Monday Made It!

It's time for Monday Made It again and I am having so much fun looking at everyone's posts and creations! Wow. Talented people, that's all I can say!

I don't know about you - but some times it makes me feel inadequate. I get the case of keeping up with the Jones'-- teacher style. This is the time I need to step back, relax, and realize that I do not have to be perfect; I don't have to do it all; I just need to be content and be me. My students don't need "things" - they need a loving teacher who is helping them be all they can be. 

I started working on my table group supplies. I bought the bins at Dollar Tree and then printed and laminated the labels. I bought some cute polka dot ribbon to tie the labels on. (I taped them in place as well!)

The second thing I worked on was an organization station for all my "tiny" supplies. Honestly, I saw everyone else's and decided I would try one as well. I ordered it from Amazon but if I had to do it over, I would have bought one at Home Depot. When it came it was much smaller than I had envisioned.  I used scrap book paper for the black/white, then typed out the words on colored paper. The labels are modge-podged on to the organizer. I must say it will come in handy! 

I use to award my table groups with a popsicle party for every 10 "wins". But that got expensive and I was tired of always buying treats. I also don't think it's necessary. This year I created a "trophy" that I will award weekly to the winning table group. They can keep it on their desk for the week.  I just created it in PowerPoint, printed, and laminated. I got the large clip at Michael's for $1.50 in their bins by the check out! Easy!

I also printed out signs from Teacher's Pay Teachers. I tried to hang them up in the classroom - but it was white on white and they didn't show up enough. So I ended up mounting them on scrapbook paper, then colored paper! 

I bought this from IKEA and added pockets for formative assessment. Each student has a numbered stick to place his/her vote.

I got these from Miss Nelson / Teachers Pay Teachers HERE.  It's a free download! 

I am working on a crate/bench and it is turning out great, thanks to my hubby! He devised an awesome way to make it sturdy by placing a board on top and creatively creating an underneath section that snaps on to the crates. I was just going to do the zip-tie thing. :)  Pictures will be coming!

I've been working so hard, I decided to do something for myself. I signed up for Stichfix! I don't like shopping, and need some new clothes for work. I'm testing it out with my first box arriving the week before school starts. CLICK here to learn more about Stichfix. I can't tell you yet whether I like it or not, but I am giving it a try!

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Monday Made It!

Well, I really feel like I can't believe it's Monday already and I haven't really made it.  I have so many ideas spinning around in my head from reading all the great blogs on Monday Made It and Pinterest.

This week I mainly worked in my classroom. After thinking through all the colors and themes in my head, I wanted to go with blue, lime green, and white. I have no idea why I bought bright pink border and masking tape. What was I thinking? But I did, so I guess my colors scheme will have to wait until next year!

I sold all my previous school items, so I had to buy a new bin for students to turn in work. I got a great deal on this one from Michael's and then made little tags for the sides.

This classroom doesn't have a real teacher's desk so I have to bring mine from home. Luckily, I purchased an old one three years ago on Craig's List for $30. I repainted it white and added contact paper to the front for the black and white pattern. 

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Monday Made It! - Soap!

I have had an awesome week laminating my brains out and being Suzy Homemaker. Well, I felt ambitious I guess and decided to do something I've always wanted to try...SOAP-MAKING!

I LOVE great smelling soap - but it can be expensive. So, I got an eBook by Jan Berry called  Natural Soap Making and read all about the cold process. You can find her book HERE at The Nerdy Farm Wife.   I then found a recipe I wanted to try - Citrus Honey Scotch Ale Soap. Sound a little weird? Beer in soap? Well, I chose it because they stated it smelled like extremely rich caramel with a hint of citrus and honey. Mmmmmm. That's sounds good!

I have to admit - I was scared to try the soap making process. The whole deal about working with lye is scary to me! So, I got my son to do that part!

We mixed up the lye portion outside to avoid fumes. My husband wanted to know how much the soap cost to make. Ummm...well, I put a lot of expensive oils into it including palm oil and jojoba. 

I didn't want to buy a soap mold at that point, so I found this plastic container at Target and it worked fine!  My soap is now cut and will cure for 3-4 weeks. It smells yummy!

We cut it into blocks to cure. I like the "cut" look and will wrap them in wax paper and twine. Some. Day. 

Next, on to my teacher stuff. I told you I laminated my brains out. Right? It's completely true. I feel like I will go crazy if I have to laminate anything else.  First, I purchased 4th Grade Math Centers - 10 Bundle - by Tina's Teaching Treasures.   Wow. 199 pages of awesomeness.  I had it printed, then laminated like CRAZY. But, I figured once it was all laminated, I would have a year's worth of pretty sweet math centers. 

Although I will keep them in math bins, I found some cheap pencil pockets pictured above - two for $1.00 at the Dollar Store. 

I bought some photo album books at the Dollar Tree and placed the math discussion starters inside. 

Purchased: giant calculators for the math bins! Fun. Only $1.00.

After my math centers were done, I started to work on my Writing Center for Daily 5. I found a great site called Second Story Window that provides awesome ideas for writing activities.  I followed her advice, and bought some fun items at the Dollar Store:

Cute, right?  A DOLLAR! These darling journals will be used as whole class journals for writing. Love.

The Dollar Store even sold little cut outs. I bought a few and am writing journal prompts on the back. My dogs, Charlie and Raleigh, like them!

Finally, I used my digital purchase from SchoolGirl Style to create the banner for the writing center. I have no idea why the ends of them didn't print...so I decided to improvise rather than re-print and I colored dark at the tip...now they look like pens! Perfect.

To finish off my long week of soap-making and laminating center materials, I BBQ'd pizza. Have you ever had BBQ pizza? Once you start, you won't want to go back to regular pizza making again! We follow a recipe from Whole Foods found HERE. We add arugula to ours.

That's it for this week! Please share this blog and enjoy!  

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Monday Made It!

Did you have an awesome week?  I did!  I made tons of stuff - but most of it not picture worthy. (smile) So...here are the items that did make it to my camera!

To go along with my reading of Wonder, I started with a sign I made on PowerPoint that said Be Kind. I found this frame at Goodwill for $1.99:

2.  Paint - to match my classroom, of course!

3.  Make a bow!

(puff it up!)

Ta-da!!  

I had the regular plastic drawer set that I wanted labels placed on. At first I put them on the inside, but they didn't show through the plastic. (boo) So, I modge-podged it and the colors popped!  Yes!

Finally, I found a super cute printout with a bike. I wanted a sign to remind students to highlight their name before turning it in. I will place a basket of yellow highlighting pens near the sign / turn-in station:

The rest of my weekend was filled with running and cycling! Here's just a few pic's of my fun run with a friend up to the Quarry Mine...the air was SO COLD coming out of the mine...it felt heavenly! 

Afterwards, we got on our MTBs and did the trail again!  Here is my hubby and me!

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