Preschool - Playroom - Classroom Tour

This post is long overdue, I realize. I’ve been saying that I would post a ‘tour’ of our school for awhile now … the problem is just that I’m always adding something or changing something or SOMETHING. I think I’ve just about finished all the little finishing touches … so … if you can stand to jump back to the age of 4 with me, I’ll take you on a little ‘tour’. ;)



Our preschool room uses the front ‘two’ rooms of my home. It seems the safest and least awkward place to dedicate to a smattering of pint sized lovies. I’m not a huge fan of my 8 year old carpet; however, please feel free to praise me lavishly for being on year 5 of preschool with the same original carpet. Maybe next summer will be the summer we finally get around to putting in wood floors … maybe.

See? There’s my front door, in all it’s glory. Yes, this means that this preschool room is the very first thing that people see when they walk into my home …. …. which is probably why I’ve been so obsessive with its evolution.

You can read the tutorial for those adorable 'Knock Off Pottery Barn Kid’s tables' here. The little yellow stools are from IKEA.

This poor bargain rug from IKEA is on its second year of torture and abuse from all these little ninjas and warriors. It gets trampled, rolled, folded, and chewed on daily. I seriously think it was $15 at IKEA … so … it’s been well worth the price. IDK, maybe it was $20.

Our class calendar is a new addition this year … holy cow … I love it! Superman framed a piece of sheet metal with some cheap baseboard, then spray painted the whole thing white … and KABOOM! A magnetic calendar was born!

I bought the calendar itself at Mardel’s, then I laminated all of the components and hot glued a ceramic magnet on the back, like this:



There’s plenty of room at the top of the frame for any extra monthly magnets, so that I can keep them handy. I store the rest of my calendar supplies in a pencil box in the cabinet.

My most favorite things in our classroom are the fun gifts that kids have given to me over the years, for our classroom. * HINT: If you’re ever uncertain on the perfect teacher gift … just give her (him) something to display in the classroom. They are my favorite gifts!

This sweet subway art sign was gifted to us from a little boy last year … and I could not agree more with its sweet message. I love every single one of those little squirts.

The very first year that I taught preschool, sweet Emilee’s Momma gave me that ‘World’s Best Teacher’ sign. Made me feel like a million bucks. And the following year, Little Corbin’s Mom gave me the subway art that hangs below it. I love them both so much. I truly LOVE my job.

It seems that every corner of this classroom is filled with sweet memories of years passed. I feel so blessed every single day.

After a couple years of teacher preschool by myself, I was able to hire a teacher to come teach with me everyday. Ms. Andrea has been a major blessing in my life. This summer, she found this ‘You Get What You Get And You Don’t Throw A Fit’ sign and brought it by for the classroom. We must say that phrase at least a half dozen times every day.

‘If it worked for me, it’ll work for them’ … every morning, we place our hands on our hearts and pledge our allegiance to that flag. It’s a simpey $1 American Flag that comes on a wood dowel … you know … the one you wave at the local parade every year? Yep. That el-cheapo one. Superman framed it out with some baseboard and we slapped a piece of glass in it. You can hardly tell that it cost all of $4, total. ;)

And … because I work with a slew of little circus animals each day, we needed some sort of behavior ‘chart’ to help them to be aware of their behavior at all times.

Behold: our behavior ‘chart’ …

It’s just a piece of sheet metal, covered in vinyl, and framed with baseboard. Superman is a genius … have I said that before?

Each kiddo has their own magnet … the goal is to stay on green, obviously … but every now and then someone needs a visual reminder to bring their listening ears to class. ;)

Another new(er) addition is our decorative alphabet and hanging pompoms.

A friend of mine does vinyl lettering and made the vinyl alphabet for me … I made the pompoms, with the help of a Pinterest tutorial. Holy cow, they’re soooo easy.

I actually made the pompoms over Spring Break and surprised the little lovies when they came back from the break.

Needless to say, they LOVED them! I just raided Superman’s fishing tackle for some fishing line and strung them up using eyelet screws in the ceiling. I know, I even surprised myself with that crafty plan.

And, while my main goal is to make this room feel like home … even if it’s my ‘office’ … I also strive to be very functional. Every inch of that entertainment center is filled with preschool necessities. After 4+ years, you figure out a few tricks …

Sorry … that picture looks a little blurry … even more sorry … I’m too lazy to take another one. ;) I’m a major fan of these $.99 plastic shoe boxes. I must own 100 of them. Not joking.

These pencil boxes are also the perfect size for a lot of supplies … and … about 2 weeks after school starts, those babies go on sale for $.10/each. KABAM!

Supplies that no preschool teacher should ever be without or run out of … cannot tell you how many times I have reached for cotton balls for a certain craft and come up empty. It’s the WORST!!! You can’t make rain clouds without cotton balls, people!

I’m telling you … every. single. inch. of these cabinets is filled with preschool nonsense.

I know you’ve seen these rain gutter bookshelves a hundred times on here … but now you can see them in ‘context’. ;)

And, typically, all of those books are upside down, backwards, sideways, disheveled, and totally unkempt … but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Books are a ginormous part of our lives between the hours of 9am and 12pm, Monday – Friday.

No classroom could be complete without a short people mirror, framed out with … you guessed it … baseboard. ;) Ms. Andrea and I love watching the vain little circus animals amuse themselves with their silly faces. (ps- I totally left those finger prints on the mirror for you on purpose … wanted to give you the full effect ;)

And …. at the end of the day … it’s still my two favorite kiddos' playroom. Our favorite time is when we can let the swings down and play to our heart’s content … after school hours.

If you’re interested in hanging some swings in your home … you can read that tutorial here.

Autism (ACTION) Month–Adult Sized Swing Set

With the sadness of the Boston Marathon on Monday, I think the world needs to hear something good … something GREAT.

Superman and I had a fantastic weekend. We spent our Saturday morning and afternoon serving one of my favorite families … building a special needs/adult sized swing set in their backyard.

My dear friend, Susan and her husband Joe, have a sweet 13 year old boy with severe autism. Although their sweet Cale is non-verbal, they know that he LOVES to swing. Several weeks ago, Susan emailed me and asked if Superman knew anyone who could come give her a quote to build an adult sized swing in her backyard. Her sweet little boy is a big, growing boy, so the frame would need to be sturdy.

When I asked Superman, he immediately suggested that we get some people together and build it as a service project. See how smart he is? That’s why I keep him around … I’m still trying to figure out why he keeps ME around. I’ll let you know when I figure it out.

I mentioned our little plan to a mutual friend (Melissa) who knows Susan and she got the idea to hold a bake sale to raise the money  to build the swing (we’re all about going a step beyond) … and the next thing we knew, we were hosting our “Sale for Cale”. All told, 69 orders were placed from a set menu of Easter cakes … and through the sale of cakes and desserts as well as a big painting from me and several cash donations, we were able to raise over $1,700 … in a span of DAYS. See? There is still so. much. good. in this world!!! And, I’d like to add that only 5 of those people knew Susan. The rest were total strangers … coming together to be a part of something great. Something life changing. Something bigger and better than we had ever imagined.

And on Saturday, we had the extreme privilege of working along side some of the most wonderful people I know. I am honored and humbled to call them all friends. And I sat with Susan (and the other wives) and watched … as our idea became a reality. And Susan’s long awaited dream for her son came to fruition.

In the event that some of you reading might be needing some plans/ideas for an adult sized swing set (that is able to hold up to 350 lbs per swing), I’m going to attempt to give you a picture tutorial of what we did. And I’ll let you meet my sweet friend, Susan. And her wonderfully perfect and amazing sons, Cale and Finn.

Superman started the project with a 6”x6”x12’ solid cedar beam. He bought 4”x4”x12’ beams to use as the legs to the ‘A Frame’. He started by chiseling out a spot on the 6”x6” beam for the 4”x4” beams to rest. First, he marked his angle, using his angle tool:

Then, using a saw and chisel, he cut out the openings where the 4”x4” legs would rest:

The legs sat on the beam at 110* angles, for those who want to build one. In between each leg, he placed two braces, both of those sat at 50* angles to the legs they were on. Like this:

And this:

Sorry guys … I didn’t take the best pictures of this project. I was way too excited about what we were doing to think about pictures for a blog tutorial. ;)

To secure the 4”x4” legs to the 6”x6” beam, Superman drilled holes all the way through the legs and beam, like this:

And then used the “create-a-bolt” bolts from Home Depot, because the largest carriage bolt he could find was 12” and we needed 14” at the longest point.

12” carriage bolts worked for the top, but not the bottom bolts (both at the top of the frame).

Once the ‘A Frame’ was bolted together, the guys screwed some of these metal plates to the top of the frame (you can see the placement markings in the picture above) and then bent it back to the leg and screwed it on there, like this:

And this:

Those metal plates made the frame super stable, and they keep the entire swing set from swaying back and forth from side to side. Finally, they anchored the frame to the ground. We bought 30” steel ground stakes that fit around the base of each leg and then extended 2 1/2 feet into the ground! You can always dig holes and use cement. Whatever you prefer!

And now, here are some picture of the crew of volunteers in action (sorry, some are blurry … I’m not a photographer – at all!!) …

Superman took the ‘A’s already put together, in the back of his truck, so that everyone just had to bolt the beam in place, anchor it, and hang the swings.

You gotta love the mother of the 15 year old boy who gets her son where he needs to be at 8am on a Saturday … and even more, you gotta love that 15 year old boy for getting up early on his Saturday! We love you, Parker!

This is Susan (left) and Melissa (right). Melissa was the mastermind behind our unbelievably successful ‘Sale for Cale’.

Tiffany (who had never met me OR Susan, but wanted to help), Susan, and Liesl (who knows Susan from therapy). Liesl’s husband, Dave, worked hard all morning/afternoon.

6 of the 10 men who showed up to work on their Saturday. I’m telling y’all – this world is still filled with so much good!!

Chad Combs (from Eldorado Builders www.eldoradobuilders.com) was a Godsend. I swear that man has every tool under the sun. If you live in the DFW area and have any construction needs, call Chad!! Good guys finish first!

Dave. We call him ‘the wise old man’. He may or may not have given himself the nickname. ;)

Oh my goodness … just looking back through these pictures, I have so much gratitude in my heart for these men. Their wives are lucky women.

There is a frequently used saying around my house. It is: “Many hands make light work.” Ain’t THAT the truth!!

There’s that 15 year old boy that I love so much, again. I love him so much that I gave his momma a job teaching with me 5 days a week. HAHAHA. (DFW ladies, the dude in the black with the hat is single – message me, I know you wanna).

Me, Susan, and Melissa. (If you didn’t vote for Romney, please just ignore my shirt. Nothing personal, I promise.)

Susan and her neighbor, Niki (another dear friend of mine).

Chad was a master at the sledge hammer … regular Paul Bunyan.

See? Dude’s a stud … If Superman had a sidekick (like Batman does), his name would be Chad. ;)

Standin’ around, lookin’ pretty … just kidding. Swing hardware going up!!! Woohoo!!

Love these guys so much. Melissa’s husband, Brandon, on the right.

The wise old man enjoying some one-on-one time with his power tools.

BAM!! They were in HEAVEN! Cale’s brother, Finn, is in the blue shirt on the right. He was BEAMING. See?

(sorry, hard to get a non-blurry picture when he’s swinging)

Remember these pictures, the next time you think YOU can’t make a difference in someone’s life. Because, you CAN! Nothing feels better than helping other people! True story.

Me and Superman … No words can describe how much I love this man. He is a good, good, good man.

And finally, it was time to bring Cale out and show him. There are no words for the joy that his sweet laughter, squealing, and dancing brought to all the volunteers. His reaction made everyone’s sacrifice and time SO worth it. We love you, Cale!!

How priceless is this picture of sweet Susan and her precious Cale? This is the good stuff that life is made of, people!!

I challenge all of you, in the wake of Sandy Hook and the Boston Marathon Bombing and all the awful things going in this great world, to MAKE A DIFFERENCE. No matter how small. No matter how insignificant it seems. Be the change you want to see. Together, we can change things … it just takes a little more love.

And, we are officially renaming April “Autism ACTION Month”, instead of “Autism Awareness Month”.

 

* For those interested in building this swing set, the total cost with lumber, swings, hardware, anchors, etc. was about $800. And each swing, installed with commercial grade hardware, holds up to 350lbs. Both regular swings were commercial grade swings, guaranteed up to 350lbs. All hardware used was commercial grade, guaranteed up to 350 lbs.

** Cale’s dad, Joe, is not pictured … he was quarantined to his bedroom with the stomach flu. Poor guy.

*** The remaining money from the fundraiser was donated to the family to help with any additional needs.

UPDATE:

After several days of adjusting to the idea of a swing in his backyard, Cale decided to give the swing a try tonight. What a great day! Enjoy these pictures … pure joy!

The pictures say it all. :D