Back to School...again!

2015!

It is here and I am pretty darn excited for this year.

I decided to beat the crowds and begin my new year's resolutions after Christmas, instead of January 1st. It worked out great and I feel more motivated than ever. I get to work with my TBFF (Teaching Bestie Friend Forever) this year, I am back on 1st grade, in a new classroom and on track to becoming a fitter, healthier and better me. Watch out 2015!

Now onto the classroom chit chat:

Back. To. School.

Three words some teachers dread but, to be honest, I always look forward to heading back to school after our Summer break.

I feel refreshed, inspired and have a bunch of energy that I just want to sprinkle like glitter all over my classroom.

So I do. And I have.

Although completely unnecessary and NOT a teaching requirement, I LOVE to make new purchases and do up little bits and pieces for the new school year (I'm sure many of you are with me on this).

Here are some of my 2015 representatives:

My TBFF made an amazing word wall with space to add new words so that was a must have display.

The only alphabet charts that were available at my school were full page size and my tiny room didn't have space to display them properly. I decided to create some of my own which I am in LOVE with! They match the word wall perfectly!

I searched high and low for number posters that I was happy with and Alison over at Teaching Maths with Meaning had the only ones that I was happy with. If you follow me on Facebook, you'll know how excited I was about these.

I kept my daily time schedule from last year, too, because 1) I love the bright colours and 2) I can refer to it when children ask me what time lunch/home time is.

I used these adorable labels from A Sunny Day in First Grade last year for birthday crazy straws and they were a hit so I've used them again this year.

The TBFF and I wanted to have a gift for the kids that was something do with 'sparkling' in Year 1 (what we call First Grade here in Australia). We bought packs of glitter HB pencils from Kmart (a pack of 8 for $2) and I created these cute little labels to stick on them. I wish I could share them with you but I've used clip art that is only for personal use, sorry! They were VERY easy to put together though.

I scored this Snakes and Ladders bargain mat for only $10 at Super Amart.

Now, I don't know if anyone has tried to find bingo dabbers in Australia before but it is VERY hard to find cheap and colourful ones. These are the best we could find and luckily they were MUCH cheaper than the ones at the craft shops and MUCH more fun, too! I got a pack of 5 on special for $7 (I think) at Target. These were extra colours I found at OfficeWorks for $2 each. Can't wait to put them to use!

  Now, these were some more completely unnecessary ESSENTIAL new school year purchases for me :) The drink bottle (that has a fruit infuser!!!) was from Sports Girl and the phone cover was from Forever New.

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One of my goals for 2015 is to make more informative blog posts. I don't know about you but I'm getting a little tired of so many TPT product posts (that I am also guilty of!) so I am going to try to take it back to the good ol' days of quality and informative posts. I am an extremely visual person so be prepared for many pictures, too!

I've created a purely teaching and classroom related Instagram (no products, unless it's something I've used and loved in the classroom) so please follow me so I can follow you back:

@hello_teach

I am SOOO excited for the new school year!

What are some of your 2015 classroom additions???