It's a Fabulous Friday! And the winner is....

My Friday has started off to be fabulous! I have a winner for the Genre Subway Art! Giving things away is so much fun.

Congratulations to Karen B! Look for my email. This was so much fun I might have to have a giveaway more often.  I'm actually working on my Monday Made It. What about a little fun for the weekend? Who can guess what I'm making for my latest bulletin board? I posted this picture last night on Instagram.

*Hint* 3 ice cream tubs, Christmas lights, poster board, duct tape and of course it will involve the hot glue gun!

 Leave me a comment and I'll send a $5 TPT gift card to whomever guesses correctly first. Your guess must be posted by Midnight (Eastern Standard Time) Saturday. My MMI usually goes live Sunday night.

Monday Made It - Genre Display and a Giveaway!

I'm so excited to have another post for Monday Made It. Check out other great creations on Tara's blog 4th grade Frolics.  Yes, I know it's Sunday, but this is going to be a busy week.

I went by school and fixed a new display for the library. (This idea could easily be used in a classroom reading corner.)  My students are in a reading rut! They like to read the same old stuff over and over. I want my students to branch out to new authors and genres. To help them do this I'm going to have a genre of the month club.

New bulletin board and genre display! I didn't have a bulletin board on this wall, so I faked it! Hot glued black paper up, added cute boarder and instant bulletin board. If  this program is successful, I'll order a real bulletin board for the wall. I even added a place for the students to recommend books to other students. Hung some dust jackets and pictures of books for cheap decorations. I'll change those monthly with each new genre. Going to start the year off with Mystery. Yes, those clips are the cheap ones from Dollar Tree. (Supposed to chip bag clips.... They are strong enough to hold paper.)

 

 

(Might have to switch this basket for a black one. My red's don't match... I'm probably the only one who notices.)

I wanted some cute letters for a heading and had a "brain blast". My READ banner is just a few feet over what if I had a genre banner to match? Duh... I created a little banner to hang above the new display. I thought it turned out great. Added two black poms for a little pop.

I  saw a cool mini anchor chart stand on "Falling Into First's" blog. (Thank you, Stephanie!) The post included directions. Insert big gigantic light blub! I had genre posters hanging in the library. These are from Primary Paradise's Spectacular Story Elements. LOVE THEM! What if I displayed them on a stand? Maybe my students would actually read them. trip to Lowes, little help from the teenager in cutting PVC pipe, little duck tape (redneck engineering teacher creativeness...) = cute anchor chart stand.  I had to add some red or black, hence the red duct tape. I did change the feet to make mine sturdier.  

Side note: I liked it so much, I picked up supplies to make another one for behind my desk.

 

 

Finally, my display would not be complete without some art from Catherine Reed - The Brown Bag Teacher. She has this amazing subway art set featuring - you guessed it - GENREs! They look great on my new genre display. Instead of laminating them, I hot glued a page protector to the wall. The florescent lighting in the library puts a glare on anything hung near the lights. Now I can just swap them out each month. Wouldn't they look great in frames or mounted on colored cardstock? Would you like to win a set? The wonderfully sweet Catherine has donated a set for me to give away. Enter below!!!

 

 

I think it turned out great! Can't wait for the students to see it. Ignore the glare. I was on the dumb phone which won't let me remove glare. I so need an upgrade....

 

Don't forget to enter for a set of genre subway art from the Brown Bag Teacher! I'll announce the winner on Friday. What a way to start the weekend!

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Be sure and check out other great Monday Made It's on 4th Grade Frolics. I have less than 2 weeks to get everything ready for the new school year. I'm back full time July 30th. (That's what happens when you get out on May 23rd.  My district tries to end the year before Memorial Day in case of extra snow days.)

 

Take a break and read a book,

 

Monday Made It - Reading Displays

Monday Made It's are so fun to read! I've been pinning and getting all kinds of ideas. Be sure and check out other great Monday Made It's with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics.

I finally put my book down and got busy creating for the library. I fell in love with the little frames from IKEA I had seen in other great posts. The closest IKEA store is 3 1/2 hours from my house. NOT going there... Yes, I know I can shop online, but I spend way too much at Amazon... Finally, someone posted the frames were at Michaels. Now that I can do! Michael's is only an hour away. Needed a great excuse to go to Barnes and Noble (across the street!). I found several colors that I just had to purchase! They were on sale and I could use a teacher discount.... couldn't resist.

Project One -
This is what I had originally wanted needed the frames for:

My new table labels. The ones in the red frame are gong in my library. The black framed ones are for a fellow librarian.  I created the labels in mostly black and white to make them a little more ink friendly. If you can use them, feel free to download them. They are labeled Table 1 - 10 and Group 1- 10. I forgot if Jennifer wanted table or group numbers for her library. Please leave me a little love just to let me know you could use them! The horizontal labels (red frame) are here, while the vertical labels (black frames) are here.

 



I didn't stop there! I made printed a few quotes to display around the library. They are all lines from children's literature. I'm going to swap them out throughout the year. Sorry the photographer needs to work taking on anti glare pictures!

If you can use these, they are found on TPT. Yes, free. Just leave me a little feedback. I'd appreciate it! I love making things for my reading buddies.

Next and final project for the week:  (There was a book calling out to be read!)
Remember I said I found several colors.... These are for a couple of the girls down the hall. I won't name names just in case they happen to read this. I want to create a couple/few more for my other special teaching buddies. Oh well, another trip to Michaels and Barnes and Noble....... :)

 

I think they will look really cute on their desks! Don't' forget to check out other MMI's on Tara's blog at 4th Grade Frolics.

Keep Reading!!!

Preparing for Summer Break

Today I finished taking down my last bulletin board. It's actually in the hall outside the library. I usually keep it uplifting and welcoming as it's the first bulletin board visitors to my school see. This past month I had a tribute to our 8th grade graduates.

 

I decorated the whole wall in our main hall with oversized flowers.  To give you an idea of just how large, each petal on the daisies and the tulips uses one piece of construction paper. They were really easy to create. 



 

Behind the glass I made a paper rose for each 8th grader. The roses had a student immerging from the center. Our students can choose which high school they want to attend. My students usually attend West or South. I have one student going to the "city" high school. So each student is blooming from a flower color that reflects their high school. Made a colorful display with yellow, blue, green, maroon and white paper roses. My students loved it! Had a few shout-outs from parents.

I found all the instructions for these 3D flowers on YouTube. I just made my flowers bigger with large sheets of paper.
Daisy- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7GIQa9EE-4#aid=P9oK3hJGVjA
Daffodil - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0n57UoGwVo
Tulips - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0ooIo7xJRA
Scrapbook flowers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qht388myRL0
coffee filter roses - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YCN8GSnIiQ&index=9&list=LLeihdJMaNBLllU9EdzoYtBw
White flowers inside glass -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csmWNjVAVyg&list=LLeihdJMaNBLllU9EdzoYtBw&index=6

I forget where I saw the idea of the grape hyacinth. It's really easy. Just one inch wide strips of blue paper looped and then taped the wall.

The feathery flowers were recycled from my truffula trees on the previous bulletin board. One of my students asked me today, "What are you going to put up for us in August?" I told them they would just have to wait and see. Goodbye Spring, Hello Summer! Friday is my last day. I have a huge stack of books just waiting for me to read.

Keep Reading!

Book Character Day- Celebrating Reading

We missed our Read Across America Day Monday because of ice. We simply called the kids and moved all the fun to Friday. I'm glad we did. It was a little crazy at school today. What a way to end Dr. Seuss week! Our students and teachers dressed as their favorite book character. I was going to play it save and dress as Cat in the Hat, but no, I got a little crazy! Meet my version of Pinkalicious.
(You have to understand. This is totally out of character for me. I'm really a conservative dresser, lots of black and brown. The looks on the kid's faces, PRICELESS!)

Pinkalicious, Cat in the Hat, Fox in Socks, Thing 1 and Thing 2, Cat in the Hat, Truffala Tree, and The Grouch Ladybug, Clifford and Cindy Lou Who all appeared at my little school. Too fun! 

The teachers are so cute in their outfits. Our principal even wore his Dr. Seuss hat. Several of the students dressed up in cute costumes. 

Lots of cute characters at school today. Did your school get to celebrate Read Across America Day with a book character day? Hey, whatever it takes to inspire reading!!! I'm linking up with Primary Chalkboard for their Dr. Seuss week.

Happy Reading!

Decorating For Fall

I meant to change out the main bulletin board at the beginning of October. I meant to have more books read by the beginning of October. I meant, I meant, I meant!!! October is going by way too fast. I did get our board updated last weekend. Yes, I said weekend. With our first nine weeks ending, and students trying to read extra to ensure meeting their AR goals, I was way too busy to fix it during the week.

I wanted something really special to greet our students as they enter our main hall. Did a quick check on Pinterst and found the following pin at Olson's Crafty Kinders:

Loved Elizabeth Olsen's idea and adapted it into the following:

I thought turned out right cute. The students loved it, which is really all that matters. Have a great fall weekend. They're calling for snow in my East Tennessee mountains. May have to change my leaves to snowflakes a little early this year.

Have a great weekend. Curl up and READ!!!

It's Here.... My September SLANT Box

Even though I mailed my SLANT Box yesterday, I wasn't looking for a package for me to arrive till at least next week. It's been one of THOSE weeks. Hubby worked late tonight, the boys went to the high school football game, so what else was this working mom to do but try to get caught up a little at school. Once again, I managed to be one of the last people to leave school. Needless to say, I was very excited to see a white box on my fence when I pulled into my driveway. My mail carrier knows I have a very curious border collie. Thus top of fence was much better than on the porch!

Erika from My Crazy Life pegged me perfectly!

I've been reading fall stories this past week and have a couple more to read for next week. I definitely see these leaves being used as part of an activity for next week. Hmmmm. The really funny thing - I almost purchased a pack last week but thought I had blown my supply budget for the month. Great minds think alike! The chocolate and  Cheez-Its I'll have to hide from my boys. Those are going to my desk drawer for days I stay late and forget to pack a snack. Sharpies - I always need extra sharpies. Such great colors. Then I finally opened the cute card. Super Sweet! I'm already enjoying my new mug with the hot chocolate. Perfect for these East Tennessee fall evenings. Thank you, Erika. You made my day!

Head over to Lessons With Coffee to sign up for October's SLANT Box and see what other wonderful things were shipped for September.

Keep Reading! I will....

Tried It Tuesday - "Spot Warmers" and "Bathroom Characters"

I finally have a Tried It Tuesday and I'm so excited. Really I have two but as I started both of them on the same day, I'm going to tell you about both of them.

First up, Spot Warmers! Yes, I said spot holders. For some of you the following picture is just an ordinary pot holder. (I'm a cheap savvy shopper and purchased them at Dollar Tree 2 for $1.) What do I do with them? I'm so glad you asked. In my library I use them as Spot Warmers.

I have a really fidgety class of Kindergarteners this year. They can not sit still for story time. I even had a student try to sit inside one of my bookcases. So what to do? I had seen, on Pinterest of course, some people use vinyl place mats as spots on their rugs, but I'm picky and cheap. The only placemats I could find in my color scheme were $1.99 a piece. I needed 25! So as I was cruising Dollar Tree for extra supplies, I found these pot holders in red and black. They work perfect. Check out my "Spot Holders!"

The second thing I tried was my "Bathroom Characters". On one of the blogs I follow, the teacher used a special desk pass/marker to let her know who was in the restroom. I got to thinking how I could use that idea in the library. My library is decorated with lots of plush book characters. So, why not use book characters. I have a "Cleo" and a "Clifford" plush at sit in front of my desk. If one of my girls need to use the restroom, they pick up "Cleo" and place her on their spot at the table or on the floor. The boys use "Clifford" the same way. Then with one quick glance I can see who is in the restroom. Now no more "it's my turn to go to the restroom"! Now I can keep teaching and my wiggle worms can go to the bathroom without disturbing the rest of the class. LOVE IT.

Link up with Fourth Grade Flipper for more great "Tried It Tuesdays".

 

Have a great rest of the week, and KEEP READING!!!

Monday Made It: September Edition

I am so excited to be linking up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!

I got a couple projects finished. I've been painting in the library again. I had a beige book cart. It's not beige anymore. Did I remember to take a picture? Nope. It's just fire engine red. My students were commenting a couple weeks ago how I hadn't painted it. My red desk it hard to miss... Just trust me, it's bright red.

Back in the summer I made a wreath for my door out of an old book. Click here for that post. I didn't like the way it looked on the beige metal door. I moved it to the wooden conference room door. Looks much better. Then I needed a wreath for my door. Did a quick search on Pinterest. Found several colorful wreaths and thought I could make one.

Was inspired by a wreath from Heed Over Heels For Teaching and one from  Delyno's Crafts:

Thanks, Ladies for the great ideas!

I combined their ideas/projects and came up with the following. I hot glued it to the glass so I had to decorate both sides. From the front it looks like:

From the back:

I didn't get it totally straight, but it will do. Hopefully I won't get too OCD over it. It's made from red copy paper and cupcake holders. I only spent $2 for the cupcake holders. Not too bad on the wallet, hubby is thrilled! Don't forget to check out the rest of the Monday Made Its on Tara's Blog - 4th Grade Frolics.

Happy Reading!!!