Monday Made It -- Inspirational Framed Art and Sub Tub & Binder

Linking up for Monday Made It with 4th Grade Frolics...

" When you enter this classroom..." Framed Art

 

My first made it was directly inspired by a free download from Ashley McKenzie on TpT. Check it out! I decide to create my own framed art/saying with a couple of items added to the list and a rainbow background and bunting to match our classroom decor.  Feel free to download this version by clicking here.  The 8.5" x 11" frame was $3 at Walmart!

Sub Tub & Binder

Well, it has only taken me 20 YEARS to get my act together! Yep, this is my first year using a sub binder and tub.  I purchased this wonderful template from One Extra Degree on TpT this morning, customized it, organized it, and viola!  Ready for my sub tomorrow and ALL YEAR!

Fly on over to 4th Grade Frolics to check out more Monday Made Its!

Don't forget to stop by to join in for our two new linkies Traits Tuesday & Fabulous Finds Friday!  Click the links on our sidebar to find out more! We hope to see you back here to link up...

Have a wonderful week!

Made Its & Two Brand-NEW Linkies!

We would love for you to join us for two NEW linkies!!

New Linky #1: Fabulous Finds Friday

Come join us this Friday for our very first Fabulous Friday Finds linky!  Teachers are forever coming across fabulous finds--so what better way to share them than with a new linky.  Pretty much **anything goes--as long as it's a FIND.

Examples might include, but are not limited to:

teaching resources
recipes for the classroom
classroom gift ideas
books and magazines
gadgets
apps
websites
 bargains

items that make the job easier
the possibilities are MANY...

**The only thing we ask is that finds are related to education and ARE NOT products/items created by you for sale.

Grab our button and stop back this Friday to link up with us! Please include our button and a link back to the linky in your post (the button has a transparent background--the blue is a blog setting on our site).

We can't wait! 

Fonts courtesy of KG Fonts & Kevin & Amanda

Graphics courtesy of Graphics by Sarah Beth

New Linky #2: Traits Tuesday

Courtney and I just had the wonderful opportunity of attending a summer literacy institute where Ruth Culhum and Gay Su Pinnell spoke and led breakout sessions!  We were searching Ruth's website last year to see if she would be presenting anywhere near us this summer, and we were pleasantly surprised to find out that she was a keynote speaker and session leader at the institute.  Her speech and session were inspiring, as she shared her love for picture books and using them to teach kids about the different traits of writing.  She also shared how the traits coincide with the Common Core Standards for Writing. 

As we begin our school year, we thought we would try sponsoring our VERY FIRST linky, Traits Tuesday.  We are starting this linky as a means of learning through the sharing of ideas, resources, and experiences among fellow teachers. Whether your district has adopted the traits writing program, you implement traits writing with the help of various resources and mentor texts, you have infused traits writing into an existing writing program, you are just getting started with traits writing, etc--we would love to hear from you!

Traits Tuesday will start this coming Tuesday! We have included a topic guide for next week's and September's posts below...

Week of August 27 - How do you start your year with the traits? How do you begin talking about the traits with your students? What trait/s do you start with at your grade level? Do you have a favorite beginning of the year lesson/writing to introduce a trait?

We look forward to learning from all of you! Please come join us this Tuesday, August 27 for Traits Tuesday!

Feel free to grab either of our buttons below and stop back on Tuesday.  Please include our button and a link back to the linky in your post (both have a transparent background--the blue is a blog setting on our site).

Fonts courtesy of KG Fonts & Kevin & Amanda

Graphics courtesy of Graphics by Sarah Beth 

We hope to see you back here on Tuesday and/or Friday!

Made Its

Monday Made It with 4th Grade Frolics has gone back to a monthly schedule (second Monday of the month), but I still wanted to share a couple of made its this Monday...

Classroom Writing Center

I finished putting together our classroom writing center last week! Found some great children's dictionaries at Barnes & Nobles in their bargain books this summer, and some children's thesauruses are out for students to use, if need be.  The stack drawers contain writing ideas/monthly prompts and paper supplies.  The "regulars" are also included--Post Its, pens, and highlighters.  The clear containers I found at Menard's are great for storing pencil top erasers and paperclips.  Also found some wonderful small "clicker" staplers for small hands--they will come in handy when making little books.  I picked up the little metal buckets from Walmart. The bulletin board will collect writing resources throughout the year... The kids already love to sit in this area to read, even though we have not started using the center yet!

 Writing Portfolio Suitcases (Pizza Boxes)

I also folded and put handles on our suitcase writing portfolios. This was a snap--just some hole punching and knotting of ribbon.  The kids just need to color the suitcase straps and glue on the construction paper.  Decorating these is easy and quick--doesn't take a lot of class time. The kids are so excited about these! I will share some pics of some finished suitcases soon... 

Wishing you a wonderfully productive week!

Monday Made It--Kermit the Frog!

Just a quick link up this week for Monday Made It with 4th Grade Frolics...

Courtney and I have been very busy getting our rooms ready for back to school, SO I have only one thing to share this week--but a good one, I think!

My class' theme each year is "Moving Right Along TOGETHER!" (Muppets theme).  Last year I created a funky Studebaker with Kermit and Fozzie driving--like the one they drove in The Muppet Movie (I will be sharing a pic of that later).  This year I created a Kermit to greet the kids next week and our visitors throughout the year.

First, I drew Kermit with pencil on a large piece of cardboard.

Then I added the fill colors with pastels.

 

Some highlights...

 AND the black outline!

 I just know the kids will love to see Kermit welcoming them to second grade! 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Courtney and I will be sharing pics of our classrooms very soon... :0)

Have a splendid week!

Monday Made Its: Word Wall Heading, Caddies & Suitcase Writing Portfolio...

Mondays have just been flying by, it seems--time for another Monday Made It with 4th Grade Frolics...

Word Wall Header

Well, back in the classroom work time has come for Courtney and I! We both will be using a paper plate word wall header this year.  Mine is rainbow colored, and hers is yellow to match her classroom color scheme.  Feel free to download--rainbow or yellow!

Supply Caddies Finished!

I finished my supply caddies yesterday--finally!  I adore how they turned out--rainbow colored, of course.  Kept it simple with a knot at the top instead of a bow. Then I attached a circle number to each side (group numbers).  We have mentioned these caddies before when sharing a favorite pin, so check out the original post by Anna at Life...As I Know It.  Cortney will also share a picture of hers when she is finished...

Adventure Awaits!: Suitcase Writing Portfolio

I mentioned this made-it last Friday, but wanted to include it today because it truly is a made-it. I loved designing and making this suitcase writing portfolio, and I hope that my students have as much fun making theirs as I did! Here's a little background that I shared earlier...

When I was student teaching first grade many moons ago (20 years ago now), we used a simple pizza box to store student writing portfolios. For the many years since then, I have used various other systems with older students—-binders, folders, files in crates, etc.  When I switched grade levels a couple of years ago (2nd grade), I began to think back to my earliest days of using a pizza box.  The boxes worked well because students were able to collect entries of all sizes, the boxes were easy to access in the classroom, and writings were taken home in a secure container at the end of the year. I decided to start using pizza boxes again—so I have created this fun way of decorating a pizza box into a suitcase.  Writing is truly an adventure for the kids throughout the year! You can learn more in my TpT store...

Back to school is just around the corner for us, so we hope to be sharing some pics of our classrooms sometime soon...

Thanks so much for flying in! Have a great week!

Five for Friday is BACK!

It's BACK! Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching...

 

Back at It! (Courtney) 

On Tuesday I went back in and stared at my room wondering what the heck to do first began arranging. This is what I started with....

Basically stuff everywhere. I am trying a new arrangement this year and we'll see if I stick to it. I will post pictures of the finished room when it's all done...most likely RIGHT before school starts!

Rainbow Classroom Library Key (Sarah)

I have a simple color coded system for organizing our classroom library.  More about the system will come in a later post... Since books are color coded in the library, I created a rainbow in Adobe Illustrator to use as a classroom library key. I have never had a key posted, but I think it will be a nice reminder of the oodles of books at their fingertips! :0)

 

At the Zoo (Courtney)

Because school is right around the corner, I'm trying to soak up time with my 3 little ladies. On Wednesday we went to the local zoo with some cousins.  Our zoo recently added an Australian walk about and one thing they had was this cage/bird house where you could go in with a stick that had bird seed on it.  This house held tons (not quite sure exactly how many...to me it looked like about a hundred, but I know I'm exaggerating:) of budgie birds that would fly to the stick. I did not go in...just didn't seem like a fun thing to me with birds flying all around my head, but my girls loved it!

Adventure Awaits!: Suitcase Writing Portfolio (Sarah) 

When I was student teaching first grade many moons ago (20 years ago now), we used a simple pizza box to store student writing portfolios. For the many years since then, I have used various other systems with older students—-binders, folders, files in crates, etc.  When I switched grade levels a couple of years ago (2nd grade), I began to think back to my earliest days of using a pizza box.  The boxes worked well because students were able to collect entries of all sizes, the boxes were easy to access in the classroom, and writings were taken home in a secure container at the end of the year. I decided to start using pizza boxes again—so I have created this fun way of decorating a pizza box into a suitcase.  Writing is truly an adventure for the kids throughout the year! You can learn more in my TpT store...

Smile in a Box (Sarah)

I received a "smile" in a box this week! The rainbow colored, polka-dotted ribbon that I ordered from Hobby Lobby arrived.  When I opened the box, it just made me smile! It doesn't take much... Anyway, I will be eagerly making supply caddies like we posted last Friday when sharing a fabulous pin.  Check out the caddies at Life...As I Know It...!

Finally, fly on over to The Polished Teacher to participate in her wonderful Bloggy Birthday Alphabalooza giveaway! You can win prizes from Sarah's TpT store and Graphics by Sarah Beth store.  Check it out!

So glad you stopped by! Have a splendid weekend!

Rocking Chair Makeover, Easy-Peasy Bunting, New Background, & FREEBIES!

It's Monday and time to link up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!

Rocking Chair Makeover!

Well, I have had this makeover on my mind all summer, and I just got around to executing it.  Every year (until it looses its luster), our classroom theme is/will be Moving Right Along TOGETHER! (with the Muppets).  If you are a Muppet fan, and even if you aren't, I am sure you have heard of the song Rainbow Connection.  I decided to overhaul my 20+ year old rocking chair--that my Uncle Harry took out of the neighbor's treasures at the curb and gave to me my first year of teaching--with rainbow colors. 

First, I knocked down the finish with my dual action sander and taped off the spindles.

I chose black as the base color--my favorite color!

Then I created a rainbow of spindles and whipped up a pillow cover to match! Viola! I think the kids will love it! Maybe now the rocking chair won't be the last reading spot chosen...

Easy-Peasy Bunting

Went to Hobby Lobby to pick up a couple of must-haves and came home with quite a few other things... I know you know how that goes!  Anyway, I had not jumped on the bunting bandwagon until yesterday.  I was browsing through the aisles at Hobby Lobby when I came upon a ready to decorate bunting/banner made by Paper Studio.

Here's why I made the buy:

• each pennant is approximately 8" x 12" inches (approx. 108" long)--nice & large
• the pennants are made with heavy black card stock--this will prevent curling of the pennants and light shining through (also available in white card stock)
• the pennants are connected with black, sewn-on ribbon--no need to mess with punching and spacing along ribbon or rope
• 12" x 12" scrapbook paper would work perfect for decorating
• the decorative paper can be removed and the bunting can be re-used/redecorated (which I plan to do for the season/holidays)
• the words "Welcome Back" will fit perfectly (12 pennants)--black cutout letters

First, I chose rainbow colored scrapbook paper and traced onto 12 colors/patterns and cut.

Next, I simply attached the scrapbook paper with a little bit of permanent scrapbook adhesive.

WOW, that was easy!

I will be adding the black "Welcome Back" letters and some colored ribbon ties between each pennant.  Did I mention that the bunting was only $4.99 (minus the 40% off weekly coupon)!!

Can't wait to finish and hang in the classroom!

New Backgrounds & FREEBIES!

Working with the ready-made bunting was inspiration to create these Chalkboard Dotted Line Bunting Backgrounds. If you follow our blog, fill out the form below to receive a FREE "Welcome Back" Banner download!

AND here is my latest freebie--Dots N' Squares Circle Chalkboard Backgrounds! Enjoy!

FOLLOWERS FREEBIE!

To all our faithful followers, and new ones, we would like you to enjoy a FREE chalkboard-style "Welcome Back" bunting download! This bunting can be customized with your favorite ribbon.  I simply printed, trimmed, punched, and strung with ribbon (3/8").  If using mini clothespins (7/8"), the bunting will need to be hung on a wall (not free hanging) due to the top weight. Just fill in the form below to receive your free bunting download--ends at the end of the day on Friday.

I am giving this one to our wonderfully fabulous school secretary!

FORM CLOSED

FINALLY, thank you to all that entered our Place Value Cubes Giveaway! The winners were Erin R. and Aimie.  Congrats ladies!

Thanks for flying over! Stop over at 4th Grade Frolics for more Monday Made Its...

Have a splendid, fun-filled week!