It's a Craft Party!!!

I love crafting and I love teaching. I love the fact that I am able to bring both together into the classroom. I always try to bring crafting into my classroom to add a little extra interest into the content we are learning. This year I decided to create more display areas to showcase my students' work. The first is with these DIY Display Clips.

Video Tutorial

A second display option is by displaying work on the whiteboard. I am able to share amazing pieces of work with other students, just by hanging up these adorable little glitter magnets.

Video Tutorial

Finally, I wanted a nice way to make their work stand out so i created custom borders to go along with my decor.

 Video Tutorial

Here is the final product...

My students love being able to share their work with everyone that visits our classroom. It creates a personal touch to that the students can be proud of. I hope you enjoyed my most recent classroom crafts. Definitely check back often to see what new things I have to share with you. If you want to get some more great ideas for getting crafty in the classroom, make sure to link up over at A Modern Teacher, A Cupcake for the Teacher, or Miss Kindergarten. Not only is it a lot of fun, but Jo-Ann is sponsoring a giveaway. If you know me, I am at Jo-Ann almost EVERY weekend picking up some more crafting supplies. Make sure to link up and I can't wait to see what you have to share!!!

Chalkboard Name Plate

Today is the first day of school and I am surprisingly pretty calm. Normally I can't sleep the night before and I get super nervous. I feel prepared this year and even though I am already at 28 students, and probably will hit 30 by the end of the day, I feel like it's going to be a good year. I wanted to get more done this weekend for Monday Made It, but my new motto is, "It can get done tomorrow". Normally I would have just stayed up all night making things and then go in super early to set it all up. Then I realized, it can all be done tomorrow. So I will show you what I made today and show you the rest... tomorrow. ;-)

1. Chalkboard Name Plate

I bought these supplies earlier on in the summer because I wanted to get a head start on these name plates. Unfortunately for me, I waited until the last second. I filmed a quick tutorial, but I will be editing it late. Make sure to check back later to see how I made this name plate.

2. Teacher Binder

I also put together my teacher binder. You can find the file that I used HERE. I plan on making this my binder for lesson plans as well as a data binder. Normally I would always keep them both separate, but this way is easier. Next year I will definitely be buying the Erin Condren Lesson Planner. So much easier to have something that is already done for you.

3. New Shoes

I didn't make shoes this weekend, but wouldn't that be cool if I did!? I went searching for a good pair of shoes and I found some at my first store and in my size! That never happens to me!!! They are Clarks and I've hear really great things about them. Even the cashier commented on how comfortable the shoes are. I guess I will let you know after today.

4. Classroom Tour

I consider this my biggest Monday Made it of the whole summer and that is redoing my room. If you want to see more detail pictures. Please visit the blog post HERE.

5. Custom Borders

I also created my own borders to help in the decorating process. I have a whole post on this process as well as a video. You can view that post HERE.

Thank you for checking out my Monday Made Its and I hope everyone that is going back to school today or ones that have been there for a few weeks are having a great new year. And to all of you who are still on summer vacation... I hate you. Haha, JUST KIDDING!!! Enjoy your summers because they go by fast (like I'm sure you already know). ;-)

Classroom Tour

Tomorrow is the first day of school and after a week and a half of redoing my room, I am ready to share what it looks like.

First a quick story on my room. My first year of teaching I had a huge red wall and it drove me crazy by the end of the year. After that I ripped it all down and wallpapered my room in black. It stayed like that for 4 years. This summer I decided to redo one wall with purple fabric after talking to my teaching buddy/BFF. Once that wall was done everything else just seemed out of place. That's when I slowly created a purple theme. I didn't think anything was going to match, but somehow it all came together.

 View from the door

 My desk is to the right as soon as you walk into the classroom

 Right side of the classroom

 Front of the classroom

 Where I display student work

 Back of the classroom

 Left side of the classroom

 Bathroom

 Word Wall

 Anchor Chart Wall

 Writing Wall

Library

I love my classroom this year and I can't wait to spend time in there with my students. It took a lot of work, time, dedication, and sore legs and feet, but it was definitely worth it!!!

DIY Border

Tomorrow is the first day back for teachers. Student come next week so I guess I still have a little bit of "vacation" left. Today I want to share with you something that I came up with a couple weeks ago and that is DIY Borders!!

I was at home one day I just decided to run a strip of cardstock through my crimper and the rest is history. You can make any color imaginable (as long as you can find the paper. You could also print out a pattern and use the same technique).

I also wanted to share one more thing with you. I created these amazing stamps over at Vista Print. I caved and made a 2nd Grade Quality one. Maria from Kinder Craze had such a great tutorial on it that I decided to make one of my own.

I have a few more things coming in the mail from Vista Print today including a signature stamp and some magnets. I'm very excited!!!

Monday Made-It {07.21.13}

Today's Monday Made it is just a small share of the few things I made this week. I go back in a little over a week. My summer is sadly coming to an end. I enjoyed relaxing and making things for my classroom. I know the school year will bring so many great things. Summer is not over and I will be back next week to share what I make for my classroom. But onto this week...

Item #1- Bathroom Sign
I am lucky to have a bathroom in my classroom that I share with the classroom next door. My lovely teaching partner came up with the idea of using magnets on the back of sticks for monitoring bathroom usage. At the beginning of the year students love going to the bathroom whenever they feel like it. You would think that having a bathroom in your room would provide very little disruptions. Well it seems to be the opposite. I think since the kids see the bathroom in the room, they want to visit it more. I also use the bathroom sticks, but they would always fall off the door frame if someone walked into them and bathroom sticks went flying. I decided I needed something a little more practical. I created this hanging sign. It's just a magnetic whiteboard that I decorated. Very simple and hopefully it will cut down on the sticks being bumped into and flying everywhere!!

Item #2- Cheers
It seems like everyone is all about cheers in their classroom. I love celebrating moments with my children and sometimes it's hard to come up with something on the spot. I'm sure that these cheers will come in handy this year. You can get your own copy of these cheers HERE. You can print them full page or smaller. I choose to print the smaller ones so they are a little more portable. I can take them onto the carpet, in line, or even outside!!

Item #3- Rules
Last year I used the Whole Brain Teaching rules in my classroom. We went over them every morning and my students knew them, but we didn't always use them. I was pretty fortunate to have a pretty good class last year. Even though most of the time they followed the rules, I still didn't feel like those rules reflected what I expected of my students. This year I am using a new set of rules. You can find a copy of them HERE. It's great because you can use the rules that are already created or edit them to fit the needs of your classroom.

Item #4- Clock Labels
I have seen so many different clock labels out there and for the last few years I have been using post-it notes as my labels. I decided to step it up a notch and create my own this year. They are using my new forest theme. Now all I have to do is buy a new clock that has a silent tick. :-)

You can get a copy of your own labels HERE for free.

Classroom Numbers

It's officially July and that means that school starts in a month. I posted a few projects last week that I wanted to work on. The first one was creating some sort of way to display my students' work. Last year I had picture frames for each student. I loved them, but it was such a hassle trying to change them out. I've decided to go with clothes pins. I've used clothes pins in the past, but I wanted something a little more personal, but yet something I wouldn't have to recreate every time I got a new student or from year to year.

I've created a free file for your to download if you'd like. Just click the image...

If you don't have a TPT account, you can also grab your copy HERE.

I am linking up over at Monday Made-It for the first time since last summer. Off to a great start already!!

Hanging Table Signs

I have been crafting up a storm. I went back to work today. Lots of meetings as well as a talent show! The students don't start until next Monday, but I want to be ready. Especially since some are going to show up this Thursday for Meet the Teacher night. The first thing I made was a cover for my shelves. It was looking a little "blah" so I added a colorful banner.

The main project I was working on were my hanging table signs.