Monday Made It!

If there is anything I really love about summer, it is Monday Made It with Tara from Fourth Grade Frolics! I love the ideas I get from other teachers for my classroom, and I love being able to share my ideas and creations with others. You can always head over to Tara's blog and link up, or follow the links at the bottom to see some fantastic ideas! Just click HERE to head there now!

And without further adieu...here is my first Monday Made It of the summer!

Teacher Toolbox Labels: Okay, okay...so they're not exactly finished, but I made new labels for my teacher toolbox. All I need to do is print them out and laminate them. I am a fan of putting the labels on the outside of the drawers because they have a weird bump on the inside. I'm also contemplating spray painting the frame, but...I want to see how it looks with the new labels first. Stay tuned for an updated picture once I'm done!

Oh! And if you've ever wanted to created your own labels, I do have a tutorial video that you can watch HERE. They are so easy to make, I promise!

Fluffy Slime: This was so much fun to make with my 4 year old. We used a mashup of different internet recipes, which means we basically used the ingredients we had on hand at home. It was really easy, and Emmy played with it for hours! When she was done, we stored it in a gallon-sized Ziplock bag. It did "deflate" a bit, but she is still playing with it!

Wooden Sign: I made this for our school counselor. She has been doing a lot of work with Restorative Justice, and a main component within it is to "repair the harm, restore the relationship." I thought this would be a fun addition to her office! The wooden sign was from Kirklands. I bought 2 of them over 2 years ago for dirt cheap on clearance, like $5, thinking they would make great signs one day! I used my Silhouette Cameo 3 to cut the letters. The large font is AG That's A No From Me, but I can't remember what the small font was, and since I welded it in my software, I can't figure it out. Sorry! I just love it!

T-Shirt: I was asked by one of Em's teachers to create a last-minute shirt for a dance recital after one of the little girl's arrived messed up. I'm still trying to make sense of the saying, but...it turned out pretty cute! I also loved that I was able to save the day for someone!

Read Across America Week

Since it's Spring Break, I thought I would look back at some fun we've had the past few weeks-beginning with Read Across America Week.

This was by far my favorite Read Across America Week ever! Each day we had themed days like Crazy Hats or 8-Words-on-a-Shirt Day. It was so much fun! We also had a door decorating contest...and my class WON!

I used my Silhouette Cameo and a font called Dr. Soos to create the saying. Then I was inspired by this Valentine I found on Pinterest...and turned it into this!

The students created the cover of their favorite book using this template I made. They had so much fun! The final product was awesome! And it will definitely make a great keepsake for families.

I also made up some special Dr. Seuss-themed treats for each day. The kids were pretty spoiled by week's end. The string cheese was by far the kids' favorite and the easiest! All I needed was a red and black Sharpie and string cheese. I made 24 in a matter of minutes. I found the idea HERE.

Of course, we had to have Jell-O and Swedish Fish for One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

An amazing parent packed bags of popcorn for Hop On Pop, and then we had Chocolate Teddy Grahams and marshmallows to represent the Brown Barbaloots in The Lorax. (I just need to work on getting pictures next year!)

But my favorite, by far, were these adorable Thing cupcakes!

I found red cake mix and shocking blue frosting at Walmart. I simply dolloped the frosting on and attacked it with a fork to make the spiky hair. They were the easiest cupcakes ever!

I also used my Silhouette Cameo to print and cut these fun labels for the cupcakes. It was so much easier than cutting them out individually. 

We did have a special reader come in, and we tried to squeeze in some Dr. Seuss fun in between our required curriculum. Brain Pop Jr. had a great video about Dr. Seuss, and the kids really liked it. However, you have to have a membership to view it.

We also had fun doing the directed drawing from First Grade Blue Skies. You can find the directions HERE. We ended up adding them to our winning door. They added the perfect touch.

All in all, it was a really fun week. What better than to top it all off with Dress as a Dr. Seuss Character Day! I have the best team ever! I made our shirts on my trusty Silhouette. 

I also loved the Teacher I Am shirt I made. This pattern and the Things patterns were purchased off of Etsy. I upload them to my Silhouette...and, voila!

I made this shirt last year, and it made a reappearance during our celebration this year. It's a fun one!

I can't wait to see what fun we'll have next year!

Five for Friday

I can't believe that another week has come to an end! I am really enjoying my new batch of second graders, and that makes it so easy to get up and go to work every day and even stay up late at night and create fun stuff for them to use. But, no matter how much I love them, I am still soooooo tired on Fridays. Whew! They do suck it out of me!

So...I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday  and giving you a quick peek into my week!

I made these expanded form self-checkers my very first year of teaching. I broke them out today for the first time after a 2-year hiatus from teaching math. I remember it taking me FOREVER to figure out how to make them, but they were sooooo useful. I'm going to try to update them for my teammates...and hopefully it will be a lot easier this time around!

We just started using CKLA after beginning the year with Treasures. It has definitely been hard for me to embrace it because it just doesn't fit my teaching style. So...I've been doing everything I can to make it more engaging for the kids and myself while also not straying from the curriculum itself. The kids seemed to LOVE the first domain, which was fairy tales and tall tales. The skills strand feels a little...well, bland. I've tried to turn comprehension questions into teamwork projects and make chants for the phonics pieces.

I might have even wore a cowboy hat one day. :)

I found this awesome book at Pottery Barn Kids in Denver last weekend. It takes kids through a story of a boy becoming a reader, finding a place to read, someone to read with, and how he should use voice. It is amazing. Definitely try to find it!

These A-Z bookends were another fabulous find at Pottery Barn Kids. They matched my classroom perfectly, and I am now just waiting to bring the Diary of a Wimpy Kid collection up to school to put between them.

I decided I wanted to make a fun shirt to wear to work today, so I whipped this one up last night. I seriously love my Silhouette Cameo and my heat press.

Click on the pic below to head on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching for more Five for Friday link-ups!