187 Days with Mrs. Hayes: Classroom Spotlight: Mrs. Strawn!

As I have said before, teaching is in my blood! Today's classroom spotlight features one of my dearest friends, who happens to also be my cousin. We grew up right next door to one another, so we spent many days playing school with Holli (Mrs. Patterson) and Jennifer's younger sister, Julie. Our grandmother, Roberta Holmes, was a 4th grade teacher at our elementary school, so we thought we were "real" teachers, because she would let us play with her teacher books. I will be writing a blog about our grandmother this week. She is a hoot!

Jennifer Strawn teaches 3rd grade at Hokes Bluff Elementary School. This will be Mrs. Strawn's 13th year in the classroom. Jennifer is married to her high school sweetheart, Chad, and is the mother of two beautiful children, Conner and Charli Grace. Chad Strawn is a 4th grade teacher at Glencoe Elementary School. I will definitely write a blog about his awesome classroom very soon!

Mrs. Strawn's classroom is a 75 year-old former high school room. She is located in the old Hokes Bluff High School building. Mrs. Strawn said that it takes a lot of thought and creativity to turn a very old classroom into a fun environment for elementary school. Well, she has done an amazing job!

The front of Mrs. Strawn's room has one of my most favorite ideas. The banners at the bottom of her dry-erase board feature pages of laminated card stock/scrapbook paper that she bought at Hobby Lobby. She has clothespins on the top of each page so that she can display her student's writing samples. I am totally stealing this idea for my high schoolers!

On her cabinet doors, she printed and laminated these encouraging words for her students. I love that she included the school's mascot, the eagles.

This corner of Mrs. Strawn's room features her reading supplements. In 3rd grade, the teachers have a lot of reading books that they have to make easily accessible to the students. This is a wonderful display of organization and creativity!

Jennifer's desk is so beautiful! I love the polka dot surface on her desk. Sometimes school furniture can be very old and very worn out, but a little contact paper and some material can make it look brand-new!

Conner Strawn

I had to include a few snapshots of Jennifer's awesome kids. This is Conner and he is going into the 3rd grade this year. He is truly one of the funniest kids I have ever known! He will be an awesome writer, or comedian, or preacher, or car salesman one day! His personality is amazing!

This little princess is Charli Grace. She is one of my beautiful China babies. She has an amazing story that I will definitely blog about in the near future. Charli is in the 2nd grade and attends the Alabama School for the Blind. She is such a blessing to us!