Inside Bell's Brain

One thing about summer is that it does give some extended time & daylight hours to be able to work on projects.  Especially during quarantine when you’re still mostly staying at home except for the essentials.   This summer is the first summer that my hubs and I are in our home together.  We’ve done things all throughout the year since we moved in here officially in September, but I actually remembered to take pictures of the summer projects!  (Of course, I’ve searched and searched for the “before” images from when I moved in here during my undergrad but I can’t find them anywhere!  And I was too excited to snap any images before diving into the painting.) I’ve had my heart set on a nightstand for the front porch to do all cutesy with the plants and stuff, but my impatient self couldn’t wait so I went with this idea instead.  I bought two crates from Home Depot, chalk painted both in two different colors, and used antiquing glaze (thanks, Chance & K...

This month's #2getherwearebetter linky is all about bulletin boards .  Seems fitting since most of us are back to school or are heading there very soon.   I just wrote a post about my new welcome bulletin board a few days ago ( read it here ), so I decided to share my interactive bulletin board with you in this post.  Last year, I wanted to do something to serve as a reminder of all the goals we were accomplishing throughout the year.  I wanted it to be something in which my students could take ownership and that their parents would enjoy seeing when they came to visit us.  I also wanted to address some language goals and incorporate technology , so I finally found a way to bring all those concepts together. With our class timeline bulletin board, we can track the sequence of things we do all year long.  This helps my students with sequencing and with understanding how a timeline is constructed.  We also made audio QR codes to prin...

I love the idea of Monday Made It with 4th Grade Frolics , but I've never done one before.  I've been a busy little bee this summer though getting my office overhaul crossed off my "to do" list .  One of the finishing touches was FINALLY hanging up my diploma from, oh, four years ago when I graduated with my Master's.   I knew I didn't want anything traditional per se.  Not that there's anything wrong with traditional; I just wanted to think outside the box .  I did know that I wanted something to hang my tassel to the right of my diploma.  A few weeks back I blogged about this really cool drawer shelf , and since then I've wanted something drawer-esque somewhere in my house.  That wasn't my plan for the diploma frame, but then I saw this drawer photo frame at Hobby Lobby and fell in love. And it was 50% off !  Even better.  I can't find the exact frame I bought on the website now, but it's in the same color sche...

Back to school usually means new bulletin boards , and I'm stoked that I got my new one finished this week.  I was really sweating it since I saved it until the end of summer to do!  (Yikes!)  Here's a look at the finished product !   Let's review ...this is what I had.  And it was good.  It served us well for a long time, and my students loved pointing out their names (and their siblings' names) on the owls' bellies.  Of course, I still love owls , but it was time for a change that reflected my style now .  I started with some glossy fadeless black bulletin board paper , a set of tissue poms , and some totes adorbs new scalloped chalkboard border , all of which I scored on a shopping trip to the Parent-Teacher Store earlier this summer for about $20.    I used this paper pack from Hobby Lobby to create my letters because I couldn't quite find what I had in mind. I used my Cricut and my Jubile...

When this summer began, there were so many things I wanted to accomplish !  Among them was reorganizing and decluttering my office and digging my way out of the piles of stuff that I had accumulated by not assigning each thing its proper home in my home.  So office overhaul was certainly on this summer's bucket list .  Joining my blogger/IG friends @laugheatlearn @proudtobeprimary @onesharpbunch to share my #summerbucketlist. #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #teacherthoughts A photo posted by Erika Bell (@insidebellsbrain) on Jun 10, 2015 at 9:35am PDT I'm so thrilled that I can finally cross it off my list this week!  Of course, there are still a few small tasks left to accomplish, but I have significantly reduced the number of piles in the floor...and that's DEFINITELY progress in my book!  Take a look at my new spread . I am so excited at how well my inspiration wall came together.  I wanted a vinyl quote ...