Last week I was faced with the mammoth task of transferring my classroom (check out the before here) into my own lovely space for my new class. First stop (because I didn’t want to do any planning) was my behaviour board. There are only 7 children in my new class so behaviour management will be a lot easier than it has been in the past when there are 30 children to manage. I love positive reinforcement; stickers, high-fives and all that malarkey so I was looking forward to making a whole board for the purpose. Don’t worry though, there are strategies in place for the negative but we wont dwell on those.
So here is what I’ve done with my board. It’s right by the SMART board so children will always be able to see it and we can refer to it in lessons.
On the left are rockets which are part of an two-tiered individual reward system. The first part is not visible in the photo (as it will be placed next to the carpet), where they receive a star for good things that they do. Once they have 10 of these stars they put a sticker on their rocket. Once they’ve teacher 10 stickers on their rocket they can get a prize from the prize box (filled with bubbles, pens, colouring books, crayons etc.).
The big UFO on the right is a class reward chart. Because our behaviour board has a space theme we’ve adapted the typical marbles in the jar, and changed it into aliens in the ship. When the children are collectively behaving, or have done something well, they will get an alien in the ship. Their aim is to get 30 aliens to get a reward. The reward is changeable so we can decide what we want to do. The options are currently things like watch a movie, go to the park, and have a picnic.
In the middle is a poster with our class rules, which the children came up with themselves. They’re there as a reference point so that children can always see them.
So there we have it, it’s the first thing that I have done in this classroom and I’m feeling very proud of it. Let's see what's next...
Finally, I’m off to Thailand! As you read this, I shall be high up in the sky and on my way to sunny Thailand. This is my first holiday and two and a half years, and mine and the boyfriend’s holiday in almost 4 years. We have lots planned (including an elephant day!) and my camera is all ready to take a million pictures that I can’t wait to share with you all. There are blog posts scheduled for Thursdays (I think this is my new weekly blog day), as well as my weekly link-ups, so you won’t miss me at all.
Now let me tell you this now, I am nowhere near motherhood right now – teaching kids is enough for me – so I’ve never really thought about this topic. All I do know is that when I am a mother, I want to be the best mother I can be. I’ve had a lot of friends have babies, the first person I knew was when we were 16 and just finishing school. She is absolutely amazing. Since her first little girl 10 years ago, she went on to have another girl and a little boy. We lost contact for a very long time, but reconnected on Facebook a few years ago. But I can tell you that she is so dedicated to her children. The bond she has with them is lovely and I admire her so much. I remember when she found out she was pregnant, it was a shock but she really embraced it and has got the most beautiful children now. She is what I want to be; dedicated, loving, caring, and always there for her children.
So over the last few days I’ve been popping into school to make a start on setting up my new room for September. Now I didn’t realise how much of an effort it was going to be to prepare a classroom! It’s not been left in the best of states (there’s been a big clean of all of our rooms, as well as other reasons) so there is a lot to do. Although, thanks to Pinterest I’ve come up with a million and one ideas to make my classroom wonderful (click here to visit).
Just as a visual, this is what I’m dealing with.
I shall keep you updated with what I’ve been doing with it, I’m so excited to see how it looks when I’m done. If you have any ideas from these pictures, then just pop a comment below for me. Why thank you for your help.
Can you believe it? July has come and gone and we’re already a week into August. I’d love to use my superpower to slow down the summer because I’m enjoying the holidays way too much! Especially because a week today I will be arriving in Thailand for two weeks and I’m SO EXCITED!
The end of the month means it’s time for my July favourites... Sidenote: Excuse the blurry-ness of the pictures; my camera was running out of battery really quickly so it was a quick photo session!
BEAUTY
I am absolutely in love with RimmelKate Moss Matte Lipstick in 107 (available here). It’s a rich wine shade and it looks really nice with a natural face. At first I thought they’d be super-drying but it’s just right (although it does start to feel dryer as the day goes on. he pigmentation is amazing, and it just has great staying power (trust me – I spend most of the night saying “Is my lipstick still there?”). I enjoy this lipstick very much, go forth and love it too!
I very rarely wear make up in the day so I always carry a lip balm around with me. Currently I’m using the Blistex Raspberry Lipstick Blast (available here). It’s so creamy and it keeps my lips smooth all day. It smells and tastes absolutely delightful.
These Sleek Blushes are just delightful. On the left is Rose Gold and the right in Pomegranate. Rose Gold blush is perfect as it leaves a nice amount of shimmer with a touch of pink in it. Pomegranate is a rich berry colour with a slight shimmer in it. Both of these blushes are really pigmented so no need to use a lot which makes them great value for money!
I’ve always been a sufferer of those pesky bags under the eyes so I recently started using Botanics All Bright Refreshing Eye Roll On (available here). I’ve been using this for around 4 weeks now twice a day and it really has helped reduced the bags under my eyes. It definitely has made me feel more comfortable with my eye area.
Finally, we have Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine in Lychee and Rimmel Salon Pro in Punk Rock. I’m always all about nail varnish and like to change it up all the time, and these are my current go-to shades. The Barry M polish is a lovely nude shade that is perfect for summer, while the Rimmel shade is a wonderful purple with a slight greyish tone. Stay tuned for a nail tutorial with these two colours coming on Friday.
FASHION
I’ve never done any fashion on this blog, but I needed to share this gorgeous purple lace skater dress from Matalan (available here). I wore this to a wedding last Sunday and it was so comfortable and just the right amount of dressy. I'm not a fan of my thighs, but these skim my legs in just the right area so they don't look huge. I have three more weddings over the next couple of months so this is great to recycle for another one.
I also am not a jewellery person at all, but I am loving these skinny rings at the moment. The group on the left are from Primark (part of a multi-pack) and the others on the right are from New Look (part of a multi-pack). These rings are so versitile; they fit into a casual outfit perfectly (I teamed a few with a white t-shirt and green jeans today), and look fabulous with a more dressy outfit.
AND THE REST
Firstly, I need to share my birthday present from my two good friends. One of them works at Magic FM so he gets to meet all the big names. And he got me two mugs from work. They’re not just normal mugs, they have been signed; the first by ALL OF THE BACKSTREET BOYS and the second by MARK OWEN!!! That’s right, wonderful Mark Owen of Take That (and yes, that does say "To Sarah with love Mark Owen"!). . I actually wept when I opened it. I’m such a mess!
If you don’t know, I’m a huge fan of Mumford & Songs and I absolutely love the new video for Hopeless Wanderer. It’s fantastic. So much that I’ve watched it five times today, and Facebooked it to my boyfriend so he can enjoy it at work. The boys have made a parody video using the talents of Jason Sudeikis, Ed Helms, Will Forte and Jason Bateman. Watch and love guys.
I’ve also been loving my new tv and unit that we got last week. My auntie had this 50 inch television, but that wasn’t big enough so she upgraded to a 60 inch. And guess who got the last one – that’s right, us! We, of course, had to get a new unit for this television so a trip to IKEA happened. And the above is what we came back with. The unit is the BORGSJÖ tv unit in white (available here) and we got two Lekman boxes in red (available here) to keep bits and bobs in. And there's a lovely reflection of my living room in the tv for you...
And that’s everything I’ve been loving in the month of July. Here’s to August!
