My First Summer Project!

Let me begin my expressing my deep love for Hobby Lobby... I've pretty much lived within walking distance of that store since I was in 8th grade so that is my go-to craft store. I was in there the other day looking for a diploma frame (Yes, it's official, I have my Master's now!) and I happened upon these adorable little black buckets. I'd seen them before and actually have some small colorful ones from Target's dollar section, but I loved the look of the black ones. Even better... They marked for clearance 50% off! Then, I got inspired...

Cute Ribbon + Hot Glue = Instantly Cute Buckets!

I tested out the long one and it's just the perfect size to store pocket folders. I bought two medium and one small for Sharpies, pens, and other desk accessories.

But, WAIT! There's MORE!

If you've looked at my classroom photos you might have picked up on the fact that I'm a pretty big K-State fan and I'm NOT afraid to show that in my classroom. (I had a class full KU fans this past year. I kept telling them they were bullying me!) I realized that a few years ago I'd purchased some super cute K-State ribbon that was purple, black, and white and would look adorable on these buckets. Unfortunately, the K-State ribbon is in storage at school and the kind Hobby Lobby had in stock was not near as cute as what I already had. Rolls of ribbon were on sale for half price, though, so I decided to go on and pick up a few cute coordinating rolls so that I'm all prepared for my project when I get my other roll at school. I'm excited to share my final project once it's done.

Don't you love the polka dots?!? They coordinate with my curtains I made to cover up all the junk on my shelves. I'm also a huge fan of CTP's Poppin' Patterns collection so it ties into some of those items as well. I'm all about *trying* to make things in my classroom look cute and coordinated.

I'm tempted to get more of these buckets while they're still in stock and decorate them all cute to give as gifts. Remember my cute teacher appreciation gift? Yeah...

I Think I'm in Love...

Now now, don't get too excited. I'm not in love like THAT! (I wish...)

I'd been browsing other blogs and Teachers Pay Teachers and kept seeing really cute graphics and fonts . I'm already a big fan of the free fonts over on Kevin & Amanda's page and knew that what I was seeing wasn't from there. So, I did some creative investigating and found my way over to Lettering Delights! WOW!

If you haven't visited Lettering Delights yet, you need to. I'm big on free stuff, but I will drop some money when I think something is a good deal. I spent a grand total of $5, managed to get a bunch of freebies for joining, AND a great bundle of alphabets thanks to their $5 off discount right now.

I'm very excited to start making new things with my new fonts and alphabets. I know myself all too well and know that I'm going to go overboard and remake ALL of the sign and things for my classroom so that they're all cutesy and match! :)

Okay, it's a little late... Mother's Day Project

Things have been kind of crazy with school lately and so blogging was put on the back burner until summer.... Thankfully, SUMMER VACATION IS HERE!

Anyway, I'm getting caught up on a few posts I was meaning to share.

This was our Mother's Day project for the year. It's a picture tile. Total cost for me: 9 cents per student. (I had all supplies except the tiles on hand already!)

I can never settle on what to do for Mother's Day and I honestly forget about that holiday until usually a few days before. I've had years over being an over-achiever (Mother's Day cookbook = hours and hours of work on my part = very happy moms) to under-achiever (poems on construction paper made on Friday afternoon.)

I actually "borrowed" this idea from my aunt who is a first grade teacher in my building.

Here's what you need:

1. Plain white paper and a color printer


2. Plain 4x4 white tiles (I got mine at Menards on sale for 9 cents each.)


3. Mod Podge


4. Foam brush


5. Craft Bond stick glue


6. Digital camera


7. Paper cutter

I had the students select a place and a pose out on the playground. The kids got pretty creative with how they wanted their pictures and I *tried* to make them look somewhat artsy.

I printed the pictures on regular paper on my inkjet printer. I just printed them as regular 4x6 photos and then cropped them down to about 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 with my paper cutter. (Some pics I adjusted my cropping to make them look better.)

Now, here's where I messed up and learned a lesson the hard way. Wait to let the pictures REALLY dry before gluing and applying the Mod Podge. (Had I not been in such a hurry doing this project on Friday morning I may not have had problems with pictures bubbling and curling a bit.) I had the kids help me with gluing the pictures down and rubbing them flat.

With the foam brush, apply a thin layer of Mod Podge over the picture. It's best to use a wide brush so that you can apply a layer in just 2 or 3 strokes. I went over all of the tiles once, let them dry about 15 minutes and then applied another layer. I repeated this about 3 times until they all had a nice glossy finish.

Mod Podge dries pretty fast, so we worked on the project in the morning, let them dry during specials and lunch, and then were able to wrap them up right after lunch. I had the kids create a card and let them decorate a white sack. We wrapped the tiles in pretty Dollar Tree tissue paper.

Teacher Appreciation

I had to share this cute idea for for a teacher appreciation gift. I've been seeing a lot of other bloggers post ideas online this week and it's given me a lot of neat ideas for ANYtime gifts!

I received this the other day from one of my students. It's simply a small metal bucket (I have several from Hobby Lobby and the dollar section at Target), two flowers cut out of scrapbooking paper, a flower clip, and some candy! Clipped to the flower was a Target gift card, too! (They know me so well!) I think I'm going to steal this idea for some of my end of the year gifts that I will be giving to paras and a few other staff members that have helped me out this year.

Other than the gift card part of this, the whole thing would only cost about $3-4 max to assemble. Of course it's nothing super fancy, but it's a thoughtful and cute gift idea. There are a lot of ways that you could vary this idea for whatever, but this was different than other teacher appreciation gifts I've received in the past.

Summer To-Do List

My previous post stated that one of my things on my summer to-do list consists of some things related to the changes for reading next year. That got me thinking about all the things I have to do over my break to prep for next school year. I have to admit, I feel like I've been kind of a slacker teacher this year and haven't done as much of my fun "above and beyond" things that I've done in years past. I've already resolved that it's not going to be that way next year and that I'm going to put in a lot of time during June and July to get off on the right foot. That said, I figured what better place than on here to write out my to-do list... I figured if I post it on here maybe there'll be some accountability and I'm sure not to lose the list in a random notebook or a slip of paper. Plus, if I put this out there for others I figure I may also want to show off what I've accommplished later on when I actually get these things done.



*sigh* I actually wish I was as motivated to finish off this school year on a fantastic note as I am to start next year... Don't get me wrong, though, my summer will be filled with tons of non-school activities (and chores)!

1. assemble and organize literacy center activities



2. figure out what the heck to do about math centers next year since we do Everyday Math now



3. label and organize my classroom library



4. label and organize the new grade level non-fiction books



5. weed out the junk in my classroom that I don't use or need



6. revamp and organize my word wall materials



7. revamp and organize my focus wall materials



8. create new lunch and library pocket charts



9. shop and blow my summer school budget at Lakeshore



10. find cool sports themed materials and ideas



11. DON'T FREAK OUT TOO MUCH ABOUT ALL OF THE CHANGES IN STORE FOR NEXT YEAR!!!

That's all I've come up with for now... I'm sure I'll think of more things later! ; )

Folder Games, Folder Games Everywhere!

We're in for a lot of changes in how we teach reading next year and I've been trying to reorganize and add to my collection of reading, language, phonics, and writing folder games for work stations (or centers, if that's what you want to call them). From what I've been told so far (I have yet to attend 5 days of literacy training this summer), I will be doing going from doing work stations once a day to twice a day. If I've done my math correctly that means I will need about twice as much material for my students so as not to repeat things through the year. I really am all about what's easy for me and the kids to run, but still challenges them with the skills they need. You can see in the picture above how I currently have them organized. The majority of my activities are Evan Moor Take It To Your Seat Centers. I have a handfull of others that I've found and downloaded from the internet, created on my own, or have purchased at the always wonderful Dollar Tree. I've been searching around online today for more free goodies or other resources that I can purchase and add to my collection. (This is all in addition to my Lakeshore wish list and the items that I will probably purchase there when I make a trip this summer.) Now it's up to me to to print these things off, put them together, laminate them, and get them all organized.

So, this is another thing I shall add to my summer to do list... The ever-growing list that it is...

Anyone have any brilliant ideas on organization? I have them sorted into these baskets, but I am planning on adding nice little labels to the top corner with the specific skill for easier access. I'm also planning on creating some short of checklist or spreadsheet so that I can mark off the ones I've used already for that year.

Attention Shopaholics!

Okay, while this isn't totally school related, it's still a resource for teachers and I have to share it.
http://f.mail.loft.com/i/36/1566646063/LOFTLovesTeachers.html

Loft (Ann Taylor's slightly cheaper and trendier child) has become one of my favorite stores in the past year or so since I first discovered it out in Colorado Springs. Unfortunately (or fortunately for my bank account) we don't have a Loft store within less then 2 1/2 hours from where I live, so I do a lot of my shopping online or when I'm on vacation. My super cute Easter dress and jacket were Loft purchases. (The jacket was purchased at their Times Square store! :) )

Enough rambling... Anyway, the link above is to register for the new and improved Loft Loves Teachers program. It offers a 15% off discount in stores anytime and for registering they'll send you a $10 off reward right now as well. The only thing that stinks is that the 15% off is only in store, so those of us who don't live near a store are kinda outta luck on that one. The program is free and it looks like they're offering some other perks as well. If you haven't shopped at Loft before, you should at least check out their website. They have a great selection of good "teacher clothes" and if you're a bargain shopper like me you'll also enjoy the fact that they usually offer some pretty good sales and specials. (That helps the whole 15% off in store thing not suck quite so much.)

Happy shopping!