Home Sweet Home-My Desk

The next stop in my Home Sweet Home tour is my desk. I already posted a pic of my workspace when I wrote about making my year plan for math, but this time I have more photos and some of my favorite items as well. 

My desk is in the kitchen, so I am trying really hard to keep it looking neat. I have a huge stack of school stuff on top, but Baby Sneaker's grabby hands and its location make it important to keep most things put away. 

The desk we got is part of the Bedford Collection from Pottery Barn. This collection allows you to build your own desk based on which components you want. We decided on the rectangular desk, which fits perfectly along our wall. We chose one 2-drawer file cabinet and one 3-drawer file cabinet for the bottom pieces which gives us 3 deep file cabinet drawers in all and 2 regular drawers for storing other desk items. I have one drawer and then Mr. Sneaker has one drawer too. 

(I'm so good at sharing). 

Mr. Sneaker just added this set up so that I have a larger screen to look at. My laptop is underneath. 

I love the blue case that I got from Amazon. It comes in a variety of cool colors. When I take my laptop out to use in a different location, I never worry about wear and tear because the case keeps it safe from scratches. 

My drawer (which has a Corner Flex Latch from Babies R Us because it's Baby Sneaker's favorite stash to break into) contains a few of my favorite items...

If you've been a reader for awhile, you probably already know about my obsession with Post Its. LOVE them. So, naturally I have an assortment. I love the lined ones for longer notes. My First Grade team introduced me to those awhile back and they have remained a favorite. I don't settle for plain yellow Post Its. They must be colorful. I also like various sticky flags and tabs, so I keep those in my collection as well. 

I also have an assortment of colorful pens. I like to color code things, so sometimes I use a particular color for each family member and another for work when writing events on my calendar. I also like to color code academic quarters on my assessments so I use a different color for each marking term. I like to keep my special pens and Post Its in these clear containers from Storables. 

My sister in law introduced me to this cool custom self inking address stamp from Tiny Prints. It makes putting a return address on cards super easy and it always looks really nice. They aren't cheap, but it really comes in handy when it's time for holiday cards. 

 Next is my file drawer. You can see color coding at work in here as well. I love to buy the brightly colored file folders and hanging files just because they look pretty, but it's also useful to use different colors for different categories. Each family member has their own color and then I have all of our household files in another color. All of our files from our previous home are in the last color. I used a label maker to label all the files so they look neat and tidy. 

 The great thing about getting a new desk is that it forced me to reorganize and make it neat. Let's hope it stays that way.

What are the essentials in your workspace? 

Is your desk in a private/quiet area or out in the open?

***Stay tuned for photos of my Erin Condren teacher planner***

Home Sweet Home

Since I don't have all that much to say about teaching at the moment, I thought I would show some of my home spaces. Who doesn't like at peek into someone else's home? 

I'm starting with Baby Sneaker's playroom. In our previous home, we had a much larger space, but it doubled as my office. Her current playroom basically houses her toys, but she has the run of the entire first floor. We do spend a good amount of time playing in this room, but she also spends a lot of time exploring other areas as well. 

I did a little before and after shot. The top photo is what this room often looks like during the day. The bottom shot shows what I wish it looked like all the time. How cute is Baby Sneaker putting a diaper on her baby doll? 

A closer glimpse at some of my favorite parts of this room.

I asked for these alphabet cards as part of my baby registry. I think they are so cute and I love the teachery touch it puts in the play room. We never put them up in the previous house because I wasn't really sure how I wanted to hang them. I didn't want to frame each individual one, but I also wasn't really sure how to pull off putting them on a clothesline type deal. Luckily, this room has the perfect little ledge that they can lean on. When Baby Sneaker gets bigger she might pull them down, but for the time being she's not tall enough. 

We have two of these storage units from Target. I love putting things away so that the overall look is not total clutter. The baskets come in all sorts of colors and they are perfect for storing all the little toys, stuffed animals, and blocks. I like having the books more on display, so I keep those in the middle. Baby Sneaker can easily pull the handles to get the boxes out and access her stuff. 

My best friend got this Pottery Barn Kids Anywhere Chair for Baby Sneaker when she was born. I used it for her monthly photos and it was so cool to see how she went from a floppy little baby just propped on there to a 1 year old who could sit on her own. I stopped taking those monthly photos once she turned one, but she still loves to sit in this chair because it's the perfect size for her. She likes to sit on it with her little books. Pottery Barn Kids offers this chair in tons of different colors/patterns and I think a large and small size. I love that it can be monogrammed as well. My sister in law has a different chair for each of her three girls and I love that they each get their own with their name on it. Something special that can be just theirs. We'll definitely get another one when we add another baby to our family.

These mattresses went to a daybed that we previously had. We bought it in the US, shipped it to Germany and it got damaged. So, we got it replaced by the moving company, but we had to get the new one in Germany so the mattress size was different. We sold the bed and the Euro mattresses before we moved back, but we still had the original US mattresses. So, although it's not the prettiest sight, we have them on the floor as a nice little cozy place to lounge while playing. And a certain little monkey likes to jump on the bed, which is pretty fun since it's so low to the ground and not a big fall. On those early mornings when mama is just a little too tired, it's a great place to lounge while the peanut plays.

What do you think?
Do you want me to share more of my home spaces?

Roll Call

Hey all you blog readers (hopefully there are some!)...I need a favor! I'm looking down my blog roll and the majority of my education bloggy friends have not posted in a long time. I'm not judging...trust me...I'm not judging. I have been a very lackluster blogger as of late, but I think that I need to mix up my blog roll a bit and maybe that will help in the inspiration department.

So...here's what I need from you....

Tell me who you are.
Tell me what your blog is (if you have one).
Tell me who else you're following that you think is awesome.

I think I've lost that lovin' feeling of bloggy connectivity. I'm going to do a little blog roll clean up and I'd like to add some others because that's how I stay in touch with my bloggy friends.

Let's be friends!

Gotta love the wisdom of kids

If you haven't seen this video, take a moment (okay 9 minutes) to watch it. 

The little girl with bangs is to die for.

Their thoughts in reaction to the criticism of the biracial family in a recent Cheerios commercial are impressive!

Summer Time Stay at Home

This is my first summer where I am not just a teacher on summer break, but also a mommy teacher on summer break, which means I have become a temporary stay at home mom. Even though I was home with Baby Sneaker on maternity leave into summer break last summer, she was so tiny that I was still able to do what I wanted because she slept a lot. So, I have kind of been adjusting to this new role because she is now an active toddler.

Luckily, I feel like I do better with a schedule and having a little one probably helps me focus on getting more accomplished than I ever did during those lazy days of baby free summerdom. Baby Sneaker still takes two naps a day. I consider myself lucky and I hope that continues. She wakes up around 6:30 or 7, naps from about 9-11, then has another nap somewhere between 2:30 and 4:30. During those windows of time, there are a lot of things I can/should/need to get done.

Some days I feel like a stay at home mommy rockstar and other days I feel like a stay at home mommy failure.

Some days I get down and dirty with cleaning the house and doing laundry.

Some days I engross myself in school planning.

Some days I get in a little yoga and shower up afterwards.

Some days I take a nap just like my little one.

Some days I just watch the Housewives or other junk TV.

What I have realized is that I can't do all of those things everyday.

I feel awesome on the days when I exercise and I feel awesome on the days when the house looks super sparkly and clean, but on the days when I just feel like taking a nap I feel like I have failed at my household duties for the day. I am learning (trying) to not feel guilty about those less productive days and to recognize that if I focus on one good thing each day (and I would definitely consider a nap a good thing) then I can have a productive week as a whole. I may not clean or get to lesson planning every single day, but if I invest some time during the week, then I should call that a success.

I have tried creating a weekly schedule in the past so I would do laundry on a certain day, wash the sheets on a certain day, clean the bathroom on a certain day etc. But, inevitably I get off that schedule and it never really stays put. So, for now, I'm trying to appreciate the fact that I have time for naps on some days, trying to be productive during Baby Sneakers nap times, and trying to get her in on the helping action when possible so I can get some household things done when she's awake as well. She currently helps me put groceries away, hands me clothes from the laundry basket to fold, and helps me make the bed (and when I say helps me make the bed, I mean likes rolling around on the bed when I'm trying to make it).

Are your summers productive or lazy?

Do you stick to a summer schedule or just go with the flow?

How often do you take summer naps? 

Makeovers

Do you ever end/start a school year thinking you need to give some aspect of your classroom/routine/program a complete makeover? I often feel that way about Star of the Week and birthdays.

Ironically our Star of the Week program and our birthday celebrations are a few of the only things we do in class that really honor individual kids. (sad, I know). We also do family projects, which I love, but I always end up feeling like celebrating birthdays and carving out space for students to do all of their Star of the Week duties cuts into what we "have to get done." I don't like feeling that way, but I do. I think it stems from the fact that celebrating student birthdays (aside from being a frustrating exercise in coercing parents to actually follow the rules about not bringing cupcakes and giving advance notice) results in some kids having birthday treats in class (those whose families can/choose to afford snacks/bring them in) and some kids not having that special attention. As the teacher, I leave it up to parents and don't really do a whole lot to celebrate birthdays unless parents initiate it. #teacherfail

Sometimes I feel like we have 2 hours 20 minutes...celebrate your birthday at home. #grinchteacher
(And, I really don't like serving the kids any kind of unhealthy treat at 10:30 in the morning before they've had lunch).

So, I feel the need to come up with a different approach because of all people, Mrs. Sneaker sure understands the importance of celebrating birthdays and feeling special on your birthday. I need to do something different so that kids get recognized regardless of whether their parents bring in a snack. (sidenote: I have developed an annoyance with any kind of snacks at school due to various allergies and healthy snack preferences that require me to store and provide "special" snacks to various kids. I understand allergies, but when it's parents avoiding food coloring and other such preferences whose children then tell me they can have the snack and clearly feel bad that I'm giving them something different that their parent provided it just makes me feel like serving snack is a chore).

So, this year I am really think about putting the kabosh on birthday snacks altogether and doing a birthday board instead where I prepare a little baggy for each kid containing a special pencil, eraser, sticker etc. for them to receive on their special day. That way every kid gets acknowledged. That way, if I have children who don't celebrate birthdays, they don't have to leave the room while the rest of us eat a cookie and sing happy birthday. This is what I have in mind. I don't know if I would do it exactly like that, but similar.

 I also like the idea of a birthday chair like these.

I found all these photos on Pinterest. I'm not sure what the etiquette is for giving credit/linking to the source, so please know they aren't my photos and I am giving snaps to their creators!!

I know that I routinely complain about birthdays and the various "cupcake incidents" we've had even after making a rule that they are not allowed because they are so messy not to mention unhealthy. But, this year I am trying to make it into something different because if we only do a few things that really honor individual kids, we certainly need to continue doing those things. 

I hope parents are understanding if I don't allow birthday snacks, but I am hopeful that they can understand my wanting every single kid to get acknowledged in the same way. And, I don't want to end up having 5 birthday snacks within the first 3 weeks of school like last year. 

What are you giving a makeover for this coming school year?

Do you have any creative ideas for celebrating birthdays?