Decorating my planner

While I've told you about my planner and said I was planning on sprucing it up, I've started a new hobby of "decorating" my planner each week. 

I don't decorate as elaborately as some people you may see on Youtube but I add just little touches of cuteness to make my week happier. 
 

Plus it gives me a bit of creative outlet that doesn't take more than the extra 5 minutes a week I have. 

5 Tech-y things I'm loving right now

I am home with a yucky tummy bug.  Since I have now started feeling a little better, I decided to write a blog post.

Hmmm. . . what should I write about?  It's Friday so I would like to link up with Doodle Bug Teaching for Five for Friday.  But I like to have a theme to my posts.  I don't want to get out of bed to do anything so anything requiring creating/ decorating is out.  Maybe some computer things I like/ am using currently?  Okay, let's go with it!

Cricut Design Space Link

 This is a nice Overview Video.  I love this Youtube channel for easy to understand directions. 

Not including a link as if you don't use Reading Street it's useless.  :)

 No links for this-- just play around in Excel just like Word or PowerPoint!

iTunes link to Jumbled Sentences 1

Dropbox

Cricut cards to go with my new Cricut Explore One

My Cricut Explore One is now here.  I even set it up last night.  I am too rushed to blog about it tonight-- maybe later this week.  In the meantime, here are 4 cards I made with my (old, tiny) cricut.

Source- CAS(E) this sketch

I found this card sketch challenge.  It looks pretty simple so I decided to play along.  You know I can't follow directions but here is how it came out!

This is my closest card to the original. . . not quite there.  This is my daughter's favorite as she thinks the cupcake looks yummy. 

Sorry this one is so blurry-- really cute in real life!  I am too busy to retake pictures (or at least, I don't want to get the card out again when it is put away).  I like how "celebrate" is deliberately vague.  Can be used for birthday, anniversary, wedding, etc.

When planning out this card, I thought that the bow at the bottom could be the start of the stripes at the bottom of the layout.  I couldn't figure out what to do with it though so I abandoned that idea.  This is my husband's favorite card and again, party could be for lots of occasions. 

If you can't figure out, this one doesn't really follow the sketch at all.  It was late. . . my daughter needed to go to bed.  I did cut out 4 butterflies and fluffed them out.  Then I took a picture at an angle so you can see the flutter of them.  

I won a new Cricut Explore!

Yay!  It is not here yet but here are some links to inspire me in the meantime!  (Some of these are only able to be done with the newer, bigger Cricut-- some I probably could have done already. . . but I haven't) 

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I need to decorate my school laptop-- just so I can easily tell it is mine and not another teacher's or for students.  I am excited about being able to lay out projects online before cutting them.  I am also excited about the 12 X 12 size-- I know most Cricuts are this size but my Cricut was only 6 X 12. 

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 I am not sure that I will do this exact project but I am super, duper excited that I will be able to cut my own fonts like this "Pass the Chex" font from Kevin and Amanda. 

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This new Cricut is also supposed to be super intricate-- it can cut stuff like the  banner above.  I don't plan on making that banner but I think that the cuts would make cute cards. 

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This is not really a Cricut project at all but it would go great with my newly decorated laptop.  Plus, it lets me highlight a new Cricut feature-- print then cut.  Basically you can print cutesy designs like above and then cut them out with your Cricut.  So pumped for this feature! 

So stay tuned for my wonderful posts about all the things I cut out with my new Cricut! 

"Tot School" this week

I am not one to do too much in the way of cutesy themes-- either for school or at home.  This is mostly because I'm lazy, but also that I think part of life is the randomness.  Since school has started though, I have may a conscious effort to play with my daughter, to give her experiences that I may otherwise skip because they are a pain.  

Here are 5 experiences we experienced in the last week or so-- All with the "Creativity" theme:

Playdough

Here is my Amazon affiliate link

We found this set at Kohl's about a month ago.  It was on sale and then I had a 30% off coupon.  As a bonus, if I spent $50, I got $10 Kohl's cash.  (I LOVE Kohl's!)

I really like this set.  It gives some scissors experience and is really good for "process" art with playdough.  (If you don't know about process art, it's basically where it's just playtime).

I think playdough is a great sensory toy with lots of squishiness.  Plus, we can decompose objects to try to build them.  We talk about how faces have eyes, ears, noses, etc. and try to build a face. 

Cards

I've written before about how I like to use my Cricut to make cards with my daughter.  We made a couple more cards this week.  We push the buttons together and then she "writes" in the inside.  Great pre-literacy skills.   

Beads

 

Our current fascination is beads.  We like to generally make a mess with them while occasionally putting them on a "necklace".  It's about 90% mess and 10% necklace making.  We talk about the shapes, the colors, and the sound they make when they go all over.  Plus, it's great for fine motor skills. 


Clothespin Decorations

 I bought some clothespins for a project a couple of years ago, used the 2-3 I needed and then put the rest of the bag in the craft closet.  The little girl found them while we were making cards and decided we needed to "decorate" them.  We used mod podge on them.  Great experience with a paintbrush.

Yoga

See the Youtube Channel here

I know this doesn't really "fit" with the rest but we found this yoga series on Youtube.  It tells a story while doing yoga poses.  It's good for winding down before bedtime.  I also think it's good for listening comprehension as we have to follow a storyline.

Speaking of winding down, that's it' for me.  I'm linking up to a couple of parties-- Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday and #TeacherMom for her TotSchool link-up (she is much more organized than me!).

Simple Gifts

This week I put together some simple gifts.  The photo above shows what I gave my team. The printable "You make me happy when skies are gray" is from here. 

Source- I didn't use the bags- just taped a larger pack onto the card.

I share an office with 17 (!) other people.  So I also gave them each a pack of gum taped onto a cute card.  Figured we could all use fresh breath.  I didn't get a picture of this present but here is where I got the printable.

Finally, I made a gift for our neighbor who helped mow our yard when my husband was sick.  I heard the lawn mower, looked out and he was mowing!  So sweet!

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Again, I didn't get a picture of MY present.  Slightly different than above. My town has a soda shop with over 1,000 kinds of soda.  I just picked 6 random ones and packaged them in the store's carton.  I added the sign from here.

Did you know there were so many different kinds of sodas?  Some of my picks:

Leninade

Mr. Q Cumber

Boylan's Birch Beer

I'm sure he won't like all the flavors of soda, but hopefully he enjoys trying them out!  I'm linking up to 4th Grade Frolics for Made it Monday! 

Differentiated Literacy Centers

I got this book from another teacher years and years ago.  Since then, I've had to REALLY streamline things.  In just a year I went from a big, overstuffed classroom to a bookshelf to half a bookshelf to just having a desk area.  This change has been dramatic! 

So, instead of keeping this book at school, I made some digital files of the ideas I liked.  I'm not as great as some at digital creations but I enjoy it and keep learning new things! 

I'm planning on using this as a digital file only.  I will present it to my students and as they work through a text, they will have to write what the character does, says, and thinks.  I'll probably have them use this evidence to go a little deeper in the text and think about character traits.

This is such a simple response sheet.  I am thinking about using it in a couple of ways.  Maybe they could use post-its or annotate directly on text with these symbols.  Or maybe they can write about text they read using one or more of these prompts.  Or maybe I will actually print this out, cut these out as cards and then use a Kagan structure to get them to discuss it.

This chart is pretty self-explanatory.  I've mentioned before that my district just adopted Reading Street.  It has an online option to have the story read aloud.  I thought I could put this to use with some fluency practice.  It will take double the time so I will maybe just have them do it with selected pages.  (I need to figure out the logistics of this option).  I think I will teach them to do this in small group and then work with the classroom teachers on whether it makes sense to do this during independent time. 

English Language Learners sometimes have trouble with these question words (see other ESL posts here).  Plus, reciprocal teaching is HUGE in raising achievement.  I may cut these out and use them for students to ask each other questions.  Or maybe I'll just project and they write their questions as they read.

 

This is designed as a tic-tac-toe board for retelling stories.  You can ask 2 students to play together, taking turns going back and forth.  Or you can ask each student to connect 3 in a row on the board.

Very simple chart.  I'll project this.  They will recreate it in their notebook.  It's a version of FQR (google Fact Question Response for more information).  We will do the response part orally.

I like the "I see" wording as it can be used to view pictures, not just text.  This is great for building background with my kiddos.

I hope these creations gave you some ideas for what you can do with your kids!

I will say these charts all came from a probably 30 page section of the (200+ page) book.  There are lots of independent literacy center ideas in this book.  It's all about students being on task and accountable even when you are with your small group.  If you are looking for ideas, I would recommend it.  Even in 4th grade, many ideas can be used with modifications.  If you are a primary grades teacher, there are lots of making words/ sight words/ easy book ideas.   The reason I'm not keeping it at school is because it's really more for the classroom teacher.  It stayed though several elimination rounds though. 

Of course I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics!

Laundry Closet Love: Planning Edition

If I haven't mentioned it before, I'm a Pinterest addict.  There's just something my visual loving brain loves about it.

However, it can make me less than happy about my things.  While this is definitely a downfall, it also gets my behind moving.

I've been thinking about my Laundry Closet lately.  See, I'm a slobaholic.   I've been learning and trying to declutter little by little.  Nony from A Slob Comes Clean advocates for cleaning the most visible spaces first.  That's why I focused on a couple of visible areas in my kitchen earlier this summer (see them here and here). 

Now I am ready for a *bit* of a bigger challenge. That's my laundry closet.  I didn't stage this picture at all-- that's how bad it looks.  It does have doors that can shut.  However, it is in the most busy hallway and gets looked at about a million and one times a day.  We leave the door open too often.  So it's my next cleaning/ organizing project.

Here are my planning thoughts:

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I like the idea of containing all the mess in baskets.  These are from the Dollar Tree which is good because I don't want to spend a lot of money for a closet.

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This is a similar idea with the containers.  I like how it's not too matchy-- especially as I will need some big and some small containers.  I also like the green.

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I am not lucky enough to have just a laundry closet though.  My room is a laundry closet/ kitty litter box closet.  I like this little sign about the kitty door.  (Super bummed the Etsy shop doesn't sell these anymore.)

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It may be a bit overboard but this post is making me rethink my entire kitty litter system.

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Won't a cute little gallery wall make me want to do more laundry?

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I am in love with this printable-- everything about it the design, the colors, the meaning.

I am hoping to get this closet looking significantly better in a week.  Stay tuned for my update! 

I can't follow directions!

I feel like my standard disclaimer for crafts needs to be that I can't follow directions.  I know I'm a teacher.  I emphasize (to the kids) how important it is to follow directions.   The truth is. . . it's a real struggle for me!

I saw this card on Pinterest. 

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 I thought,  

"That's cute and simple."

"I can do that." 

"I even have that embossing folder".  

"I don't know know that I have those same colors."  

"I think I will just stick with yellows and oranges."

"Hmmm. . . maybe a pink background?"

 "Or this brown kraft paper?  It looks good with everything!"

"Now, how can I make this look less feminine?  How about striped ribbon?"

"Or how about this cute little chick?  He looks so sweet with the yellow!"  

"Should I add some flowers?"

I ended up with five birthday cards.  They all look quite different than the "inspiration" card and from each other.

 Friday night I went with 9 co-workers to a painting party.  Have you heard of these?  You basically get step-by-step directions to a painting and paint along while listening to music and drinking.  Here was the assigned painting for the night.  It's called Chevron Chic.

You know I REALLY can't follow directions when my painting turns out like this.

It's a bit more Seussical than whimsical. . . A bit more Nightmare before Christmas than Chic.  Oh well, I like it.

You know I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics.  I like seeing how projects come out when you do follow directions.  #mondaymadeit

I am starting a series tomorrow about the International Literacy Association Conference I went to last week.  Come back tomorrow to check it out!  #ILA15
Update:  Find posts here and here.