First Day Back (for teachers...)

Today was the first day of contract time for our district. First day getting up at the "regular" time...which is about two hours EARLIER than the "preferred" time... First day of meetings (went WAY over time)... First day of catching up with friends/fellow teachers I haven't seen all summer... First day of MY. FEET. KILLING. ME!!!! And...I still have two more hours to go (it's 5:30pm) because we have Back to School Night tonight. A VERY long day!

Yesterday, my oldest daughter, Mallorie, and her two ADORABLE boys came to "Grammy's school" to help me get things in order. We hauled crates of stuff from home (some that I hadn't even taken out of the trunk of my car since I put them in there the last day of school! :/ ), baby paraphernalia, 3-year old "entertainment" paraphernalia, etc. And then it began...it was worse than I expected!!

(Notice the incredible mess on the far wall. I've always hated how those shelves looked but have never had the time or "umph" to organize them. Mallorie INSISTED!! Thankfully!!)

We dug in for about eight hours before heading home. Our two angel boys took FABULOUS naps...Drew (3 years old) in his little fort under my table and Lewis (3-1/2 months) on the floor across the room on his minky blanky under the fan (improvised white noise)...while Mal and I worked our little behinds off. 

Today, Mal and Lewis came out again after my meetings while Drew went to the zoo with some friends. Mal also brought my sweet little friend, Oaklee, to help watch the boys. She was absolutely in heaven taking care of Lewis while we worked...until he got too tired. 

After we got him to sleep, she wanted to help...and what a GREAT helper she was!! She and my youngest daughter, Maddi, got to work rearranging bookshelves, hanging Command hooks for Anchor Charts, arranging desks, etc. Oaklee tried to get Drew to help her open all the packages of glue sticks for my Interactive Notebooks but he was a lot more interested in the magnets or drawing on the whiteboards. Oaklee was AWESOME!! 

So...by 5:00pm, we were all cleaned up, arranged, and I only had to stuff a few things into drawers to get the room presentable for tomorrow! (HAHA...we all do that, right??) Look how much better everything looks!!!!

THANK YOU MALLORIE, MADDI, OAKLEE, DREW, AND LEWIS!!

I COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOU!! (mwah!!)

I found inspirational/educational quotes on Doodle-Art-Alley that we colored, laminated, and taped to the desks. I plan on using them as writing prompts, adding to their Interactive Notebooks, etc.) 

If you notice the table-top podium in the "before" pictures, it was stained a natural color. Mallorie took it home last night and painted it for me. Looks SOOO much better!!

Check out those "after" shelves!!!!!! They've never looked so good!! :)

Also...here's my version of the "BE" bulletin board I talked about HERE...

THANK YOU AGAIN, MALLORIE!!!!!!!!!

Now...to get ready for Back to School Night...