That Time of Year Again...

It's that time of year again, and by that I mean the beginning of a new school year.   As I try to manage keeping my head up above piles of paperwork and my eyelids open from exhaustion, I am thinking back to the past few weeks spent preparing my classroom.
 This year I went with all things Seuss. 

For "Oh! The Places You Go!" I created a corner of clouds (with cloud printed  bulletin board paper) with hot air balloon Chinese Lanterns. 

I also had to include Truffula Trees of course. I mean, this is Dr. Seuss people! "Go big or go home" was my motto so when I found "Pinspiration" for creating these trees I had to just go for it. 

I went here  for ideas for how to go about creating my Truffula Trees. 

I used plumbing insulation for the trunks and light blue duck tape for the stripes. For the tree tops I simply made tissue paper flowers using 12 sheets of multi-colored tissue paper per flower. 

That simple! Not to mention they turned out super cute! 

I used turquoise and white chevron printed round Chinese lanterns for an extra decoration (and to jazz up an old tv stand left hanging). 

I found tons of great posters, bulletin board items, and window clings (all Seussified of course) on the Eureka school supply website found here.

I simply made the door banner from cut card stock and printed font. 

For the free "Grinched" Seuss font go to: http://coolestfamilyontheblock.com/2011/02/26/free-dr-seuss-fonts-links/

My calendar wall turned out great too!

And so did our "Horton Hears a Happy Birthday" wall. Who doesn't love birthdays?

My reading nook is still a work in progress. I am in the works for adding pillows (Homegoods?) and a body pillow I found at Target for $8 bucks! (Oh yeah!)

 My goal is to make my little "nook" as cozy as ever. The ADORABLE "wittle" camp chairs are from Walmart and were only $5.55! A total steal! I mean, I would pay that just for their adorableness alone. Find them here.

The rest of the room...

Can't say it looks like this anymore now that we are on day 3.... (But that's ok!)... Looks best when "lived in" some. 

As for displaying our awesome work? 

I took scrap booking pages of different fun prints (Michaels) and had them laminated. Ribbon stapled across with clothespins pulls this "contraption" together and hopefully (fingers crossed) will hold up my kiddos' great work! 

Open house was last Friday and was a definite success!

  We had a great turnout and it was great meeting my future (now present) students. 

As for these suckers...they are so scrumptious you can't stop at just one. Also the recipe is super easy!

I used the square pretzels, but any kind will work. Spread pretzels on a cookie sheet. Top with candy melt or Hershey Kiss (Rolo's are devine as well!). Bake at 350 for 1 minute. Watch them! You only want the chocolate shiny and slightly heated, not fully or even partially melted. Once you have taken pan out of oven, press m&m's on top. Pop them in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes until chocolate is firm again. There you have it! THAT easy! (I used white candy melts, Hershey milk chocolate kisses, and Hershey milk chocolate Hugs and plain M&M's.)

Well, there you have it. I hope you've gotten your "Seuss fix" and hopefully the kids love it all as much as I enjoyed creating all of it for them! I have a great group of second graders this year. 

Also, my Donor's Choose book project got fully funded last week so we now have new books on their way! YAY. Here's to a terrific year!

Sincerely, 

The bags under my eyes.... (Totally worth it though)....

Happy crafting, baking, and teaching!