Monday Made It: July 20

Well, I didn't make it last week, but here I am with my first

ALL SCHOOL

Monday Made It, thanks to 4th Grade Frolics.

I really have enjoyed this link up each week.

Next week I will have a ton (hopefully) because this is my last full week of summer break.

Last week we had 4 days of PD with our school and grade level from all over the county.

My first Monday Made It was suppose to be for that.

When I went to our Common Core training this summer, they mentioned this method to help students retell what they had learned.  It is called the GIST method.

You can get it in my TPT store for free.

(I promise to liven it up a little later, but I wanted to get it made.)

This is a great way for you to see if your students can answer basic questions about what they have read as well as summarize what they have read in 20 words or less.

I loved it and can't wait to use it!

So much of my teaching is done in small groups.

A few years ago, I realized I was not allowing the students to be leaders in these small groups.

So I found the TEAM method.

I have slept since then, and I have searched Pinterest high and low to find where I got this idea.

However, I cannot find it AT ALL!!!!

In the past few years, I just had the jobs listed and each person knew what they were.

However, with observations and make the learning more student centered, I figured I needed these jobs to be more prominent.  So, I made these last night.

I bought lanyards and badge holders from Amazon.

I did not want them huge, so they are smaller than some might like.

I am going to use these at the beginning of the school year, and then move into badges that just have the job name on them.  I just figured at the beginning they will need to be reminded of what their job is suppose to do!  Then, later on in the year, I can make them cuter as well!

You can get the set in my TPT store for free.

I can't believe the school year is here!

I can't wait to share my classroom with you and see what you all have been making as well.

Happy Creating!

Monday Made It: July 6

It's Monday which means it is time to link up with 

4th Grade Frolics for

I only have one thing to add this past week and, again, it was non-school related.

I really am going to try to get back into school mode this week since next week I go back for 4 days of PD.

I really don't want to think about the fact that I go back to school in less than a month.

However, I have enjoyed my summer with my kiddos!

This Monday Made It has become a favorite of my kids, so without further delay...

Last year, we made Star-Spangled Spray Painted shirts for the 4th of July.

Since then, my 13 year old daughter has spray painted almost everything in sight!

This year, with the World Cup (which my 13 year old girl has faithfully watched) being around the 4th of July, we were FOR SURE spray painting!

Supplies We Used:

duct tape

Cricut machine

vinyl

white shirts, boxers, socks, etc.

spray paint

We used my Cricut to cut out letters and stars the kids wanted for their shirts.

We used duct tape for the stripes they wanted.

Both were easy to place on the shirts where they wanted them.

Once everything was in place on the shirt, we placed poster board between the shirts.

Then we took the shirts outside and spray painted the shirts how they wanted them to look.

The shirts don't take too long to dry.
Once they were dry, we put them straight into the washing machine on cold
and then dried them.
The paint has never come off and the shirts aren't rough either
(or my kiddos would not wear them).

Here are the finished shirts:

We love us some Alex Morgan!

The 13 year old has spray painted American flag boxers, another full flag shirt and socks!
Super easy.
Super patriotic!

Hope your Monday is full of crafting opportunities!

Monday Made it: June 29

I can't believe June is almost over!

In ONE MONTH, I go for county wide inservice, and I know this month is going to FLY!

I have really enjoyed the blogging world this summer.

I have learned SO much and, to be honest, I am VERY overwhelmed.

However, I know it is going to make me a better teacher - which is my goal.

One of my favorites as been Monday Made It by 4th Grade Frolics!

This is what I did this week!

I have done a little for school - not much, but a little.

I am also working with the TPT Sellers Challenge this summer, and have enjoyed taking the first task to heart.

This week I recreated my calendar set and really like the way it turned out.

It is free right now in my TPT store and you can click here to read about what I did.

Last week we had the pleasure of my nephew and niece coming to visit us.

We had a great time

creating memories!!!

We had movie time in the tent inside our living room.

We watched movies and ate popcorn and M&M's.

We played outside in the sprinkler and with water balloons.

Although there is a HUGE age difference between my kids and my nephew and niece, they get along beautifully! It is always a special time when we are together.

While Walker and Lucy were here, we had VBS at church and I had 2 days of training (which I will blog about later).  So one night for supper we needed something quick, easy and light - it was almost 100 degrees every day last week.

One of my teacher friends, Belinda, had made this salad for us and it was a huge hit!
I decided to make it for supper one night.

Here is the pin for it.

Now, it calls for some kind of Ranch dip that I did not have and had forgotten to get when I was at Wal-Mart.  So, I used a package of normal Ranch mix and added 1 Tablespoon of taco seasoning to it. It worked!  The taco seasoning I use is from this recipe.  When a recipe calls for a package of taco seasoning, I use 2 Tablespoons.  It's good stuff.  Also, I did not add the Fritos to the salad. I kept them to the side because the longer it sits, the better it is.

Finally, the last thing I did this week was for my Sunday School classroom.  Like I mentioned earlier, we had had VBS this past week with an Egyptian theme.  Some of my UBER talented friends had used these decorations in their center and were going to throw them away!!! (SHAME!)

So, they let me have the decorations for my Kindergarten Bible classroom, and we (being myself and the kiddos) worked the magic to make everything look like this.

Maybe I will do more this week to get ready for school....
Or maybe not!

TPT Seller Challenge Week: Makeover Madness/Monday Made It

What a day!  Both of my kiddos are at church camp this week.  LB went to church camp last week and, then, literally, went straight to Junior High basketball team camp for 2 days.  When she got home Saturday night - after I had been with C at his baseball tournament all day  - she decided she wanted to go back to camp this week.

Had we done any of her laundry? 

Only her uniform that she had needed for Saturday.

Had we any snacks for her to take?

Only what was left from the previous week, and my 13 year old girl can EAT!

Had we even registered her for camp?

Thankfully, we know the lady in charge of that!

I am glad she wound up going because she has an amazing cabin, and I have to be at Common Core training two days this week.  That meant I had today.

Today to sleep in at least until 8.

Today to clean the house.

Today to enjoy myself.

Today to do what I wanted to do.

(after I went and picked her up from camp, took her to soccer practice 

and then back out to camp)

So what did I do....

I was up at 6:00 am WIDE. AWAKE.

My body has NOT been told I am on summer vacation and have been for almost 3 weeks!!

I did my daily Bible reading that our church is all doing together.  I really have loved this program and, sad to say, I have read parts of the Bible I don't think I have ever read. SIGH!

Monday Made It #1

LB had requested me to make muffins to send to camp because apparently one of her friends wrote a silly song about muffins last week.  Said friend is at camp with her this week and she thought it would be hilarious for this friend to get a package full of muffins with a request for her to sing the muffin song in order to get it. (Camp tradition states you must perform some kind of silly song or something when a package arrives for you at camp.)  I bet LB was caught off guard when a package of muffins DID come, but ALL of the girls' names were on the package with the request that they ALL sing the silly muffin song! I am sure I will hear about it tomorrow!

What muffins did I make?  Only the East Chester Third Grade Team's most favorite muffins this year:

3 Ingredient Muffins

1 package of cake mix 

(Anything that says chocolate or triple fudge is really the best)

1 can of PURE pumpkin

1 cup ( or half the bag works well, too) of chocolate chips

Mix well.  Spoon into muffin liners in a muffin tin.  Cook at 325 degrees for 15 minutes.

Done.

You're welcome.

After making the muffins and running LB to and from camp and soccer practice, my mom texts me to see if I wanted to go to Aldi (35 minutes away).  SURE.  Why not?  A chance to grocery shop without children throwing things into the cart.  

So I went.  

I shopped.

I ate at Jason's Deli.

I came home exhausted.

I decided to do my TPT Seller Challenge for the week.

Monday Made It #2

Because of my new role at school, I knew I needed to get with the program and jump into the 21st century before it leaves us all.  When Third in Hollywood said she and some other marvelous ladies were doing a challenge, I knew I had to get in it.  This week's challenge was to makeover something in our TPT store.  I chose to makeover my biggest seller - The Preamble Unit.

I enjoyed going back and looking over what I had made almost 3 years ago, and realized it did need some updating!

And so here is the new look of my Preamble Unit.

I really am glad I did this and, hopefully, after training, I can do some more makeovers on old projects.  I am including this in my Monday Made It because I feel like I really did make a lot of it over again!  Click here to get it on sale until Thursday, June 18.

Thanks to 4th Grade Frolics for the Monday Made It! 

I think I am going to like this blogging stuff!

Have a great week!

Made It Monday: I Love Books

First, I am so excited about the look of my blog! Thanks to Blogs Fit For A Queen for designing it for me.I just love it and can't wait to really use everything this year! I AM going to do better!  To help me get in the habit, I am really going to try hard this summer. So here is my first go at it.

I saw on Lindsey's blog (Miss Johnston's Journey) where she had a Made It Monday posted today. She is getting married this weekend and shared some of the items she has made for her wedding.  I can't wait to see pictures of the wedding because everything she has posted has been adorable.  I just finished a wedding this weekend whose theme was Wallace Love Story.  Now, two things you need to know about me.

1.  I LOVE a good wedding.

2.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE a good book.

So, when you put the two together, I am a happy happy camper.  I was so pleased to be asked to help Mary Beth (whom I have seen grow up) prepare for her big day to her prince charming Matt.  I was even more excited when she told me the theme was Love Story and books!  So, here are some of the items I made for her big day.

Our Love Story

This was one of the things that was a must for Mary Beth at the wedding.  She found an old frame with glass in it.  We painted it with chalkboard paint and, then using chalkboard markers, I wrote the words out like she wanted.  I was so nervous she would not like it, but she loved it! Whew!!!  Also, since she is planning on keeping this forever, I sprayed it with a clear coating to protect it.

Banners

As a way to label different venues, Mary Beth wanted different pennants. She gave me full rein over what they looked liked and the design, so I kept with the Love Story theme.  I used purple (the color of the wedding) cardstock cut on my Cricut.  Then, I used old book pages to make the second layer on the banner.  Using my Cricut again and my Jasmine cartridge, I cut the letters on black cardstock.  Again, they were a hit with the bride!

Love Quotes

 The next item that I made for the wedding was the love quotes for the reception tables.  Mary Beth and Matt had gone through books (and I'm sure the internet) to find great quotes from books about love.  Using pages, I made the quotes on cards which we attached to place card holders.  I used the Elegant Typewriter font from dafont.com to make the cards.

Book Wreaths

These were probably my favorite things I made for the wedding.  I made four of them.  I used an installation tube from Lowe's that cost a whopping $0.97.  Then, I cut them in half for the big wreaths. I cute them into thirds for smaller wreaths I made.  Using duct tape, I formed a circle to hold the ends together.  From there, I followed the directions from this website.

I just love that these girls ask me to help plan their special days.  It makes my heart happy.  Here's a look at the happy couple.  There was NO DOUBT how in love they are! I pray they always have that love in them.

What have you made today?