Monday Made It {6-30-14}

I can't believe that this is the first time I've been able to join this fun linky party this year with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics.  Last summer, I was much more crafty...I'll have to work on that for the rest of this summer, once I finish all of my PD classes this week.

Recently, my mom was cleaning out her garage and gave me a small hose section that she didn't need anymore.  Being a Pinterest fanatic, I remember seeing a hose wreath awhile back and thought that it would make the perfect wreath for the garage side door.  I think I was right...

A perfect pop of summer color!

Thanks, Tara, for hosting this fun linky party every Monday!  I'm off to find some inspiration from everyone else to help get my craftiness moving!

Monday Made It -- A Win & a Fail

Just a quick link up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for her monthly Monday Made It linky party.  This is where we all get to share our craftiness and creative sides, two areas of our psyche that are not nurtured enough during the school year.

Today, I am sharing a Win and a Fail.

First, the "win".

Last month, I finished up working on my new TpT product, Super Writer Research.  I am addicted to all things writing and am obsessed with helping my 4th grade students write better.  I currently teach two sections of writing and love it!  I can definitely see growth in my writers since the beginning of the year.  I can't wait to hear what the 5th grade teachers think when they get them next year.  :)

We are working on research writing and I noticed that my students love to get on the internet and do research, but they really don't know the difference between a reliable source and an unreliable source, how to take notes, and how to prepare a bibliography.  My new Super Writer Research unit teaches them all they need to know to prepare for research.  You just add your own topic after going over the presentation.

Now for my "fail"...

I consider myself a pretty good cook.  Yesterday for our family St. Patrick's Day dinner, I made an ice cream grasshopper pie.  Well, let me tell ya, I don't know what I did, but it did not turn out.

How simple could it be?

Take a half gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream and soften it.  I added in about 1/2 cup of mint syrup (the kind you could add to coffee, no alcohol), and poured it into a chocolate cookie crust.  I let that freeze up for a bit.  Then I smoothed on some hot fudge sauce and refroze for a few hours.  Finally, I added some Cool Whip and mint chips to the top and froze it again.  When it was time to eat dinner, we took it out of the freezer and let it sit on the counter for about 15 minute to soften a bit.

When my husband went to cut it to serve it, the pie was so soupy we could have eaten it through a STRAW!  I would have taken a picture of it but I was too busy trying to help scoop what little remained frozen out of the pie plate to serve it.  Uggghhhh....Any idea what happened?

I am looking forward to spring break in two weeks to nurture more of my crafty side.  Can't wait!  I'll probably leave the cooking alone for awhile...

I'm looking forward to seeing more Monday Made It's at 4th Grade Frolics.  See you there!

Moving Forward with One Word

I just found out that school, which was canceled today due to the apparent return of the Ice Age, is also canceled for tomorrow.  Boo....

While many of you wonder what is wrong me for being upset with another day off, I just want to say that we are now on our THIRD snow day of the year and this is only January 6th.  At this rate, we will be in school until July.

I feel stuck.

Cabin fever has set in.

I can't feel my fingers and my poor dogs don't want to go outside.

It's times like these that I need my One Word for 2014...

Yes, I know that's a lot of words...but my One Word is right there in the middle -- FORWARD.  All those other little words around it are what moving forward will help me do.  :)

So while school hasn't decided to move forward yet this year, I have managed to go forward in some other ways:

* I've been on my treadmill FIVE times since January 1st.  I know this because I am keeping track on this cute little spreadsheet made by Shannon at IRunReadTeach. Visit her blog and you can pick one up for yourself!

* Today, I ran (on the treadmill) for a total of 20 minutes.  (OK, not all at once, but a total of 20 minutes today.)  This is HUGE for me!  Usually if you find me running, there's probably something chasing me, but not so today!

* I managed to clean my office.  I discovered some things that I didn't know I had.  Hmmm...

* I met up with some wonderful bloggers on My Fitness Pal to encourage each other on our journey for better health in 2014.  Thanks, ladies!!  ;)

Keeping One Word in mind is very powerful!  To remind myself of this, I made this picture to put on my desk at work to remind myself to go forward there too!

With this little burst of creativity, I am linking up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It.  Her little linky party has really helped me move "forward" with my craftiness this year, and I thank her for that!  : )

Now let's just hope that the weather begins to move forward so we don't see this high temperature again:

Stay warm!

Monday Made It - Fall Love

Ahhh....Monday Made It, how I've missed you.

This linky party was the one reason I was a creative, crafting fool this summer.  Now, I look forward to the second Monday of every month to share and catch up on some craftiness.  Thanks to Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for holding this fun party!  Can't wait to see what everyone has been up to.  I could use some crafting inspiration...

Next to Christmas, Fall is my favorite season to decorate the house.  I thought I needed a new wreath for my kitchen door so I got some inspiration at the local Hobby Lobby and whipped up this beauty.

In my life before I became a teacher, quilting was my obsession.  I quilted all the time.  I don't have time for much quilting anymore, but I do enjoy the occasional small project.  I'm not a delayed gratification kind of gal, so it has to be finished quickly before I get bored with it and stuff it in a drawer.  :)  Here's a small table runner I made just in time for Halloween.  Love it!!

And finally, I am excited that my apple trees FINALLY decided to start bearing fruit this year.  It only took 10 years, a threat to cut them down, and a good whomping with a baseball bat to get them started.  (That thing with the baseball bat is a tip from my mother-in-law.  She said to whack the trunks a few times with a bat to put the trees into shock so they start to produce.  Crazy...but it works!  I can only imagine what my neighbors thought if they saw me!)

Anyways, I went out and fought off the bees today and grabbed a bucket of apples and made applesauce...a fall favorite!

I'm off to check out other homemade inspirations at 4th Grade Frolics!  Hope to see you there!!

Monday Made It {August 5, 2013} & Last Day to Save

Happy Monday!  I hope the sun is shining wherever you are!!

Since it's Monday, it's time to catch up with Tara and 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!

Compared to last week, this has been a relatively slow crafting week for me.  I've worked on creating a few things for my TpT Shop and my classroom.

I saw something very similar to this one day while I was cruising around Pinterest.  (I didn't pin it however, so I don't know who to give the credit to.  Please let me know if this is your idea so I can give you credit!  :)

I want to use more inquiry based learning this year.  This Wonderings Wall will be a great place for kids to ask questions or wonderings simply by writing them on a Post-It and placing their thought on the Wall.  Consider it a very visual "W" in a KWL!

And as I'm looking at this picture, I'm "wondering" why I didn't glue the word "Wonderings" on straight.  Hmmmmm.....

Made these Writer's Toolboxes for my students using a slider pencil case, some erasers, a pencil, a highlighter, a pen and a Synonym Ring from Joanne Miller at Head Over Heels for Teaching.
I made the Writer's Toolbox Label (Superhero Theme) and you can get it from my TpT Store if you'd like to make your own.

I saw something very similar to this Back to School student gift at Stellar Students during last Monday's MMI.  The design she showed was a little more primary so I made these for my 4th graders.  These are a freebie in my TpT Store!  Just print and attach to a glow stick and leave them on your students' desks on Back to School Night and you're sure to get your year glowing smoothly!  :)

Just a reminder that TODAY is the last day for my Super Sale at my TpT Shop!  Happy shopping!

Great for Prefix & Suffix Work for Grades 4-6

 Improves Mental Math & Number Sense! 

Don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter below for a chance to WIN my new Number of the Day Task Cards.  Enter through Wednesday!  Two lucky winners will be drawn!! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Can't wait to see what other crafting inspirations await me at Monday Made It!  I hope to see you there!!

 

Monday Made It {July 29, 2013}

My daughter says I have gone into crafting overdrive...That's probably true considering I have been busy with the National Writing Project for the past three weeks.  (She has even started calling my office/craft room the "Mom Cave"-- Love it!!) I was excited to get back to it this weekend and to catch up on making some of those great ideas I found out in blog land.

Just in time to link up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!  YAY!!

 

Project #1:  Dry Erase "Erasers"

Tired of students never having an eraser for their dry erase marker?  Hot glue pompoms on the end and they'll never be without an eraser again!  I've seen this idea all over Pinterest so I don't know who to give the original credit to, but I thank you for your creativity!

 Project #2:  Cute Corner Bookmarks

So cute and SO EASY!  Found this idea on Pinterest and tracked down the original website here.  I am thinking about making one for each of my students for their first day goody bag.

 

Project #3:  Clothespin Magnets  

 

Found these beauties in the dollar bin at Michael's and they hopped right into my cart!  I glued some magnet strips on the back of a few and on a few others, I hot glued a tack to use as a push pin.

 Project #5:  Behavior Beads from Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera.
I bought these the very first day I saw them because I love the idea of brag tags. She has so many fun varieties! I found some chain necklaces at Hobby Lobby and went to work with my laminator.  This week, I have worked on cutting the sheets apart and putting them in a storage case.

 Kara helped me cut the necklace chains...

Some words of advice if you take on this project...

1.  Print them on WHITE cardstock, not colored cardstock.  Look at the difference it makes...The first guy looks normal, the second looks sunburned, the third looks ill and the fourth looks sad.  I am going to get some more white cardstock for the rest I need to print.

2. To make hole punching them easier, cut the page into three strips, hole punch with a tiny hole puncher, then cut into individual cards.

3.  To store them, I would rubber band them into groups.  It makes it easier to get them out of the case and let's say you get a visit from your Puggle who overturns the whole case because she's trying to convince you that you need to go feed her, you won't be separating them again.  I'm just saying it could happen...

Project #6:  Chair Book Pockets
In addition to being a Monday Made It project, this next project is an organizational tool, which qualifies me to link up with Optimum Organization with Fun in Room 4B and Ladybug's Teacher Files.  (I just made this linky party at the last minute...this is their last week!  :)

I grew tired of my students shoving their (my) paperback books into their desk and ruining the covers.  Also, whenever we moved desks or brought our chairs to group work, the students always had trouble making sure they got THEIR chair back.  So I came up with this plan....

Buy some Home Depot fabric tool belts for 77 cents each.

 I made some student numbers to print and glue onto cardstock.  The Home Depot logo is about 4 inches square, but I picked orange cardstock in case I didn't cut it exact.  (I'm a little OCD with that...)

Talk your daughter into laminating them since she's sitting around waiting for you to take her to the horse farm anyways.... 

 Hot glue (lots of glue!!) to cover the Home Depot logo.

 Attach to the back of your students' chairs.  (You can see that it even works on my kitchen table chair!)

I have made the numbers available in my TPT store to save you the trouble of making your own numbers if you'd like to do this too!  However, if you pin this project and leave me the URL of your pin, I can send you the numbers for FREE!  It's a win-win!!  (Just make sure you are not a "no reply blogger.  Not sure?  Visit Ideas by Jivey for a tutorial to find out.)

Can't wait to see what everyone else has done this week!

Monday Made It -- I {Heart} Washi Tape

Here we are off to the start of another beautiful week!  Time to link up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for some crafting fun & Monday Made It.  I know my crafting for the past few weeks has been a little pathetic...but I hope you will read on because I am super excited about what I made this week!

A few weeks ago, I found some Washi tape on clearance at Michaels and I bought it.  At the time I didn't know what I was going to do with it....I didn't even know what it was, but the colors caught my eye and about eight rolls magically ended up in my cart!  :)

Like many of you, I am trying to live healthier and drink lots of water.  Because it is summer, the darn cup always leaks water all over my desk and my papers.  So I thought about making a coaster, but not just a tiny coaster (I'm always afraid that my cup will fall off the side of a small coaster and spill), a big-enough-so-I-can-put-my-cup-down-without-looking coaster.

I went to Menards and picked up two 6" x 6" ceramic tiles, got out my Washi tape and my new bottle of Mod Podge, and went to work.

I hot glued some felt to the back when I was done to hide the tape ends and protect my desk.



Big enough, wouldn't you say???

Totally excited by my new creation, I decided to keep going and decorate some mini clip boards that I also bought at Menards, two for $1.

When I bought these, I thought they were clear, but they were brownish and looked like cardboard.  I did the same thing that I had done with the coasters and covered the top of the clip board with the Washi tape.  When I was done, I brushed on about three coats of Mod Podge.

For the back, I traced the clip board onto the back of a piece of cardstock, cut it out and glued it on.  I then used the Mod Podge on the back, making sure to seal the edges.

I think they turned out pretty nice too!  I can see using these as I'm walking around conferencing with kids or letting a student use them to write on Post-Its during silent reading.  (I think I'll have to find some different colors for the boys though!)



I am so totally psyched by my craftiness this week, I'm already planning out for next week!

I will be back tonight to post about Day #6 at the National Writing Project.  I have received so many wonderful comments about NWP and the things I've shared and I am so glad if you find something to help you make teaching writing a little easier.  I hope you'll come back later to see what I learned today!

Have a great Monday!