This Year Will Be A Hoot!

Good evening! We hope everyone had a fantastic week and we're sure everyone is looking forward to the long weekend. We are looking forward to enjoying our last weekend of summer (it's official, Fall has started here in western Washington- the pools have been emptied!! It's all good, though!) We'll be spending it working on some last-minute finishing touches in the classroom(s).
Today's post features some of the classroom decorations we've worked on this summer. These pictures are from Robyn's adorable wise owl-themed room. It is a little picture-heavy, sorry! The first picture is probably the cutest part of the classroom:

It is the AR chart for her classes. The tree is divided into sections, representing the students' reading progress. Each 25% increment has a cute little owl. Each student has their own leaf, which will get moved once they improve through the school year. Hopefully they'll all be at the top of the tree at the end of the year! (The desk was clean at one point!) The next picture is a set of two bulletin boards.

The first one will be for writing tips, to help the students become "wise writers". The other board is one of three student "brag" boards, that will hold some of the students' work. Each kid has their own labelled clothespin to hold their work. The tree is conveniently placed to cover up an unsightly gap between the two boards and pulls the design together. (And why wouldn't the Harry Potter collection make an appearance in a 6th grade classroom?!) The next two pictures are of the other two 'brag" boards:

You can also see the classroom set of star students (so much easier than cutting them all out by hand!) The picture also shows off the classroom library. You can't tell in the picture, but we spent a few days painting it teal and adding some sparkle to it. It's super cute! There is one more bulletin board, but it isn't quite finished. The last is a little banner we made to tie everything together:

The banner is surrounded by two more owls, ready to learn. We decided to not add close-ups of the banner (it would have been too many pictures), but the two end pieces also have little owls on them, sitting on a branch. We used quite a few pop-dots on them, and added some googly eyes! Then there is last year's apple wreath (which matches somewhat quite nicely!) (Also, side comment- the building was just power-washed and the windows look terribly dirty, but it's water-stained) We also made some matching owl name tags for each student, that will be put on their desks. Phew! Here's to a new school year!
We have a few more pictures we want to share from some other classrooms, but wanted to start off with this one! Thanks for stopping by! Have a great night!

We are entering these projects into a crafting challenge or two:
Fantabulous Cricut: Back to School (owls- Wild Card 2; Letters- Birthday Cakes, Nate's ABC's)

Whoo's Ready for 4th Grade?

Happy Tuesday! We hope everyone had a fantastic long weekend. For most of us there won't be another one until October! On the bright side, that's only a month away :) But then again, we haven't actually started a new school year yet, so there shouldn't be anything to complain about, huh?! Anyway, as promised, we have another back-to-school classroom project. This is an apple tulle wreath we made this weekend:

 

OK, so it's supposed to be an apple. If we had to do it again, it would probably be made with a circle wreath form. But then again, it goes along with the "teaching is a work of heart" saying. So it works for this. Unfortunately, it had a little accident while we were making it:

The bright side? We realized that the two halves would make cute little candy canes for the upcoming holiday season. And we were able to put our broken heart back together will a little hot glue (which fixes almost everything!)

We decided to make the wreath because the door was in desperate need of some pizzazz. This is a view of the little "nameplate" on the wreath. It's not a great picture of the nameplate, but it's designed to look like a chalkboard (although there aren't many of those left!) Over the years, we've had so many people say our last name incorrect. Because of this, we realized that it's just like an owl's call, and tell the kids, "It's hoo, like an owl". It makes it easier for everyone. It is also the reason why we included the owls on yesterday's project. And, of course, he has little googly eyes, because they make everything better!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Whoo's at the Door?!

Good morning! We hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. I don't know about elsewhere, but it's definitely is starting to look more and more like fall here. There are a few trees that seem to be getting more colorful with each day. And today's project is going to add some more fall colors to our little abode! (I am aware that it is a silly title, but it seemed appropriate!!)

How cute is this wreath?! I wish we could actually hang it up outside so people could see it, but I don't think it would last too long out there...Oh well, better inside! This one came out much different than I had originally planned, but each time I look at it, I love it more! Once I figured out what I was doing, it was super quick to put together. I think it encompasses the "fall theme", or at least the colors! The little owl is flanked on either side by some sunflowers (I hope they look like them...)

Don't you love when you have an idea, don't know how to do it, and then it all ends up coming together for the final product?? That's what happened with the sunflowers, and they came out even better than I had expected. I can't wait to make more for other projects! I already have a list of them :)
These wreaths are so fun and versatile. We've been slacking on them! I think we need a new one for each week...OK, maybe not...
Anyway, thanks for stopping by! Tomorrow's project is a sister-inspired, pinterest project. (It's not as confusing as it sounds!!)