Five for Friday - August 9th, 2013

My week in pictures:

1. Last week, I was given several boxes of school supplies from a friend who works at McGraw-Hill. They are downsizing offices and did some major cleaning. I recruited 4 of my teacher friends to help me sort through the several boxes of school and office supplies. I don't think we'll ever run out of paper clips or file folders ever again!

We also dropped off several boxes of supplies to City Academy, located in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. The Tenderloin has the highest crime rate of any district in San Francisco. City Academy's mission is to "transform the Tenderloin Community by breaking the cycle early of poverty, violence and addiction through educating and empowering children to overcome those obstacles." I posted here about How Children Succeed by Paul Tough. It addresses the issue of poverty and how it takes its toll on children. Although I teach at a very affluent school, I know there are several schools in the city that need extra support and encouragement from the community. 

2. I made a trip to IKEA and found some great rugs for my classroom!

3. My classroom theme is Dr. Suess again this year. I'm currently in the process of painting some truffula trees from The Lorax. My polka dotted IKEA rugs were wrapped around the cardboard tubes below, which will eventually be the base of the trees. Never doubt a teacher's ability to be resourceful! 

4. In keeping with my Dr. Suess theme, I decided to make my own birthday chart again this year: "Horton Heard It's Your Birthday!" I've been obsessed with Kevin & Amanda's smiley monster font for bulletin boards and posters. 

5. Totally unrelated to teaching, but I am obsessed with making trifles. (Just ask the teachers at my school!) Usually I just throw some ingredients together and hope for the best combination of flavors, but when I found this s'mores trifle recipe on this blog I knew I had to try it out. It actually tasted like a s'more straight from the campfire. Broiling the marshmallows  for a few minutes gave the top layer a toasted look and taste. 

I'm a huge fan of my Pampered Chef trifle dish. I think you can make even iceberg lettuce look good if you just throw it inside a glass trifle dish. 

I'm off to the teacher's store this afternoon to pick up a few more supplies for my classroom. We have a "Meet and Greet" night next week and then school begins the week after that! I'm anxious and excited for a new school year to start. 

Heather