Iowa State Fair

Instead of walking my usual route today, I decided to go to the fair and walk around.  This is the first time I've been to the fair in probably ten years.  Of course I had to go see the Butter Cow first thing.  You can't go to the Iowa State Fair without seeing the Butter Cow, and this year there is a Butter Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs too.

Going to the fair is a pretty cheap proposition for me.  I don't ride the rides, I don't drink the beer, and I'm following a diet plan that means I can't eat the food.  I even parked about 5 blocks away so I didn't have to pay to park.  I am not paying $10 to park my car.

I do like people watching, and I like to walk around in the barns, and checked out the displays.

And of course, there was lots of corn.

Whole Foods

I checked out the new Whole Foods Store today.  I actually didn't buy that much this time, but I saw lots of things I would like to buy.

School Supplies

These teapots arrived in the mail yesterday.  The little blue one is to take to school, and the lime green one is to keep at home to get me ready to go to school each day.  You have your idea of school supplies, and I have mine. 

School Stuff

It's another two weeks before teachers need to officially report, but like most teachers, I am already working on school stuff.  Over the weekend I made my Welcome to 4th Grade cards and dropped them in the mail.

Today I put together these Whole Class Journals.  I found the idea on Pinterest. 

Another Tree Face

I don't know how the tree feels about it, but I kind of get a kick out of these tree faces.

An Eggplant With Character

I'm not a big fan of eggplant, but I thought this one was pretty interesting. He has quite a schnoz!  He was just one of the veggies at the Ankeny Farmers Market.

The Ankeny Farmers Market

This morning I went up to the Ankeny Farmer's Market.  It is much smaller than the Des Moines Downtown Farmers Market, which is fine with me.  I will definitely be going back. It was easy to park and walk right in.  It was also easy to walk around.  There were several booths with produce, which is what I went looking for, as well as some baked goods, and crafts.  This will be come a regular stop for me on Saturday mornings.

Putting Together a Classroom

I worked on my classroom for a few hours on Monday and then again on Thursday.  I am making progress.  The desks have been arranged. I will have 26 students this year.

I spent time organizing and weeding out my classroom library.  If a book is twenty years old and it is still in good shape, you can assume that NO ONE IS READING IT!  I need to make some additional labels for the tubs, but things are in pretty good shape.

Last year I made curtains for my library book shelves. I liked the clean look so much, that I decided I wanted to curtain off the shelves that hold my teachers manuals and other resources.  I remade these denim curtains from curtains that used to hang in my son's bedroom.

My class rules poster is up and so is my welcome sign, but I have no idea what I'm going to put on my bulletin boards.  There is lots more work to do, but I still have two more weeks until teachers have to report.