Back to School Projects!

I've been busy this week getting things ready for back to school.  Next week is my last week of summer, so I have to get in gear!

I already made a To-Do list, painted my table caddies, transferred books on tape to mp3, put together my teacher planner, and many of you already saw on Instagram that I got rid of my desk in favor of a smaller computer desk!  I've been checking the new 2nd-3rd blog Owl-Ways be Inspired each day for a new fun freebie to use in my classroom.  I already have 3 reading centers prepped and ready to go!

If you follow my Instagram, you already know that this week I worked on painting my bookshelves.  I have 5 shelves that I use for my classroom library and they were all different shades of wood, one spray painted green, and one really old and full of tape and staples.  I am ready for a cohesive room, so I painted them black.  Many other teacher bloggers have black bookshelves, like Jaimie from 2nd Grade Stuff, Deanna Jump, Alisha from The Bubbly Blonde, and Dandelions and Dragonflies.  I already have one tall black shelf and the red dirt here gets everywhere making white out of the question.  So I bit the bullet and went with black!

First, I had to scrape tape and pull staples from the shelves.  I used a glass scraper and a staple remover.

Then I sanded the shelf to rough it up.  I used a sanding block and the same sandpaper that I had leftover from my spray painting project.

I wiped the dust away with a sponge.

Then I rolled the paint on.  I needed to use a brush inside on the corners and edges and also on the very bottom skirt of the shelf.  I painted the back of the inside, but not the top of the shelf or the back of the entire unit.  I did two coats to make sure there was good coverage.

I taped the metal guides, but when I took the tape off, it pulled some paint with it, so I just used a brush and a steady hand on the rest of the shelves.  

After it dried, I sanded again with FINE sandpaper, wiped the dust off, and brushed on a thin coat of polyurethane to the top of each shelf (top of the unit, top of the middle shelf, top of the bottom shelf).  I wanted these areas to be extra protected since these shelves will have book bins on them.

They came out beautiful!  I'm so excited about how good they look!

Here is a Before and After:

I have one more project for you: I also made some cute magnetic business cards to hand out at Open House!

I printed them on magnetic business cards from Avery.  You could also print on card stock and glue a small magnet to the back.

You can download your very own editable file!  I made it in PowerPoint, so you will need that program to open it up and edit with your information!  Directions are included.

How are you getting ready for back to school?

I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It.

And also with Classroom Freebies