H54F: the one with the letter

Hello all

This week was pretty nice. First off the first glimpse of cooler air came through on Tuesday and by cooler in mean 75 degrees in the morning. Of course yesterday afternoon the humidity was outrageous, but at least cool air is in the future.

Surprise note

after grading vocabulary tests I noticed something on the back of one. A 7th grader wrote a sweet little note.

Mail call

I collect vintage Alice in Wonderland books and love anything that involves Alice. So when this advertisement from Disney came I took it as a sign that I should be visiting the happiest place on earth very soon.

One down

The first IEP of the school year was yesterday. My district took on a new IEP program which means I have to learn how to use the lovely new program.

 Hello there

 I had a surprise visitor in the shower yesterday morning. I successfully managed not falling in the shower while capturing this little creature...a miracle for sure!

New Display

I like displaying student work outside of my classroom. I typically just tape the work up, but came up with this brilliant idea...clothes line student work display.

Well I hope you all had a fantastic week and a restful weekend!

H54F: Hodge Podge

Happy Friday everyone! I have sucessfully made it through the first week of school...so far so good. Getting into the swing of school takes some time. Squezzing in some time for fun and relaxation is key in order to do my best in the classroom. Here is my hodge podge of pictures from this week.

 Bridge Walks

A nice way to end a busy day...plus the view is pretty nice with the sun setting.

 Tourist Stop

Living in the sunshine state is nice, but there is very little time to enjoy what everyone else comes to this state for. A little visit to an orange store with creamy orange sickle ice cream was an absolute delight!

 Donors Choose

A class set of the book Flipped was delivered this week thanks to the kind donors to my project. We started reading this book yesterday.

 Making the best of it

Taking full advantage of having my long hair before it gets hacked off. A fish tale was a must this week.

Who knew

I had no idea that left handers had their own day! I am not exactly sure why we have a day to ourselves, but its nice.

JOY

I talked about my new bff yesterday...Glossy Accents! I honestly do not know where this has been all my life. Did everyone else keep this secret from me?

My sister went back to college on Friday. I decided to incorporate my new found love into something she could use to spruce up her dorm room. I asked her what her favorite fruit of the spirit was and she picked JOY...thankfully the one with the least amount of letters!
Supplies
Glossy Accents
glitter
letters
glue
paint brush
ribbon
hot glue gun

Step 1: Apply a thin layer of glue to one letter at a time. Pour glitter on the letters and tap off any extra.

 Step 2: Outline the glittery letter with glossy accent.
Step 3: Fill in the letter that you just outlined with glossy accents. If any bubbles appear pop them with a needle or drag them to the edge of the letter. The letter will look cloudy, but once the glossy accents dries it is clear, smooth and shiny. 
Step 4: Repeat step one through three with each of the letters and then let them dry over night.

Glossy Glitter

I have a love hate relationship with glitter. Love how it looks hate the mess. Thankfully, through Pinterest I stumbled upon a product that takes half of the mess away! Glossy Accents when applied to a glittery surface leaves glitter smooth, glossy and seals in the glitter from escaping. I will be showing a project tomorrow that I made with this little jem.

{I found Glossy Accents at Hobby Lobby}

The land of oz and ESE

Sometime in June I was in the goodwill bookstore with my mom and came across an interesting find:

A survival guide for the first-year special education teacher. I have struck gold! Wanting to know how they suggest to survive in ESE I flipped through the thin survival guide.

The first quote in the book is very fitting for ESE: Toto, I have the feeling we are not in Kansas anymore. When I read this quote I burst out with laughter. Yep, ESE is a land of its own filled with flying monkeys and good witches floating in bubbles.

I suppose that Kansas would be general education. Since gifted is underneath the ESE umbrella they would be the citizens of Emerald city. All the misfits that make up oz would be ESE.

{For curious minds...I did not purchase this survival guide}

Yarn Art Mural

This Monday made-it takes us into the classroom. I have a concrete block wall that is not eye appealing. I found this idea via pinterest...a.k.a the website that is stealing everyones creativity.

Supplies:

Yarn

Clear command hooks and strips

Letter cut-outs

scissors

Step by Step

1. Pick your color yarn. The darker the color the more the letters will show up. For the command strips I bought one pack at a time with 40% off various craft stores (Michael's, Hobby Lobby, Jo-Ann Fabric). I used around 141 command hooks. Each corner of a letter needs a command hook.

2. Either print out your letters or draw them yourself. I did a mixture of drawing and printing the letters. The bigger the better.

3. Tape up all your letters to see how you like the placement.

4. Start with one letter at a time. Stick on a command hook on each of the letters corners.

5. Once all that letters command strips are on start wrapping the yarn on the hooks. I wrapped each letter around about four times. The more times the thicker the letter will look. I used one continuous strand of yarn and did not cut the yarn until all the words were done.

5. Continue with each letter. Sticking on command strips and wrapping the yarn.

6. When all the words are complete I draped each color yarn to connect to one another. Then cut the yarn.

H54F: All things school

Well, I am officially in the school routine...at least pre-school routine:

Meetings

trainings

procedures

classroom set-up

3 hour smart board training

Lets just say I felt less than smart leaving this training. Great ideas, but unfortunately there were about 3 million ideas being thrown at us during this time.

Classroom supplies

The smell of fresh crayola crayons is amazing...enough said

 Puzzle Lamp

Saw this cool lamp at Ikea. Little did I know that the lamp was made out of puzzle pieces.

 Banner TLC

Finally had the time to cover my banners with fabric. Now they look pretty from the front and the back

Completed Classroom

My room is complete and I love the outcome. For not having any windows it does not look that shabby.

Happy Friday everyone...Off to open house tomorrow!

Classroom: Before and After

Yep, here is the classroom before...pretty impressive right?

And here it is after a couple of days. I am pretty amazed with how fast my room comes together each year.

{More details soon to come}

Instagram ribbon banner

First off I love this project for many reasons:

1. the pictures capturing memories from last year

2. the life that it will add to the cement block walls

3. the colors

4. the movement that happens when the picture twirl and ribbons sway

5. It took little time to assemble

I discovered you can print your instagram pictures via Printstagram

{warning: expect to wait 4 weeks for the pictures to be delivered}

On a positive note the prices are reasonable. I also purchased a mini book of all the photos.

I picked the same ribbons that matches the banners I created last year. Speaking of the motivational banners...they had a little plastic surgery on Friday. Last year I did not have the time or patience to back the banners with fabric. Therefore exposing what I did not finish. I put off covering the back with fabric until summer. Thankfully, I had enough fabric left over to cover the backs. They look so much better now that they are 100% complete.

Both the banners and ribbon tassels will be going up in the classroom tomorrow.

{Pictures soon to follow}

Find me on instagram

@ helloitsmeg

Book Frame

Another Monday Made it and of course this one was inspired by Pinterest

{shock}

I knew I wanted to make this book frame so my mom and I headed toward the Goodwill book store. We needed to find a sturdy old book that could with stand being cut into. We both found these old children's books to use.

Supplies:

3 cardboard rectangles varying in size (L, M, S)

hot glue gun
cutting board

exacto knife

old book

ribbon

pencil

letters

ruler

Step 1: Measure out three rectangles from a piece of cardboard. Going from large, medium and small. These will become your frame you will cute around for each section.
Step 2: Starting with the largest rectangle trace that shape on the cover of your book. Then start carefully cutting out the book cover. This will take time because you are cutting through cardboard. Use a steady hand as you do not want to cute outside of the outline. Once the cover is loose enough you will be able to pop it out. Some stray cardboard may be left on the edges, just cut it out.
Step 3: With the largest rectangle again you are going to use that as a guide and cut ten pages at a time. I put a thin cutting board underneath ten pages so I would not go any farther. Make sure you cut the corners out nicely as it may rip.
Step 4: Determine how deep you want each section to be. I ended up having each section 130 pages or so. After you finish with one section move on to the smaller rectangle until you have created your frame.
Step 5: After all the sections are cut out arrange your words how you would like them. I put my words on a separate sheet of paper and just taped it in...just in case I want to change the message in the future. You could also hot glue each of the pages together, but I like how then looked loose and such. I did hot glue the front cover to the first page. Oh and string a ribbon through the binding so you can hang it.

H54F: Summer Endings

Hello last week of Summer

Yep, that's right I have to report back to school on Wednesday,

So for this High Five for Friday From my Grey Desk I am bringing you all the joys of summer!

 The Beach

My goal this school year is to make it out there once a month

 Watching Rue

 perfect the art of lizard hunting

 Breakfast

Yes, I will miss enjoying breakfast at my own time because starting next Wednesday my meals will be on a schedule.

 Time for projects

My list of little DIYs has gotten shorter, but throughout the school year the list will grow and I will wait for summer again.

Fun little trips

My time mostly will consist of school thinking and little excursions will happen less.


I hope you all had a wonderful week and are enjoying your summer!

H54F: A little of this and that

To be honest everyday feels like Friday during summer and to be completely honest I am a little ready to get back into the swing of things!

Summer is usually pretty predictable and the school year well...

 Florida summers means afternoon storms

hello downpour

 Walks with Rue

when it is not raining

 Games with the family

I lost at Skip-bo

 Projects inspired by pinterest of course

Trips to cute little places like The Lollicake Queen

and today on this Friday a visit to the beach

Sad to say I live 20 minutes from a beach and this is my second time venturing out there.

Hope your week was lovely as well!

Dolphin Tale

A while ago my mom and I visited Winter the dolphin from Dolphin Tale in Clearwater, Florida.
{bonus teachers get in for FREE}

{Facts about Winter}

Lives at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium

Rescued from crab traps in 2005

lost her entire tail and two vertebrates due to this incident

She was not a year old when this happened

Despite the odds learned how to swim like a fish swaying back and forth

A prosthetic liner was created just for her called WintersGel

She does not wear the prosthetic all the time

A book and a movie was made about her remarkable life

I think the tale of Winter is inspirational and very fitting for students to relate to. I was so inspired by her story that I wanted to bring Dolphin Tale the book into the classroom for my students to read as a whole. So what do I do create a Donors Choose project for this book!
{Great news half way funded}

Dear Students,

Another Monday Made it inspired by the one and only Pinterest. When I saw this letter to students I knew it was a must for the classroom. I thought what a wonderful reminder for them (as well as myself) that I am here to support them even when it seems the opposite.

 Pretty simple projcet to put together

Supplies:

foam poster board from the dollar store

foam paint brush

paint maker

paint