Monday Made It :: Summer To-Do List!

Hi hi!!!!

I am so happy to be checking in today!  It's been a super busy summer so far.....baseball and house projects and a wonderful Hawaiian vacation.  But I'm back home now and ready to get back on track spending more time here with my teacher friends!

Both of my kids are in day camp at our church this week, so I knew that I wanted to use some of my free time to make a plan for the rest of the summer.  A nice (cute!) to-do list makes my heart happy!  Maybe you need a place to organize your thoughts for the rest of summer break too.  If so, keep reading!  I don't go back to school until September 8th, but I want to keep plugging away at things so that I don't feel rushed or annoyed with my procrastination come mid-August!

I know this isn't your typical Monday Made It, but hopefully I'll be back next week with actual crafty Made-Its to share.  I needed this to get me started! :)

It's nothing fancy, but it's cute and it has a smiley face sun, which {almost} makes me WANT to pull it out and get to work!  Ha!

Hopefully items from this PROJECTS list will be featured on upcoming Monday Made Its!

If you're feeling the need to get movin' like me, CLICK HERE to download a copy of this to-do list for yourself.  Here's to adding a little bit of productivity into my (and your!) summer! :)

EX-STRAW Special Valentine's Day tag {FREEBIE}

Happy Monday!

We happen to be off today on YET ANOTHER snow day.  I'm looking out my windows right now and it is just a winter wonderland out there!  Lots of snow, very cold.....I'm happy to be snuggled under my blanket right now.

AND....I was happy that this morning I could take a few minutes to finish up my students' valentines.

I did some looking a few weeks ago for cute ideas that didn't include candy.  There is plenty of that already on V-Day, and I wanted to do something different this year.  I came across lots of cute sayings to use with fun twisty straws.  I've never met a kid who didn't LOVE a twisty straw, so I loved this idea!

This saying was my favorite...

You all know I'm a sap.  I've said this a million times before and I'll probably say it a million more times, but far above anything else my students learn this year, I want them to know without a doubt that they are amazing and talented and awesome and irreplaceable.  I want to build this into them every single day.  And so of course I loved that this cute valentine saying was just one more reminder to them that their teacher thinks they are EX-STRAW SPECIAL.  It's true.  I do.

I made this tag and printed six to a sheet onto cardstock.

It didn't take me long to cut them out by hand.  I did that on Friday night while I was watching Shark Tank because my Friday nights are THAT cool.  I was hoping to punch holes in the top AND bottom to help them stay on the straws better, but the straws I ended up getting were SO twisty and fun that it didn't work that way.  No biggie!  One hole at the top will do.  My students will rip them off right away anyway, right??!?

I'd love to share them with you if you want to use them for your students!  Just CLICK HERE to grab them from Google Drive.

Here's the link to the straws I ordered.  Amazon Prime is one of my favorite things in the world.  I can think of something, press a few buttons, and BAM!...it's at my doorstep.  Love. :)

Happy Valentine's Day prep, my friends!!

Penguin Addition {FREEBIE!}

We are knee-deep in a penguin study in my classroom.  We've studied arctic animals in the winter before, but never penguins.  This year, I wanted to try something new, and.....I mean, penguins.

They are so cute.  So sweet.  So lovable!

My students are officially in love and obsessed.  My heart pitter-patters when I hear them use the words rookery, predator, or even regurgitate (that one's a favorite!) in conversation with their friends.

They talk about the different types of penguins like they are family!  Emperor, Adelie, Macaroni, Crested, Rockhopper, Little Blue.... so cute and so fun!

I wanted an addition practice page for my students, and I knew that if I included penguins they would be suddenly motivated.  And goldfish crackers?  Done deal.

Students rolled two dice and used goldfish crackers to build the groups.  Then, they recorded their addition sentences on the recording sheet.  Simple, but fun!  My class loved it today!

 These cutie pie penguins came from Deanna Jump's Penguin pack.  I laminated them with my new at-home laminator of course because I am in.love.with.it.

 If you'd like to use this page with your students, CLICK HERE to grab it from Google Drive!

Happy weekend, friends!!

Hump Day Highlight :: Good Friends Class Book

Hi there!

I'm liking this Hump Day Highlight linky with Mrs. Stanford's class!  It's nice to check in mid-week.  Click the image to hop over and see what other teachers are up to this week!

The book we are focusing on this week in our reading curriculum is Farfallina and Marcel.  I love this sweet story about friendship.  

You know I'll take any chance I can to create a class book. :) We had a great discussion about friendship and it led right into this prompted writing activity that will make a super sweet class book.

 Isn't this just about the sweetest thing you've ever seen???  

So much wisdom from this precious 5-year-old.  Totally made my heart pause and think YES!  Exactly!  Never forget this!

Sometimes I think Kindergarteners should rule the world.

OR....maybe not......

Ha!

Good friends SHARE THEIR WEAPONS.

Too much.  So funny.  I love my job.

And P.S. -- look out for this one some day. ;)

Just kidding.  He's sweet as can be.  It's a bow and arrow.  Just so funny that THAT is what he thought of.

The rest were just sweet...

 ...and touching...

 ...and funny too.  

This one is serious about his candy! Ha!

And the speech bubbles.  "Do you want gum?"  "Yes."  "Thank you."  Hee hee!

CLICK HERE to grab this page from Google Drive if you'd like to use it with your class.  It would be a great one to save and use close to Valentine's Day too when we're all feeling the love!!

Hope you're having an awesome week!!  Happy hump day!

Christmas gift tags freebie!

Oh my goodness gracious!  Where have I been all December??!?  December is just busy.  It's all wonderful, fun, and so good....but it is very busy!

Two nights ago, my son came down with a fever, so I made the trip to school for some unexpected sub plans and spent the day with him yesterday at home.  I used the morning to finish up all the wrapping I hadn't gotten done yet.  Including all our gifts for the "extras" that work with my kids at school.  Specials teachers, classroom para-pros, bus driver, before-school care teachers.....so many people that we appreciate.  I love gifting all these people that are sometimes overlooked.

I happened to find an awesome deal on Bath and Body Works lotions near Thanksgiving.  I got these full-size lotions for $2.00 each!  I love how festive and cute the bottles are.  Not to mention that they all smell so yummy!

I created this gift tag to attach to each one...and thought you might have some last-minute gifts that could use this tag too.  

 I wrote the names of who they are for on the back of the card.  

 I always like to get these to school on the last Monday before Christmas Break.  That way, my kids can just deliver them as they see the teachers throughout the week and their teachers don't have to deal wth rushed deliveries on Friday....which is already such a busy day.

CLICK HERE to grab the tags from Google Drive!  Print onto card stock and you'll be all set!

Happy gifting!!

Gratitude List FREEBIE

I love Thanksgiving.  I always feel warm and fuzzy inside all day long.  Anyone else like that???  I am so grateful for so many things.  God has blessed me far beyond what I deserve....and, especially on Thanksgiving, I just can't contain my overwhelming feelings of gratitude!

I so want to instill a sense of deep gratitude in my children.  We always do something special throughout the month of November, or during the week of Thanksgiving, to remain mindful of all that we have to be thankful for.  This year, I created a "Gratitude List" for each member of my family to fill out.  We'll share them on Thanksgiving morning.

 My daughter filled hers out over the weekend.

 All sound-spelling and Kindergarten-handwriting perfection.

 I LOVE that she wrote that something that makes her laugh is her brother.  She sure loves him to pieces!!

 She fancied it up a bit when she was finished.  Of course.

Maybe you're looking for something like this to use with your family too?  

CLICK HERE to grab it!

Fire Safety freebie!

Today's post is short and sweet!  I have a fire safety freebie for you!

We will spend time each day this week discussing firefighters, fire safety, and fire prevention.  I created these pages and I plan to copy them back to back and complete them together as a class.

(The edges got a bit cut off when I posted the image, but I promise they are complete documents!)

CLICK HERE to grab these from Google Drive!

Have a wonderful week!!

Five for Friday {July 25}

It's time for Five for Friday!

My week was all sorts of summer fun....with a little bit of work tucked in.   

1. I make my own laundry soap.  I found a "recipe" a few years ago, and the whole concept intrigued me enough to try it.  I've been making my own ever since.  This is a double batch and will last me between 4 and 6 months.

I'll be talking more about it on Monday for Monday Made It.  Come back then if you'd like more info!

2.  This week I had THREE lazy beach/pool/relax with friends days.  AWESOME.  Two of them at friends' cottages and one of them at Lake Michigan.  Here are some pics from the first one.  This is how I spent Monday.  Summer fun with my kids is one of the best things in the world.

I EVEN worked up the courage to do THIS!  I am not much of a water lover.  I'd rather be on the beach than in the water, but this looked like too much fun.  And it was.  At one point, my son (the adventure-seeker) said "I can tell we're going sooooo fast.  Good job mom!".  Bless him.  We were going 14 MPH.  

I did pick up speed after getting comfortable. :) So much fun.

 3. A little bit of school work.  All in moderation in the summer!  Cutting out these adorable stitched stars for my door display this year!  Next step...add my little superstars' names and laminate them!

4. This is FREE in my TPT store.  I posted about it yesterday.  Go snag it if your word wall needs a fresh look!

5. So, you know how I'm on Facebook now???  Well, I'm still trying to figure it all out.  I've spent too much time this week trying to set up a Fan Freebie app on my page.  I *think* I've got it now (fingers crossed), although I haven't actually tried adding a freebie yet, so I guess time will tell!  Ha!  Hoping to get something added there next week....I'll let you know so that you can go get it!

Carrie and Danielle were both so patient and helpful and answered so many questions for me.  Thanks a million, girls!

I'm headed to Chicago for the weekend and can't wait!  See you back here next week, friends!