Monday Meet Up and Monday Made It- 6/23

I just love linky parties! Great opportunity to find new blogs and network with awesome teachers.

First I am linking up for the first time with the Teaching Tribune for Monday Meet Up. Everyone is sharing little random facts....join in and share!

Three random facts about me....

When deciding what to name me my aunt came up with the brilliant idea to name me after my grandmothers. It's funny because those two ladies are the reason I'm the woman I am today. 

I'm slightly picky when it comes to food. There are several foods I won't eat because I can't stand the texture. I'm weird about tomatoes too, I can eat them on hamburgers but not on a salad because I can feel the texture. Weird..ha!

Charmed is one of my favorite shows! I watch the re-runs that come on in the morning even I own the whole box set. Love it!

Now on to my link up with Tara for Monday Made It. 

I made whisper phones! Since I am moving to first, I wanted to make whisper phones to help those little firsties with fluency! Of course this pinspired project was all over the place and seemed easy enough so I went for it!

On a scale of 1-super crafty I'm like a 6 depending on the complexity of the task. These were super easy, and cheap {my favorite}. I thought about spray painting but decided to keep it simple with washi tape. They came out great!

Easy Whisper Phones

You need: 10 ft. long 3/4 in pvc cut into 3 1/2 in. pieces, 3/4 in. elbow pvc pipe (2 for each phone) and washi tape or duct tape

So as I blogged about last week I went to the WBT national conference. I've used elements of WBT for the past two years but this year I'm going full force. I made rule posters last year but modified them a bit. I've decided to add the official WBT rules and included them all together as a free download. Click the picture for your WBT rules freebie!

That's it for me! Off to work out and get started on this week's projects!

Monday Made It and Open House

Super late post this evening as I had a long day of continuing classroom set up and Open House. Needless to say I am very tired but wanted to do a quick post. First let's discuss Open House...

I think I told you all about the major mold problem throughout the school. Of course this issue delayed many of the teachers and getting prepared for Open House with that problem was a scramble! In spite of that and not having everything perfect like I wanted, we had a great turnout. Wish I had pics but it was totally hectic. I had about half of my parents come out! If I told you how many half is....I think there may be some jealy teachers. Hahaha :) Small school. Anyway I was happy to meet and greet parents and this evening made me even more excited for this year! On to Monday Made It...

I love linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It. Teachers are soooo resourceful. Here are a few things I've made (and this isn't even everything!)...

Whole Brain Teaching-ish rules posters

Writing Process Chart

Number Magnets for my Magnetic Behavior Chart

Playdough in Fun Colors for the First Day of School

I am soooo excited about all of these Made Its. Everything was super easy to make! Quick tips for Magnets and Playdough....

{Magnets}

$1 flat gems from the dollar store
Scrapbook paper (already had it)
Mod Podge
Magnet tape or strips
Sharpie
Hot Glue (possibly)

I've seen other bloggers use a different glue for the magnets but the mod podge was fine for me, I just used a thin layer. I'm not as particular about bubbling because the magnet was covered by the  written numbers. You may need the hot glue just to firmly secure the magnet tape.

{Playdough}

Using play dough as a first day activity has definitely become my fav! I did it last year and I had an excellent first day and the kids loved it! I used this super easy play dough recipe found at this pin. This batch came out great....I may make a few more colors tomorrow!

Going to bed....one more day before school starts!

Monday Made It 7/22 and Atlanta Blogger Meet Up!

Today's very late post discusses my Monday Made-Its and the Atlanta Blogger meet up from this past Saturday.

I have been a busy, busy girl trying to do deep cleaning around the apartment, projects, and beginning
to plan classroom set up. I have a mere 6 days before my official start day but plan to get in my room as soon as they are done waxing floors *major eye roll*! On to made its...

(1) No Questions Touch Light

I'm sure you all have seen these....

Loved the idea.....and definitely have experienced the constant interruptions soooo here's my version. You can find the lights at the dollar tree! I used BIC markers to decorate.

(2) Birthday Bunch

I cannot remember exactly where the birthday bunch balloons came from but I believe they were a freebie on TPT. If you are the creator please let me know so I can give credit....they're lovely. :) Dollar tree silly straws, balloons, lamination, tape and voila! I think I will add student names and birthdays too.

I have a birthday box to keep them in....

but it is currently being used by glow sticks that I originally planned to use for the birthday bunch. I decided against that because the glow sticks cannot be left exposed or they won't glow. Which leads me to my next made it...

(3) Glow Stick Student Gift Tags

I decided to give the glow stick bracelets I have as beginning of the year gifts for my 3rd graders and so I created these cute little tags to attach to the bracelets. I can't actually make them until school starts to preserve the "glow". Here are the tags....

The first 5 people to comment on this post can get these labels for free customized with your name and grade(leave your email)! I will be adding them to my TPT store this week!

Now to discuss the Atlanta Blogger Meet up! I had a great time with the 8 other ladies that went to Swan Coach House for lunch on Saturday. The food, the conversation, and the trip to IKEA were loads of fun. It was great to meet some of the bloggers whose blogs I've been reading, and being exposed to new ones. We also discussed how empowering and positive the blogging community is and how much we enjoy the camaraderie! Here are some pictures from the meet up!

Amanda, Jessica (Jivey), Brandee, Me, Liz, Stacia, Amanda, Alison, Elizabeth

Cute placemats made by Amanda from Collaboration Cuties and goodie jar by Jivey

Super cute To Do List created by Elizabeth and Brandee

Needless to repeat....loved meeting up with these ladies and look forward to more meet ups. Welp....although it is late these are the hours I keep during the summer being a night owl and all. Oh wait.....my summer is dwindling, I should probably fix that soon. Pfffffffff!

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday Made It and Other Stuff

I feel like I haven't blogged in forever! Last Tuesday I embarked on the verrrrry long road trip from Georgia to Ohio to see my family! I'm still in Ohio and it's been a crazy week thus far.

Major trip events.....so far

-I spent all of Wednesday with my stepdad, his girlfriend and my brother and sister at Cedar Point. If you don't know Cedar Point it is only the best amusement park in world....no seriously it ranks every year and international parks try their best to compete! I had a great time...and got a little tan! The Millennium Force was awesome!! Here are some fun pics of the park and my lovely family....

Family <3

Newest ride- The Gatekeeper

View from the Sky Ride

Looking out at Lake Erie

-On a very sad note during this trip I also learned that a classmate of mine passed away the same day I drove up to Ohio. Needless to say I was totally shocked, we're so young and our class was extremely close so it hit hard. She was a beautiful girl and will truly be missed. Attending her memorial on Saturday was hard but I had to show my condolences. Just a note....be careful while driving and always tell the ones you love how much you care.

-My baby girl is having too much fun running around my Grandmas' yard. Now I've gotta get a place with a yard....I feel like I'm depriving her. If you follow me on Instagram you've seen this pic of her running around with joy!

On to Monday Made It! Being that I am not at home I couldn't get really crafty so I made a little freebie. It's one of my faaaavorite back to school activities. Squiggle line writing. The students take a squiggly line and turn it into any creative picture they can think of....animals, houses ANYTHING! Then they write a short story about their picture. It is a great way to assess their writing for the beginning of the year. Click on the picture to check it out! And link up with 4th Grade Frolics Enjoy and happy Monday!

 

Who else has just 17 days left of summer like I do? Ahhhhh!!!!!!

Monday Made It 6/24/13

Another marvelous Monday, another installment of Monday Made It. I am linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for this week's made it projects! *Side note- I love Monday Made Its, it keeps me productive*

Monday Made It # 1

I made my own lesson planner using a notebook and post its. Better planning was my top goal for this school year. Going into my third year, I am beginning to really discover that having those handy notes at hand during your lesson makes a huge difference. I decided on the post it lesson planner because it fit my needs, I can write quick jots of and refer to them throughout the lesson. I followed the directions for assembling my planner from The Wise and Witty Teacher. I still have tons of extra pages and need to add curriculum maps and other plans.  Here it is all ready for plans!

 Monday Made It  # 2
As shared in my last post I'm a new mommy to my little puppy Giselle. I found that she doesn't really like store bought treats which is making it really hard to motivate and train her. In the midst of finding a treat she loves, I remembered the sales clerk at Pet Supermarket telling me dogs love and can eat peanut butter. Off I went to buy all natural peanut butter (no salt or sugar) and she LOVED it! But I didn't want to cart around a whole tub of peanut butter sooooo enter pinterest and google search for yummy peanut butter doggie treat recipes. I found a really easy one by Paula Deen (although she's under hot fire at the moment). She loved the treats!

Whole wheat flour, milk, peanut butter, baking powder, egg, whisk

Whisk all wet ingredients

Form a dough

Roll out using a rolling pin to desired thickness 1/4 inch is best

I used a bottle cap to cut out to accommodate her size

Dough made about 50-60 treats

Yummy finished product!

Link up and show what you've made!

Monday Made It 6/10

Monday Made It is probably one of my faaaaaavorite linky parties! To see the full on creativity and imagination of some of the teachers out there in the blogging world is amazing. If you've made  something either for the classroom or at home link on up with 4th grade frolics for Monday Made It.

#1 I've been a "making it" fool this weekend! I even made my next blog design....lol. On to my made its....the first is my first freebie/tpt product. For those WBT'ers I made a sports themed super improvers wall. I love the super improver wall, my babies last year worked hard to earn their stars and improve in everything from simple things like remembering to raise their hand, to improvement in spelling. You can find it in my brand spanking new TPT store.

Sample level

 #2 Made it number 2 took a few days to make. I made vocabulators! The first time I saw these was posted by Tara at 4th grade Frolics and I loooooved them! Last week I collected all the materials I needed including rice, food coloring, alcohol, and empty drink containers. The most tedious part was printing the words on cardstock, cutting, gluing, laminating and cutting again...whewww! Here they are....so far I've only finished two and haven't added the small trinkets yet. But I'm loving them. Can't wait to see how my students enjoy them!

#3  The third made it was really simple. I bought a frame at the dollar store, printed and Voila....classroom Keep Calm mantra! Trust....I need this constant reminder to keep calm. I got the poster from FlapJack Educational Resources Click the link to get your own, they come in all kinds of colors and they're F.R.E.E!!!!

I had a "personal" made it but it was an epic fail. I wanted to ombre my nails but it just didn't work out. *super sad face* I have a nail expert friend that pointed me in the direction of some tutorials...so maybe next time.

So proud of my little creations! Yay me! :)