CTP's BW Collection Meets Painted Palette Collection: Decor Ideas! {Plus a Giveaway!!!}

Happy Friday blog friends!! I am officially on summer break!! WHOO-HOO! And guess what!?? My mind has already been thinking about back to school and what I want to do with my classroom for the next school year! Which brings me to today's post....all about super cute classroom decor!

Now, let me just tell you how super, duper, can't even believe it, excited I am to team up with  Creative Teaching Press!!  Creative Teaching Press is my all time favorite place to get the absolute cutest teaching decor for my classroom. Their products make my teacher heart and my classroom happy! 



I am joining some of my blog friends today with a blog hop! Hop blog to blog to get some great decor ideas for your classroom and enter to win some FREE Creative Teaching Press goodies!!! Are you excited yet??

Ok, so let's get down to business, shall we...For the past couple of years I have done a jungle theme and decorated my classroom with the BW Collection from Creative Teaching Press. I love the BW Collection so much. The BW Collection is timeless and can be matched up great with any of your favorite colors. 

If you are like me and already have the BW Collection in your classroom, but are looking to add in some of the newest collections you are in luck! I am here today to share some ideas of how to update you have with some great new pieces.


Idea #1: Layer it!
Use the borders from the BW Collection that you already have and add in a few borders from the new Painted Palette Collection! Layer the two collections to make your bulletin boards pop with fun colors and designs!

Check out my favorite combos that I plan on using together to spice up my classroom with for Back to School 2015! :)




Idea #2: Organize It!
Get organized using your BW Collection pieces you already have and add in some new pieces from the all new Painted Palette Collection!

Organize your materials, supplies, manipulatives, books, etc. in tubs, baskets, and totes. Attach labels to the containers from Creative Teaching Press. Being organized, plus cute always makes everything better!










A brand spanking new item that will be available soon are BW Collection Library Pockets... and these are not your average library pockets! These are large enough to fit letter sized computer paper!! I can't wait to use these!!


The BW Collection Library Pockets will be great to add some "I'm finished, now what" work for early finishers! They are perfect because if you are like me and have limited space, these can be easily attached to a bulletin board, wall, front of your teacher desk, etc. for you to add some activities for earlier finishers and it takes up zero table or shelf space! 
These would also be great to store station recording sheets in! Write the number of the station on the outside of the pocket and students can get the recording sheet for their station from the corresponding pocket. 

Idea #3: Display It!
Display your class rules, schedule, class roster, birthdays, and more using a combo of charts from the BW Collection and the new Painted Palette Collection.








Would you like to win some of the Creative Teaching Press goodies I posted about?? Or maybe you have your eye on some other goodies! Well you are in luck! I am giving away $50 worth {your choice!} of products from Creative Teaching Press! Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.




 Creative Teaching Press is proud to be celebrating 50 years of teachers helping teachers.  It was 50 years ago that a veteran school teacher named Luella Connelly got the idea to make her creative ideas for fun and effective teaching available to other teachers.  And with the success of her “Recipes for Creative Writing,” CTP was born!  Since then, generations of teachers have looked to our family-owned, teacher-managed company for the supplementary materials they need to help their students learn and make their classrooms a positive learning environment.


And guess what else?? My sweet friend Gladys at Teaching in High Heels is sharing all about the new Chalk It Up! and Painted Palette Collection on her fabulous blog! Hop over there now to check her post out and enter to win and other $50 worth of Creative Teaching Press products!

Teaching In High Heels

Have a fabulous Friday!! :)

30

Up! Up! And Away....

With the end of the year getting closer by the day, we made our last bulletin board project for the year last week. Just like that my students are up, up, and away... and off to 2nd grade when we return from summer break in August. Last week my firsties made hot air balloons and wrote all about 2nd grade... They wrote about what they hoped {or thought} they would learn, who they wanted as their new teacher, and the classmates they hoped they would have. I sure am going to miss these little boogers and so sad to see them go...but I am looking forward to a little break this summer to recharge my teacher battery! :)


 

 
 
If your looking for an end {or beginning to save for next year} of the year craftivity to do with your kiddos, you can check out my little pack here.
 
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Soaring-Into-A-New-Year-A-Back-to-School-Craftivity-Pack-282935

 
Happy Hump Day! :)
0

We love our Moms! :) {Freebie!!!}

Long time no blog! EEEK! It's been a month since I last blogged... holy moly time flies! I have meant to blog several times and just haven't gotten around to it. I need to get with the program ASAP! 
Anyhoo....
I thought I would share one of the projects we have been working on for our moms for Mother's Day. To show our moms just how special they are and how much we love them, students worked on a simile mother's day poem and drew a pretty picture to go along with it. I attached the poem to one side of a piece of construction paper, attached the drawing to the other side, and then laminated for durability. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy! :) It's simple, but oh so cute and sweet. I hope that these will be a hit with the moms of my firsties. The kids sure were proud of them.
 I loved reading the things they came up with to complete the poem. Some examples that they used... you are as funny as a clown, pretty as a rose, special as my teacher {melt my heart}, helpful as a nurse, smart as a mad scientist, cute as a monkey, and as special as a rhino. Apparently rhinos are pretty special! Who knew?? :)


If you are looking for a quick, simple, last minute project for your sweeties to work on for Mother's Day I just uploaded this as a freebie in my tpt shop. :)


I'll be back sooner rather than later {I PROMISE!} With a catch up post! ;)



1