vancouver apartment

In July we made the big move from Utah to Washington. You can read about the big move here. Right now we are living in Vancouver, just across the river from Portland, Oregon.

Our apartment is right in between Brodie's school (University of Western States) and my school (Dorothy Fox Elementary). It is a 12 minute drive to either school, which is not bad for daily commutes. We love the location . . . particularly driving across the river to shop tax free in Oregon :) It's especially a huge blessing to be close to both of our families. I am so so grateful that visiting my parents in Seattle is only a 3 hour drive. I am so so grateful for the generosity of Brodie's parents and everything they have done for us. We are incredibly blessed!!

It took us awhile to get settled, but once we did I took some pictures that have been sitting in my phone for months! I'm bummed that I never took pictures of our first (very, very tiny) apartment. Which is why I did not forget this time!

front door 

dining room

kitchen

living room

bathroom

bedroom

classroom revealed {finally!!!}

I guess it is slightly anticlimactic to reveal my classroom 4 months after school started. I missed the "beginning-of-school-classroom-pics" movement that happens on facebook every August. This post is long past due - the perfect time would have been over summer, when the class was clean and I didn't have 26 ten-year-old students living in it.

At first, I was not a big fan of my new classroom. I missed the bright yellow walls of my old classroom.

last year's classroom

what my current classroom looked like when I first moved in

                          

                          

Now that I've added my own touches, I am in LOVE with my new classroom. There are lots and lots of cupboards, drawers for storing posters/chart paper, windows (seriously a big win), a document camera (no more overhead lol), two whiteboards, linoleum floor by the sink, two filing cabinets, bigger desk, several bookshelves, and overall much larger.

After many summer hours of cleaning, organizing, and decorating, this was the result. I think all my hard work paid off :)

warning: picture overload

 #sorrynotsorry

room 23

daily schedule/proficiency scale

Fox Four

class rules

front of the room

 Book Beach

behind my desk

front of my desk

above my desk 

classroom community supplies

word wall or "word wave"

weekly news wall

thank you Dollar Tree for the perfect bathroom passes!

focus wall 

"writing" the wave, grammar stars, & readers' reef

 turn in trays, Franklin the plant, Bubbles the fish, & absent folders

whole classroom

whew! thanks to Brodie, Pinterest, Dollar Tree, Ikea, and Walmart, my classroom dream came true :) 

playing catch up

Yikes. Where did I leave off? With a post about September?? Well I guess that leaves me with two undocumented months to catch up on.

Usually I just ignore the big spaces of time that I don't blog. And then hope that nothing too important happened. Hahah like the undocumented months when I got a job, graduated from BYU, moved, and got engaged? Yeah . . . lesson learned. Since I have two weeks off work (winter break is every teacher's dream!!!!), I have no excuse. So here's a quick recap.

|| October & November Highlights ||

1. Anna & Kristoff for Halloween

2. date night @ UWS Winter Gala 

3. making chocolates Thanksgiving weekend 

4. Portland Zoo for Danner's 1st bday

5. matching Thanksgiving sweaters 

6. post-thanksgiving naps 

7. field trip with the fifth graders

8. Black Friday shopping with Ems

9. Box Top champions! 

10. fall art with my class 

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