Happiness is Using a Desktop Laminator...

... in a classroom equipped with A/C.

Not much to see today, just lunch signs and our crate for returned library books.  ~And~ I learned something new:  Zip ties are cool little things!

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Some of the classroom chores I've checked off of my to-do list include:

~ Rearranging furniture to open up the front of the classroom
~ Sorting through and donating reproducible materials
~ Making new book tub labels
~ Sorting and prepping math manipulatives
~ Reworking my quarterly binders and giving them a facelift with new covers
~ Mapping literacy, math, science and social studies concepts and activities by month
~ Reading through and creating Pinterest boards for Common Core Curriculum Maps
~ Prepping Bulletin Boards
~ Organizing art supplies

I'd still like to find a place that will cut composition books in half for kindergarten journals and mini-books.  Does anyone have an idea of where I could take them that *wouldn't* cost an arm and a leg?  I've seen half-sized notebooks at Walmart in the back-to-school section, but I'd like to work through the stockpile of full size notebooks that I already have before making another purchase.

January Classroom Tidbits

Mittens and snowflakes...

Snowmen in the hallway (white trim with silver tinsel garland as border)...

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When to laminate, when not to laminate...?

I don't tend to laminate sentence strips (usually protected by sentence strip charts) or number lines/alphabet displays that are posted up high (the laminate causes a glare that students can't see through from where they sit), but environmental print that may experience some traffic is run through my trusty tabletop laminator:

The directions for our color/cut/glue pages (an occasional center) are taped to the front of a student's closet and certainly get read over, touched, and bumped.  Laminating them saves me from having to recreate directions over and over again!

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Our snow in Oz is getting ready to melt this week... are you living somewhere that will maintain the chill for a bit longer?  If so, take a peek at these:

~ Bakerella shares photos of icy cakes (and I bet you can figure out how to make them!)...

~ Alpha Mom shows how to make chocolate coated stirring spoons just in time for sipping cocoa...

~  and Stacey's Sweet Shop offers tutorials on making melting snowman cookies!  Click here for the cookie dough tutorial, then click on the links she provides to the left of her blog for the cookie, icing, and decorating tutorials...

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Are you on Facebook?  I am, and certainly do *love* the "app" (application) I found after clicking merrily away from link to link this afternoon.  You can find additional 3-D printables at The Curiosity Group.