Apt. Update: Living Room Shelf

Hey friends!! Just popping in with a little apartment update. Every so often I get the urge to do something big in my apartment. I like the change things up A LOT. I get it from my mom and nana- the women don't stop moving things around in their homes.

I have been tinkering with the idea of a large living room shelf for a few months now. The wall above my TV was so blank and bland. I didn't want another gallery wall, since there's already one in my living room. 

I decided to make a shelf on a whim, literally the whimsiest whim I've ever had. My friend Danner was with me and she was a real trooper. I think I took her into Hobby Lobby 4 times in one day? We were in Home Depot for a good bit too. She helped me hold the shelf up while I screwed it into the wall and made sure everything was level. Thanks, Danner!! Shout out to my bestie Sammy too, she was with me the next day when I took everything back to the stores I didn't use. Let me tell you, real friends go to Home Depot with you.

The shelf was really easy to make! I used one 1in. x 8in. x 6ft piece of common pine board and two iron brackets. Each bracket is 1 foot in from the outer edge. I dry-brushed white acrylic craft paint onto the board to make it coordinate with the other white decor I have throughout the apartment. Each bracket needed 3 screws.

All in all, the shelf took about 30 minutes to put on the wall. The brackets had to be put on the wall first, which was the trickiest part. The top part of the bracket was a tad bit shorter than the thickness of the board, so the brackets couldn't be screwed onto the board first. The most time consuming thing was decorating! Bless my friend Holdren for putting up with me while she sat on my couch and I decorated. It takes a village, ha!

My goal is to use the shelf like a makeshift mantle. I want to switch up the decorations around holidays and seasons. I'm still not done making it Fall-approved, yet.

10 Things My First Year of Teaching Taught Me

By now, we have established that I am not good at consistently blogging. I really do love it, but I am just not good at posting frequently. HOWEVER- I post almost daily on my Instagram, so follow along on Insta to keep in touch! Don't worry, the blog isn't going anywhere. :)

Now, back to the post:

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Hey y'all!!

I am 25 days away from my last day of school as a first year teacher. THIS. IS. BANANAS. *cue Gwen Stafani* This has truly been the fastest school year of my life without a doubt. I was scrolling through my phone the other day and I was looking at pictures from the first day of school- my kiddos have grown SO much!

I have been keeping little notes all year of things I have learned and now I'm excited to share!

1. Take all of the pictures! I have more than 2,000 pictures on my phone and almost half of them are of my kiddos. When they lose a tooth- take a picture. When it's Valentine's Day and they bring in treat bags for their classmates- take a picture. When they draw you a picture and ask you to send it to their mama- take a picture. When they want to show you a new dance they have learned- take a picture. You will thank yourself and their parents will thank you when they don't completely miss out on these moments! You have to think, you are with their kids 8-9 hours out of the day, 5 days a week. That's a lot of time!
2. Tell them you love them. It doesn't matter what age or grade you teach, tell them you love them. Even if they are driving you crazy or you have yelled and yelled, tell them you love them. Before you take them to the bus or send them to the car rider line, tell them. It breaks your heart to think about it, but you might be the only one that day or even week they hear it from. It's so important. 
3. Save ALL of the master copies. You will thank yourself next year when you're not searching the internet for activities to do or constantly asking other teachers what they are doing. Of course, each year you'll want to do something a little different and you want to be on the same page as your co-teachers, but having something to do to get your week started is so helpful. Save them!
4. If you don't know, ASK! There were so many things I had to learn how to do at the beginning of the year and there was absolutely no way I could've figured them out on my own efficiently. Attendance, mClass and Progress Monitoring, setting up my retirement and insurance, how to use the copier, how to clock-in, how to get a substitute, the fire drill and lock-down drill procedures, and where my class sits in the cafeteria are just some of the things I needed to ask about. The list goes on and there is NOTHING wrong with asking for help or guidance.
5. Make a substitute plan outline and save it. You keep the same schedule and times all year, so you never have to rewrite when your lunch or recess time is, when dismissal is, etc. Just plug in your new activities you have left for the sub and make sure your bus/car rider list is updated. It will save you so much time.
6. Don't believe that "don't smile until Christmas" junk. Think about it- would you feel comfortable at school or be excited to learn if someone was constantly showing you no emotion? I can't hide anything I'm feeling ever, it's a blessing and a curse. I smile with my kids, I laugh with them, we have dance party breaks all the time, I give them time to share about themselves, and they are comfortable in my class. That being said, they know when it's time to be serious and work hard and they absolutely know when I'm upset with them. It's unrealistic to expect 6 and 7 year olds to sit on their bottoms all day and work- take small breaks and have fun!
7. Appreciate the feedback. As a beginning teacher in NC, you are observed 4 times throughout the school year. Do your best and don't stumble over the small stuff. Your principal and assistant principal have been in your shoes before and they know there will be hiccups and things may not go as planned. Take it all in stride and focus on how to do better the next day. Just remember, your kiddos still learned something and it's never a total failure like you think it is. Take and appreciate all of the feedback you can get!
8. Keep in contact with your parents/guardians. I use an app called Remind, weekly behavior sheets, and our grade level sends home a newsletter each week, but there are many different ways to communicate with your parents/guardians. Most importantly, don't just talk with them when something has gone wrong. Share with them the good things their child is doing too! Send them a quick message about a little success or that photo you took of their child holding the tooth they just lost with the excitement on their little face!
9. Appreciate every staff member for what they do. The cafeteria staff, the custodians, and the office staff help keep the school running. It is so important to tell them thank you for what they do and make sure you tell your students the same thing. 
10. Plan fun things for your kids. We do a different Bingo for each holiday in class, I had a classroom reindeer before Christmas break (like an Elf on the Shelf) that did funny things around the room, we did a spring egg hunt before Spring break, a Valentine's exchange, and we are currently in the middle of a 23 Days of Celebrating You event! For the 23 Days event, each day (23 for the number of students I have) a student brings in something they love (similar to show-and-tell) to share with the class. This was something I found on Pinterest and tweaked it a little and a student shares for about 5 minutes before snack time. We are using it to close out the school year as a celebration of all our classmates!

These are just a few gems I have written down throughout the year. I can say that I have had the best first year. I have learned so much to take into my second year and I know what I need to improve on and change for next year as well. College prepared me for my teaching career, but your first class really teaches you how to be a teacher.