Favorite Pins Friday and a Freebie!

Happy weekend everyone! Today I am linking up with Favorite Pins Friday from Cara at The First Grade Parade.

I LOVE Pinterest. It's my go-to for everything these days...ideas, projects, school stuff, outfits, recipes, inspiration. I just love it. Speaking of, you should follow me!

Now for some of my favorites...

 

This pin is from Mrs. Tabb over at Another Day in First Grade. In this post she talks about how she decorated her classroom for under 25 dollars! WHAT. When I saw this pin, I just had to click on it. I wish I could say that's how much I spent on my classroom! However, I was really inspired by her ideas. For example, I love this statement from her:

"I have come to realize that if I have access to butcher paper and a color printer, I can decorate my entire room and barely spend any money."

And honestly, though I have of course spent more than 25 dollars on my classroom, this is so true. Though I did buy a few teacher-store items (Creative Teaching Press borders, Class Job Charts, Welcome poster, etc.), I have found that through blogging and TPT you can make most of the things you need for cheap! Seriously. Between my printer and a $10 pack of scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby, I have completed so many projects. Like my Chevron Classroom Numbers and Library Labels! Just $1 in my TPT store or free for Facebook fans that comment with their email ;) I also love love her idea about using scrunched up butcher paper as border. Genius!!! Why have I never thought of this? Since reading her post, I've already used butcher paper as borders for two of my bulletin boards in my room. So unique, easy, and of course, cheap! Check out how she does it in her post. Later on, when I post classroom pictures (hopefully soon...) I will show you guys how I adapted her idea.

Another favorite pin! This one's from Eryn at Elementary Organization. Or at least that's where it took me to. I couldn't find it on her blog, so if you do, help me out! I love the idea of Log-In cards for the computer, or even having a set for my own sanity! At my last school, passwords changed a lot, so I don't know if this idea would work. Maybe a dry-erase version? (See- any excuse to laminate!) I'm thinking of making a set for my "technology technicians" once the school year gets started.

And now for a completely un-teaching-related pin...

Otherwise known as confessions of a shoe-a-holic! Haha. And that i definitely am. These beauties linked to Red Dress Boutique. Although they apparently exist there no longer :( Oh well, I guess they'll just be eye candy! But their site still had some cute things to look at (and not very expensive)!

Ahhh. Don't you love that? It's like chapstick for your soul. What a great reminder. I think I pinned this back when I was on the job hunt (not that long ago!). And God certainly answered that prayer! I always appreciate a good reminder to trust Him and His plans. 

Aaaaaaand one final teacher-y pin for the day...

These are file folder lapbooks from Denise at Sunny Days in Second Grade (Super cute blog!) Her post explains them like this: "Lapbooks are file folders with informative minibooks and/or games pasted inside them. They are great for organizing information that students have researched, reinforcing skills taught in the classroom, as a portfolio assessment at the end of a unit, and so on."

How cute, right? It's like a mini scrapbook! What a unique way to combine so  many things...assessment, research, creativity, summary, vocabulary, art....I love this! I can definitely see myself using this idea for a unit or research project. And so much cheaper than posterboard, am I right?

So anywho, those are some of my favorite pins! It was really hard to choose though. I love my Pinterest. I guess I'll just have to link up again sometime! ;) 

Oh, and I almost forgot! I posted a freebie in my store last night! I love inspiring quotes for the classroom. Especially quotes about reading and learning. So I scoured the "interwebs" (as my hubs says) to find my favorites. I typed them up in some cutesy fonts (thank you, Jen Jones) and pasted them on some scrapbook paper and ta-da! They are ready to go! After I laminate them, of course, because I'm a mad woman. But, getting to the point here, I posted the file for free in my store! So go get them and do the same!

Have a great weekend!