Monthly Round-up #3

In July...

• I graduated from university with a 2:2. This means that I am now a qualified primary school teacher and will be starting my NQT year in September. I've had a great time at uni but it's been pretty stressful and i'm glad to be leaving. My graduation day was lovely and I spent time with my family and boyfriend.
• I met my new class. On the 14th we had our transition day where the children meet their new teacher and spend a day in their new classrooms or new classes (there are 2 classes per year group so every 2 or 3 years we mix them up). I loved meeting my very chatty class and i've noticed a lot of big personalities already. I've also started decorating my classroom which is the most exciting thing of all!
• I bought a 50mm Canon lens. After months of deliberating on whether to buy it or not, I finally took the plunge after pay day and bought myself the loveliest lens of all time. It really does give a beautiful blurred background effect and I can't wait to start using it for blog posts. 
• My boyfriend James came to stay and we had an exciting adventure at Delamere forest. You can read more about that here. 

Next Month...

• I want to use my time wisely and start preparing for September
• I'd like to do another baking blog post
• I'm looking forward to a few events such as birthdays and James' nieces' dedication 

Banana Bread

You will need:

285g plain flour
1 tbs bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
225g caster sugar
110g butter
2 medium eggs
85ml milk
4 ripe bananas

• Before you start, preheat your oven to 180 degrees C.
• Sift your flour into a bowl and add the bicarbonate of soda and the salt. Set this aside for later.
• To another bowl, add your butter and sugar and mix until pale and fluffy.
• Mash your bananas with a potato masher or the flat side of a knife.
• Into the butter and sugar mix, add the mashed bananas, milk, eggs and vanilla extract.
• When mixed, slowly fold in the flour mixture until fully combined. It's ok if your mixture looks a bit lumpy, it's just the mashed bananas.
• Grease your tin and pour in the mixture. Put in the oven for about 20 minutes (or until your cake looks brown) at 180 degrees C and then turn the heat down to cook through the middle for another 30 minutes or longer. Check it's cooked by poking in a knife and if it comes out clean, it's done.

What makes you happy? #3

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Beautiful food photography

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Simple art prints

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Pretty stationery 

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Baggy shirts

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My new obsession with cacti 

What makes you happy?

Things that make me anxious

I first saw this post on The Private Life of a Girl's blog and realised how it really is the smallest things that can trigger anxiety. I am a teacher so I don't get nervous public speaking and i'm happy to lead an assembly in front of 400 pupils and 40 members of staff. However, if I go to a carwash you can be sure my heart will be racing, i'll be breathing rapidly and i'll be gripping the wheel tightly. These are some of the other things that make me anxious.

Airports

Odd numbers

Thinking I have offended someone

Having my hair tied up

Driving in wind

Driving on the motorway

Being tired
Being ill

Bad dreams
Fireworks

Forgetting to moisturise my face

Being late

Being early

Groups of men

Someone unexpectedly knocking on the door

My dog barking

Builders

Being away from my boyfriend

People I know reading my blog

Toilet paper in public bathrooms

Delamere Forest

I only get to see my boyfriend every couple of weeks so when I do, we like to make the most of it. James is a very outdoorsy person so I organised for us to go bike riding at Delamere Forest in Cheshire. We went on a Tuesday afternoon when it was quiet and hired out two mountain bikes for a few hours. Delamere Forest has a lake surrounded by lots of tracks for walking or bikes.

I look so awkward (robot arms) but this is me looking very happy stood on top of a railway bridge.

A very muddy boyfriend.

We took a break (demanded by me) and I took the chance to get some photos of our amazing surroundings. 

We stumbled across these homemade dens. Perhaps they have school trips or team building exercises here?

This area of trees made me feel like I was in Twilight.

We then finally found the lake. I love the reflections it gave.

And then a slightly bigger den made from a fallen tree.

We decided it was the perfect place to stop and have a few snacks (homemade lemon drizzle cake from the cafe).

Despite the "no climbing" signs he couldn't resist.

And we finally found the lake! I'll be honest, it looks a lot nicer in these photo than in real life as the overwhelming sound of geese and the hundreds of tree stumps ruined it a bit. Luckily the reflection of the blue sky made it look nicer in photos than it actually was. 

Classroom Ideas

I know this topic might not appeal to all of you but a lot of you may like having a nosey into people's spaces just like me. Therefore, I thought I would share with you some of the ideas I have for my classroom in September. 

The thing I have found most difficult when planning the decor in my room is the fact that i'm in the upper years of the school. That means that some of the cute, bright, silly ideas I've seen won't be appropriate for my 10 year old pupils. Whilst I've got to create an inspiring, useful and interactive classroom, I've also got to remember that my 10 year old, slightly hormonal boys will not appreciate glitter and rainbows. 

So, I decided to turn to Pinterest (where else) and a few other teaching blogs to gain some ideas for my classroom. Hopefully I will be able to show you my own versions in September when I am all moved in.

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Can we just start by appreciating how beautiful these colours are! I'm thinking of creating these letters to make a sign for our door saying "Class 12". I've looked online and fabric letters are SO expensive to buy so i'd be happy to make these myself by cutting out letters from cardboard and wrapping them in wool/fabric.

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This is a great activity for my class to get on with in the morning or when they have finished their tasks. It will appeal to the older children, it needs no teacher explanation and it's easy to maintain. Once I have initially set it up, they can just shuffle the pack of cards to choose new numbers each day! 

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Pegs are a teachers best friend. I never realised this until recently but when you have different piles of papers everywhere for different lessons and abilities it can get a bit overwhelming. I want to personalise pegs like this but instead of having days I want to use subjects. Then all my resources for the day will be organised and ready.

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When I read this print I knew I had to have it in my classroom somewhere. Not only does it looks pretty, it stands for something the children really need to be aware of. My new school is full of high achievers that don't experience failure very often which is great but it also has it's downsides. In life people need to fail and make mistakes as you learn more that way. I want my pupils to learn that and not be scared of getting things wrong. Therefore I am printing this off and making it a poster in my classroom.

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I love the idea of having bunting in a classroom but I don't want to copy this idea above. Instead I want to have bunting with the children's photos on as part of the "Our Class" display. 

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Now this idea will not work with my 10 year old pupils as they will think it's ridiculous but it's definitely an idea i'm going to keep in the bank for when I have a younger age group. It's simply an empty bottle so you can spray it and pretend it makes a child quiet. Brilliant!

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This storage system just screams out to the tiny part of OCD I have deep inside me. It's such an easy and free way to create storage and I would definitely consider these for our class set of pencils.

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And of course my desk...the aspect i'm most excited about. I can't wait to get all my stationary and desk organisers! I'll definitely be popping over to MUJI to get some filing and storage systems for what will possibly be the prettiest teacher desk of all time.

I hope you enjoyed this slightly different post and if you have any ideas for me I would really appreciate it!