The gray was totally sold out and I spied the yellow, but decided to go with hot pink and teal instead. Hot pink is so me :-) Then, I found a floral print I liked to break up the chevron. I think the floral fabric will be a "Something to Tweet About" work board. "Tweet" because I bought this amazing ( I wanna say amaze-balls. Can I say amaze-balls?) bird decor from The Moffat Girls.

Besides the birdie decor, I bought Cara Carrol's chevron pack and downloaded some of her other chevron stuff from The First Grade Parade that I loved, regardless of the print, like the Do You Have a Writer's Eye and her Reading Strategies Mini Posters. I also bought her chalkboard themed organization labels. As you can see I have spent free minutes over the past few days printing and cutting out resources. I love the punctuation super heroes from Journey of a Substitute Teacher and the Glue Bottle Vowels from A Teacher Wife (I think). The polka dot owl name tags are from Flap Jack Designs. I have plenty more to cut-out and my laminating bill - I don't wanna think about it!!

I saw this tree at Hobby Lobby and snapped a pic. It, or the trees on the Moffat Girls Bird Decor, will be my treespiration. Every first grade classroom has a tree, right???

I just ran across this picture of my bulletin boards when I taught 6th grade. Uhhhhh...last year! They weren't finished when I took this pic, but as you can see my neon pink fetish has been developing for some time now. You probably can't tell, but that's neon pink and neon green zebra print fabric on the bulletin boards and the curtains. I loved that black & white giraffe print too. I gave the fabric and curtains away to another teacher when I packed up at the end of the year. Hope she enjoys them as much as I did!

If you're still reading I'm linking up with Just Reed to show you my ten fave math pins. I love her Ten Pin Linky Parties - my favorite of the summer thus far.

Now, let me remind you, I've never taught first grade before. 2012-2013 will be my first year with firsties. I pinned these things because I THINK they are good ideas. Correct me if I'm wrong.