Me + Laminator = LOVE.

Tell me you don't just love a freshly laminated paper product.  The smoothness. The ability to preserve your  hard work in shiny plastic.  I get a thrill just watching it roll off the press!

Which brings me to the fact that I did a lot of laminating today, and will therefore have a lot of cutting to do tonight. So, in addition to dust, my house will now be blanketed with pesky laminate scraps that stick to everything through the magic of static electricity. I'll be finding them until Christmas.

My very mommish station wagon loaded up with classroom supplies!  Yippee!  {Also, it should be noted that when I come home with X amount of bags from Target, Hobby Lobby, Walmart, etc. - all filled with school stuff, of course - B doesn't even ask about them or how much I've spent.  I'm glad we've finally come to this point in our relationship ;)  The expensive luxury of being married to a teacher, right?!

Overall, Day One in my classroom was a success in the sense that  a) I laminated a lot and b) I made an enormous mess of just about everything.  It's all part of the process, I guess -  moving furniture, rearranging shelves, and pulling out an abundance of stuff from every container in my room. 

Also, there was this:

When they cleaned my room at the end of the school year they pretty much unplugged everything from the wall and left it in a massive heap on my desk for me to sort through and re-plug in.  Thank goodness for my husband, who made it his personal duty to unplug everything, untangle and sort every cord, and then zip tie them all neatly back in place.  Best of all, my computer and printer are fully functional again.  Amen. 

Ahhhhhhhhh.  It's like a breath of fresh air...

My bulletin boards are all covered in decorative fabric and bordered with ribbon, and I also worked on my new behavior chart for the "clip-up/clip-down" management system I'm employing this year. 

If you'd like to use this idea (which could really be incorporated into any room), you can download the labels by clicking Rockin' Behavior! below:

I'm planning to add "Mrs. Mullins' Class ROCKS!" or, something to that effect, to the base of the guitar, but didn't realize it needed something there until I'd pieced it together.  I will also have an explanation of the system via a document that will go in their "R.O.C.K.S" folder.  I'll post it when I make it :)

Going back tomorrow for Round Two!

PS.  The child playing camera-shy above, is totally not shy when it comes to destroying my classroom!  I mean, Matchbox cars were E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E!