Five for Friday~ 30th of January

Oh boy, it's been a while since I've done one of these! I'm linking up with Kasey from Doodlebugs to share the happenings from this week.

Thursday was the first day back at work for 2015. Yay! New room, new year level (hello Grade 3 & 4), new kids. My new room is a gorgeous pile of gorgeousness. Love it!

Love my minion cushion from my niece.

 Bag lockers & tubs

Reward charts

Star display from our transition day.

Fish and pencil trolley.... because that works? :)

 Our Reading Corner

Curtained area

We kicked off our first day with some Name Zentangles. The kids did an excellent job with their artworks, I have definitely missed teaching bigger kids. 

I got the idea from this pin. We looked at filling the background in with different Zentangle patterns and I used this template as an example.


As my iPhoto has just decided to die I don't have any other photos to share (grr).

Happy weekend,

Minion Mayhem

As we start our new school year next week in Australia this week has been crazy fun as I have been putting the finishing touches on my classroom. I moved rooms {again} this year but am really excited to be moving to 3/4... plus I'm in a newer room which kind of rocks.

This year I'm going with a Minion theme to match my {slight} Minion obsession. Plus since the movie is coming out this year it's a great tie-in.

I made these sweet minions for our door display. 

If you'd like a copy download the editable freebie PowerPoint file here.

My name tags and this awesome Minion Calendar are from Yara Sea of Knowledge. I attached them to my whiteboard with magnetic tape {I just noticed the wonky '17' card, sorry about that} which is just surviving this heat. 

Download the free name tags from Yara's store here and purchase the calendar from here.

Need more Minion ideas? Check out my Minion board on Pinterest and follow me @becsperry on Instagram to keep up with all the fo-shizzle happening in Books, Bugs & Boxes land.

Classroom Set-Up: Display Ideas

As the beginning of our new school year is only 3 weeks away I need to set up my new classroom. I both love and hate this part as I normally have too many ideas, or not enough! 

I've spent this morning flicking back through some old photos to get an idea or what I might do this year and thought I'd share a few of my favourites with you.

Last year I used clipboards for my changing display. Each child had their own clipboard with their name underneath. The kids and I both loved this as it was easy to add up new sheets or art works. My hubs nailed the boards onto the wall at a kid-reachable height.

I have always used material in the past for backgrounds for display areas as my old rooms have had either brown or grey carpet for pin boards. Real pretty. I have also used cardboard but the material is brighter, quicker to put up and can be washed at the end of the year.

My new classroom door may be in too sunny of an area to have a 'Welcome' display but I am thinking I might put one up and see how it goes. 

All I could find of my previous door displays was this one, but I have tried a heap of different ones in the post pre-blogging years. Wish I had taken pics! If you are looking for more display ideas take a peek at my Displays Pinterest board.

Currently 2015! And a bit of a review of 2014

Welcome to 2015!! As this is the first time I've managed to blog in over a month, I have a lot to catch up on and there's no better way to do that than with a little Currently and linking up with Farley.

Listening- My hubs always puts the radio on when he gets up, I love that man. It's all old school this morning- love some Queen.

Loving- It's summer here and it's been a fantastic break so far. We are in about week 2 of our 6 week break and it has been much needed. We have had a couple of day trips away. Follow me on Instagram to check them out + all my school stuff, I tend to Insta more than blog at the minute as it's quicker. I'm also too lazy to have two accounts, as with my blog it's a mix of everything.
After the holidays I will be moving from Prep to teach Grade 3/4. I am so, so excited. Really looking forward to {another} fresh start.

Thinking- 2014 hasn't really been our year, I've been a total stress bucket and complete cow at times. We've had a lot going on personally and work has been really tough (new school, new co-workers, etc). It's been a struggle. 
I have the best support system out there. I am a very, very lucky girl. We honestly wouldn't be where we are this year without these great people in our life, I know if they could have they would have picked me up and carried me but they've stood silently by, ready to jump in as needed, as they (including my Hubs) know I'm an independent, stubborn pain in the butt. They've lifted me up, given me a reality check as needed, kicked my arse and are the best people I know. Thank you.

Wanting- Rest! Sleep! Holidays not to end :) Visit the beach, city, etc, etc. To exercise EVERY day. Basically to chill and enjoy life, which I've done a pretty solid job of the last 2 weeks, I'm planning to continue it. I've even gone two whole weeks without checking my work emails, it's a record.

Needing to do those odd jobs that have slipped over Christmas, like pay bills, doctor's appointments, etc. I'm hoping to not think about work for a bit. I vow I won't go in to do serious stuff (other than feed the fish) until the 19th of Jan.

2015 plans:
-Yes to being less of a stress bucket.
-Maybe to a big holiday as I have 10 weeks of long service leave sitting there but that will all depend. Would love to go to the US.
-I wish for our plans for our future to work out, as they truly didn't in 2014. There's a bigger plan out there for us, unfortunately we have to sit back a little now and let the universe do its thing.

Wishing you a fantastic, fun filled 2015!!