Bloggy Happiness

I spent the day yesterday working in my room and it is finally starting to look like a classroom again. I would say most of my projects were blog inspired.
I created a graffiti bulletin board. This idea came from the blog Minds in Bloom. The butcher paper I put on it will change either weekly or every two weeks. There will be a topic on it and the kids can draw and write different things that have to do with the theme. I think the first one will be summer vacation.

I also worked on my behavior chart. That was definitely inspired by the blogging community. I'm using the clip chart with the positive spin on it. I'm pretty excited about trying this out this year. I'm also using the rules that were posted on The Polka Dot Patch blog. I printed them, added them to cutesy card stock and now just need to laminate and post. I'm super excited to be trying something new this year. I think it's important to change things up so that you don't get bored.

I still have some projects left to work on but luckily I have about 2 weeks before the first student arrives in my room. My brain is a little full today because we had our first day of a staff retreat. It was overwhelming discussing all the new things coming up this year. New math series. New common core standards. New evaluation system. I'm really trying to be as positive as possible this year. This blogging community has really helped me be excited about trying new things and the upcoming school year. But how do you cope with all the negativity you can find in a school? How do you handle the other teachers that aren't excited about the school year? I would love to hear your ideas about how to stay upbeat and positive.