Made it! Number...?!

Happy Monday morning bloggy friends!

I'm in for another Monday Made it with Tara! I've lost count what number we're on now!

So our school has rocking chairs in the K and 1st grade classrooms - they're nothing special, but super nice for reading/ meeting time. Well...when they put the Smart boards in last year, it left us no room for our HUGE rocking chairs, and they were all sorts of tearing the wall up from being pushed back and forth and the feet of it knocking into the wall! eeek!{wish I had a picture here.. you'll have to believe me on this one- seriously, huge gashes in the wall!}

So, I've been on a mission to find a replacement chair for the rocking chair. I realllllly want a director's chair, but I seriously can't justify spending $80 on one from Pier 1... the reviews of the one they have at Wal-Mart are horrible, so I figured I wouldn't waste my money there.

I was just a-walkin' down the aisles at Target... you know, like every other day and spotted this little green folding chair:

 

Because all of my colors are green/pink/teal/orange, I was SUPER excited to find it! It was only $10! so even if it doesn't last super long I won't feel bad about it!

Of course... I can't just leave it as-is, so painting ensued! I taped off some chevron stripes - I've said it again and again..I'm not a measure-it kind of girl, I just eyeball it. If it's not perfect, ehh, I can cover it up somehow! Just ignore your twitching eyelid if you have the urge! hehe!

I sliced off the extra pieces where the tape crossed over with an Exacto knife, pushed down really well over the tape so to minimize leakage.

And began painting away!

Pulled the tape off..(see the few leaks..covered those buggers with dots and swirls! :)

And added some cutie little details!

I'm really happy with it! Because it is plastic.. I'm a teeeensy bit worried about peel-age. I've done a little "reserach" and Krylon has a clear coat spray paint that works on plastic. If that does well, I'm going to paint the seat part, too. I would be so sad though if my tush rubs off all the hard work I put into painting it! ;) I promise I'll let you know after I try it out! Anyone else have any advice??

While I was at it this week I *finally* made those crate seats!

I made 4 of them to go in my reading corner, super excited about the way they turned out!  

{If you want a great tutorial, check out Ginger's post!}

And also decorated these clipboards with this AWESOME chevron-in-my-colors Duck tape! woot woot! The only bad thing.. a whole roll only covered 3 clipboards. I need to snag another roll (found it at Michael's) to finish up the rest of them. I promise in person it really doesn't hurt your eyes like this picture does!

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On FIRE!

Morning friends!

Are ya'll as excited about the Olympics as I am?!

I've been working on some Olympic themed Math and Literacy stations and this little cutie:

 This little craftivity packet will help you make a SUPER cute bulletin board display at the beginning of the year. Included in the packet are three different writing prompts about the Olympics and goal setting for the new year and templates for both a boy and a girl.

Go check it out at my TpT store!

In honor of the Olympics, I'm throwing a sale!

{click on the picture to take you to my store}

The first 3 people who guess my favorite {summer} Olympic sport will get the craftivity packet for free! Now GO!

You guessed right - it's gymnastics!! :))) I'm sending it to you ladies right now!

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Tell me MORE!

I have some winners to announce!!

You two ladies keep your eye out for an email from me about your burlap sign!

Otherwise, I'm linking up with Amy Lemons at Step into second grade for her linky!

I know you guys are on the edge of your seats for this one - you are DYING to know more about me! ;)

 

1. I'm the proud momma of two! But I bet you knew that already! Somehow they always sneak into my posts :)

This was during breakfast the other morning. I will have to say - both of my babies are INDEPENDENT! No help from momma, nosiree! So I end up with messes like this every. single. day! Have ya'll seen that ecard on pinterest?! "Cleaning while the kids are in the house is like brushing your teeth while eating oreos??" HAHA totally AGREE!!

2. This is one of my very favorite pictures with my hubby!

This was at his brother's wedding, we were both in the wedding! My sister-in-law and I are two peas in a pod! She's a teacher, too! This was 3 years ago.

Here's a picture of us two Thanksgivings ago - both pregnant!

3. My WHOLE family went to Texas A&M... I am a rebel and went to Tech! I wouldn't have changed it for the world! Although... because I was "raised" as an Aggie, I don't have the vehemence for them that most Raiders do. shhhhhhhh!

 

{my little sis and mom}

4. I L.O.V.E. the fall - Football and Halloween and pumpkins and spice tea and sweatshirts and OH the list goes on and on!! I make the hubby carve pumpkins every year. He secretly loves it :)

 

5. I am all about family! This is my family {sister missing} Dad, mom, brother, my Nana and Papa- they were both educators, too! Ignore me in this picture, I had Luke 2 days later and am HUGELY pregnant here! eeeeesh

6. My hubby SURPRISED me with my *dream* car last September!!! I had no. stinkin.' clue! He told me that we needed to get his brakes checked so we needed to stop by the dealership. I didn't think a thing about it! We drive up and park in front of {this beauty!} bow and all. I thought "aww someone is getting a gift!" and then he said "what's that??" I just looked and there WAS A TAG WITH MY NAME ON IT!! Shut the front door! He got major brownie points for this! :)

 

7. I make the turkey every year for Thanksgiving. This has become a tradition... I use the same recipe that I first tried 3 years ago. I pored over old magazines and articles and allrecipes.com before I decided on one! It came out perfectly so I haven't changed a thing about it!

 

*mmmmm*

8. I don't like snow. At least not when I have to get out in it! If it's going to snow... I want it to be over Christmas break when I can snuggle by the fire and avoid it! This was Ella's reaction to her first snow - 2 1/2 years ago. I feel the SAME WAY! Oh, and in my part of Texas we usually get snow every year. It's not usually a lot - maybe just a few inches a couple of times in the winter. I seriously couldn't handle living anywhere MORE north than where I do now! boooo to the cold!

9. I'm not an animal person. Don't throw stones at me! I like them... from a distance. I just can't handle the fur. and dirt. and poop. No thank you! I've got people babies.. maybe some day I will desire to have an animal, but not any time soon!

10. I seem to have a talent at making bustier cakes. Bahaha! I know, it's a gem! I've made these cakes for every one of my friends' bachelorette parties. I know you're jealous! ;)

 

I could keep going, but I'll leave you wanting more, teehee! ;)

Have a fabulous day friends!

 

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Book Nooks!

Good morning bloggy friends!

So....as I was looking at my list of my classroom "must-do crafts" I realized that I have completed every thing on my list this summer.... except for those crate seats. Ya'll they are daunting me! I want some sooooo bad but I really don't want to make them! Ha! I don't know why! I have pretty much all the materials except for the wood and foam. 

So, in avoidance, I was looking at my pin board trying to figure out something I really wanted to make this week for Monday Made it when I came across this pin:

The link was broken but it took me to Tonya's Treats for Teachers so I contacted Tonya to ask if it was hers and it is! But it's from an old blog that she no longer has so there is no link to it. I say she should run that post again on her new blog! :)

Anyway - I made my own little "book nook" poster for my kids to choose from when reading to self and partners. 

Oh and I added glitter to those snazzy little clothespins! LOVE them!

Just put a little Mod Podge on, glitter up, let dry and add a top layer of Mod Podge so the glitter doesn't fall off as bad. Easy peasy!

I'm going to use the poster when doing my check-ins for Daily 5. If they are reading to self or a partner, as I call them they will put a clothespin on their reading spot. Once the spot has a clip on it, no one else can take the spot. Hopefully it will keep down bickering and kids trying to sit a little TOO close to their buddies! ;)

I'm linking up with Tara for her ever-so-fabulous linky! I'm so sad the summer is almost gone! EEEEEK! Only a few more weeks until this gal is back to school!

Have a fabulous Monday friends!

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Operation Organize!

Hi ya'll!

Who feels like they are buried underneath all the organizational things they NEED to do before school starts back?! hehe! I'm a pretty organized person, especially when it comes to school! If you remember I made a "Stay Organized this Summer" little packet with blank calendars and to-do lists. I had so many requests to make the whole year, so I listened! Click on the pictures to snag yours for FREE on TpT!

While I was at it I finished up my Back to School Packet! There are 5 math and 5 literacy stations that are aligned to Common Core Standards that would be perfect for use the first few weeks of school! Woohoo!

 If you haven't read about the classroom exchange I'm trying to get together, please do so HERE and leave me a comment if you are interested! I have about 20 people so far, I think I'm going to be able to make it work! :)))

Have a fabulous Saturday!

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Classroom Exchange?!?

Hi friends!

I've been reading Alan November's "Empowering Students with Technology" for my school. When our leadership team went to the conference in June, our principals asked us to read the books that were given to us and we all partnered up and are giving a presentation about the books to the rest of our school. 

I chose this book because I feel like it is completely applicable to our everyday actions as teachers and (hello!) I love technology {and blogging!}. The book talks about exactly what the title says... empowering students with technology. Dr. November makes the analogy that we are often "automating" our technology- teaching the kids how to use it, but nothing really more. This is like using a $1,000 pencil {the computer} to write a paper.  Sure, it makes our lives easier, but what are they really getting from it?!

If you are here, you *probably* feel differently about technology. You read teacher blogs because you are dedicated to teaching and making learning for your students the best that it can be! Blog-land is like a *huge* team where we collaborate and share. THIS is how we are empowered as teachers. We have ALL these resources at our fingertips! So how do we do this for our students??

This is where my idea came from - I want my school to participate in a *classroom* exchange - kind of like pen-pals, but through technology and obviously amped up a bit ;) I knew that I could probably find lots of teachers who were willing to correspond back and forth maybe once a month or even less with teachers in my school. This correspondence might be sharing pictures about something that your grade level would be learning about together or about your geography, common books you've read, really the possibilities are endless! I would like to set it up as a collaborative blog so that you could post as you wanted and for older grades I would *love* to see student comments, writing, etc in response to what you have posted.  I would like there to be at least a few teachers per grade who are willing to participate. I've set up a blog for this purpose:

If you would be interested in participating, please reply with a comment. I am just kind of putting my feelers out there right now - Please leave the grade level you teach so I can get an idea if this is feasible or not. I'd *really* like for it to happen!!

If you have any other fabulous ideas about how this could work, please please leave a comment!

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Weather chart!

Morning blogging friends!

I know you guys have probably seen that Weather chart going around Pinterest:

Ya'll... I clicked and clicked and even did the Google image search trick and can NOT find the original source!! And I l.o.v.e. this chart!! So, I resigned to making my own (not that I mind that ;)

 **UPDATE**
The original creator contacted me and was happy to share her version - she does not have a blog of her own so I am more than happy to give you guys two options!
Here is what she did:
She had it printed at Costco on a 12X18 photo for $3 (that is the original size of the document with the arrows on the side).  Once you trim the chart it is 12X16.  She then mounted the photo on a 12.5" X 16.5" 1/8" thick board with modpodge and added ribbon to hang.  The arrows can be laminated, trimmed, and hot glued to clothes pins.
*get the original version HERE*
The colored papers used in the design were from this blog http://summertimedesigns.blogspot.com/2011/07/flipflop-sicles-kit.html

**Here is my story now..**

The weather chart I have only has the "type" of weather, not the temperature, and when we sing our Good morning song, we always add the temperature into it, so I reaalllllly love that this chart incorporates the temperatures into it! We graph the weather year-round, so this will be a perfect little asset to my calendar board! 

If you'd like a copy of my weather chart, click {HERE} to get it on Google docs.

If you're looking for a version with "foggy" as an option.. use THIS one!

Don't forget to enter my *awesome* burlap sign giveaway!

My sweet Texas blogging buddy Erica is having a giveaway also and I'm involved in the fun! Scoot on over to her wonderful blog to enter to win lots of goodies!

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Burlap signs! Giveaway!

Welcome to Made it Monday!!!!

I'm super excited about this one . . . I don't know if you've noticed, but I reached 500 followers this weekend! SO blessed by everything this blogging world has taught me! I'm linking up with Tara again this week!

 **Make sure to make it to the end!! My 500 follower giveaway is down there!**

Have you seen the burlap signs all over pinterest and etsy?! 

I have pinned a bunch of them, here is my inspiration:

{click on the picture to see it on etsy}

So I've worked with burlap before, I know that you can NOT cut it over dark wood floors unless you want to sweep and mop 15 times before all the fibers are gone!

I went to work:

Free-handed an apple (I wanted it to be whimsical, so I didn't worry about symmetry, but if you are persnickety about that sort of thing... cut half out then fold and cut the other half :) Cut 2 sides out- one front and one back.

 OH, and when I was making the pencil sign I came upon this awesome little trick online:

Need perfect circles?! I usually just eyeball mine, but this is SO MUCH EASIER! I can't believe I didn't find it until now!  Just find a lid and dab it in the paint...then dab it where you want it and fill in the circles! SO easy!

Waaahla!! Perfect little circles!

Then take some hot glue and glue your two pieces together. It doesn't have to be perfect - if they don't quite match up you can go back with scissors after it's glued and trim the edges. **leave a space open about 5 inches or so so that you can stuff it**

Now..another cool part - stuff it with GROCERY BAGS! No need to buy batting!! If you're like me, you've got a whole cabinet full of them!

After you get it full to your desire, hot glue the rest of the edges together and then add ribbon or wire to hang it by! :)

Here are the burlap signs I made complete:

I made the two Mrs. Alderson signs for myself and my sister-in law (teacher, too!) She gets to choose which one she wants :)

The cupcake I plan on hanging up where I display all my birthdays. Isn't is adorable?!?!

NOW, for the good part of this post: MY GIVEAWAY!

I'm going to make a custom burlap sign for 2 different winners!! You get to choose which one you want and I'll customize it with your name, or whatever you want on it!
This giveaway runs from today through next Wednesday, July 25th! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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