Up!

What is cuter than an old men, a talking dog, a crazy bird and a boy scout?

Answer: Nothing! And that's why Up is the best movie ever!

I think I have a special connection with the movie Up, because of Carl's loss. I lost my Mom in 2006 after a very courageous battle with breast cancer. My Mom was my best friend. The theme in Up, that Carl and Ellie had a great life together...now go have an adventure of your own is the true essence of life. We will all have heart aches but we will move forward, remembering those people as we have new adventures and create new important friendships and bonds. I feel that way especially this time of year as my Mom's birthday is this week, she would have been 51. It makes me want to have adventures that she won't be able to have.

However, Dug the talking dog is probably the cutest thing ever...reminds me of someone one I know...

If Halle could talk, I'm 1000% sure she'd sound like Dug. "Oh Mommy, I love you feed me more biscuits!" (And Lord look at all that SNOW....remember that mess!!!)

So while I was in Disney this summer I managed to find a talking Dug stuffed animal for my classroom and some Up pins.

I also ordered some craft sticks from Amazon (dogs and cats, luckily my teaching neighbor Gail said she'd buy the cats off of me because I'm not using them). So now we all have Dug name sticks. I plan on letting the kiddos decorate these during the first couple days of school with Cayola markers (I may regret that idea).

My amazing sisters help me tweak my Up bulletin board idea. I made the banner in Swift Publisher (Mac Publisher) and I Google imaged the house and blew it up with the copier..that took a bit of work. I made balloon tracers, cut out the balloons and Viola! what a cute bulletin board if I do say so myself!

I also downloaded the Up Soundtrack from iTunes and will play it during writers workshop and silent reading time. I also have steel drum music that I play during these times too.

One of our class jobs this year will be to take home our stuffed animal Dug. I used to use a bear, but one of my teacher friend's daughters suggested sending him home! So Take Home Dug is my newest Job.

Finally I list my students alphabetically by first name, and next to each persons name I put a balloon, to continue with our balloon theme.

Lightbulb!

If you've seen Despicable Me, I hope you know what I'm try to say.... "Lightbulb!"

For years now, I've been milking the beach theme, and while I LOVE the beach (come on look at my blog!) I'm getting a little *bored* with it. So I'm sitting here, flipping around Pintrest and just like that ... **LIGHTBULB**!! I've decided that this year, I am going to do an UP! themed classroom.

I head over to my BFF, Google to search for Up. However, I'm sure you can guess where that went. By searching for Up themed parties (or throwing in the word Pixar) I get some good results. I also used Pintrest to help me hunt down some more themed items.

For the bulletin boards outside my classroom, I'm thinking "My Adventure Book", maybe some character cut outs, and certainly some use of this banner....I'm thinking maybe suitcases with the kids names on them....??

http://www.etsy.com/listing/61238016/adventure-awaits-mini-paper-garland

We do Responsive Classroom Hopes and Dreams for second grade the first week of school, I generally do these on some white papers with a cloud on them. I'm thinking maybe throw a colored paper balloon in there to spice things up.

I also buy laminated name sticks, generally with a fish on them but I found wooden craft sticks with dogs on top of them. Dug anyone?

The kids can color them, I'll put their names on them and then when we have to make groups, call on someone to give an answer etc. I use the "Cup of Fairness".

I have the Up soundtrack so I can play that on the first day of school when the kids arrive. I'm also thinking of getting an Up mylar balloon or something of that theme, as we can't have latex because of the allergies.

I'm thinking Up name tags too for the first day of school. I don't want to go OVER BOARD but I don't want one lame bulletin board and people wonder what in the world I was thinking.

I'm open to any suggestions you may have about my Up theme!