We LOVE our class!

I drew a faint heart on paper and had my kids all line their hands up around it!  It's not perfect, but it's kind of cool! 

App Review: TOCA BOCA!

 

TOCA BOCA apps are "a new way to play!"  They range in price from FREE - $2.99 and they're so FUN for toddlers to elementary kids.  Want to see a taste of what I'm talking about?  Check out my new app review HERE!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

I live in the frigid Midwest and honestly, winter is a little too long and gloomy for me.  BUT, what can ya do?  Can't change the weather, but... you CAN make bright wintry art projects to brighten up the halls!  :)  It helps the Winter go by a tiny bit faster.
Speaking of- I just found out that Groundhog's Day is on February 2 because it's the exact half-way mark between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox!  Who knew?  We're half way done with winter!  Bring on the Spring, baby!
So anyway, I found this art project somewhere on the Internet years ago... sorry, don't recall where, but I wanted to share it with everyone because it's so simple and cheery!

You could skip this beginning part, but we started by studying snowflakes and reading the story Snowflake Bentley.  He was a real person long ago who showed awesome perseverance and courage working to take photographs of snowflakes: "his gift to the world!"  Aren't they beautiful?!  It fascinates me how unique and intricate they are, yet so tiny and temporary.

 

So then we talk about how to draw snowflakes... all the different ways they can look, yet they have the basic 6-pointed shape.  I give them several examples of simple ways to draw different kinds.

Then, they get a paper that has 9 really faint circles on it.  Inside each circle, they use a white crayon to draw a snowflake.  Make sure they press hard (I wish I had told my class to press harder). You can find this paper for FREE on my TpT store!

Then get out the watercolors.  I modeled this ahead of time for the kids so they knew all the steps they'd be doing and I LOVE this part because they FREAKED OUT!  You paint over the circle with a bright color of paint.  The white crayon resists the color to make the snowflake appear!  Magic!

Finally I matted them on colorful paper and hung them up to display!  

Here are a few examples of their work:

 

 
 

 

Until Spring comes... let it snow! :)

  

AND we have a winner!!!

My first humble little giveaway is over!
No rafflecopter here, folks!  Just good old fashioned names in a bowl-- that beauty of being a small, new blog.  :)

 And.... drumroll....The lucky winner is.... Nikki!

Congratulations!  As soon as I post this, I'll be emailing The Mitten sub plans over to you! 

I hope you love them and they help make your life a little easier!  

I know for me, it's just such a relief to know that if one of my kids gets sick in the night... or if I suddenly can't make it to school for whatever reason... I have these plans on my desk all ready to roll!  No last minute scrambling or stress! :)

Thanks to everyone who entered and left comments!  

Rollin to the library!

Just popping in to share another quick, fun, CUTE classroom idea today!  This one is good cause it also solves a problem!  We get to visit the school library once a week and I've handled the task of physically carrying the books many different ways:  everyone has carried their own, I've unloaded little stacks into the tiny arms of quiet kids, I've just carried them all myself in a basket... but THIS right here is the ticket, folks!  Ready?

Find yourself a little shopping cart, jazz it up a bit, and BAM!  BEST WAY TO RETURN LIBRARY BOOKS.  Hands down. Parents and other teachers will squeal with delight as you pass them in the hall. And of course the kids love it, too.  It's too cute.


I found this sturdy one at a garage sale for $2.  I'm still kicking myself for not snatching up the sweet, metal Pottery Barn Kids one I saw once for $10 at someone's sale... cause that would have been way cuter, but oh well.  Live and learn.  :)

 

action shot!

So there ya go- just another fun idea I loved and wanted to share with the world!  

THANK YOU notes!

 

Thank you notes: what a fun, simple way to totally make someone's day! It's paraprofessional appreciation week here and I have three wonderful paras who make our class a GREAT place to work and learn!  So I had the kids take a few minutes and write them each a note.  They were precious... I edited these to not show the kid's names... but you can get the idea.  

Who wouldn't LOVE to get a stack of notes like that from some sweet, tiny Kindergarteners or 1st graders with adorable inventive spelling?!

I thought other people might be having paraprofessional appreciation week  and be interested in something like this, too!  You could actually use it for a W I D E variety of occasions... some ideas include: 

* to thank volunteers after a party or field trip

* to write to friend's around Valentine's Day

* for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grandparent's Day

* for paraprofessional appreciation week

* for secretary appreciation day

* to thank school workers (custodians, cafeteria staff, principal, etc)

* at Thanksgiving time-- you could put this in a center and kids can write notes to anyone they want!

If you like it, you could pick this little item up on my TpT store today for only $1!  

 Go make someone's day! :)

Garlic is an AWESOME immunity booster!! Stay healthy!

You might remember a little while back I posted one of my favorite tips for avoiding the stomach flu!  Well, I'm back to throw out another one that I like even more!!
Garlic!

I found out about this from my nutritionist.  I was telling her about my grape juice trick and she said SHE would do garlic-- it works even better and you steer clear of all the sugar.  It naturally kills viruses, bacteria, fungus and more!  It's like a natural antibiotic that you won't develop a tolerance to.

I'm always up for new ideas so I gave it a try!  That was November and let me tell you-- I've been healthy ever since, dodging germs, colds, and all kinds of other fun stuff left and right!

So here's what I do:

1. Grab a bulb of garlic from Target or anywhere... they're so cheap... less than $1 for sure.
2. Peel off the paper-y layers.  Pick a clove or two and get ALL the paper off it.  
3. Chop it up into little pieces. (I pop a mug of water into the microwave while I'm doing this)
4. Grab a spoon and shovel it in!  It might be good to chew it a few times, but if you've chopped it up a lot, you won't need to do a ton of chewing.  You could maybe just swallow it all like you'd swallow a pill.
5. I chase it with the warm/hot water I fixed while I was chopping the garlic.  For me, the warmer water seems to take away some of the "burn" of the garlic.  Okay, don't be scared- it doesn't really burn, but it's just kind of an interesting, hot sort of taste.  Hard to describe, but not that bad!  I'd rather that a few seconds of ICK, than a few weeks full of SICK!  Right?? :)

So here are other important tips I learned from reading things and talking to people:  

• It's key to eat it right away after you chop it up.  If you let it sit out, refrigerate it, or cook it, it loses some of it's amazing benefits.
• Be sure to have some food in your tummy when you eat the garlic!  Even when I do, I still sometimes have to lay down for just 2 minutes afterwards cause it feels icky (only once in awhile-- not often-- but just saying cause if this happens to you, the feeling will go away fast!  No worries!).
• The hot/warm water is also helpful for beating down germs! 
• Some people eat a clove or more a day as part of their daily routine-- just to boost their immunity!
• Unlike the grape juice trick, even if you already have a cold-- it's NOT too late to try this solution!  Taking garlic several times per day can shorten or really relieve cold symptoms!

Now if you DO find yourself suddenly sick in the middle of the night, don't panic if you're a K-1 teacher because you can just whip out your "Super Speedy Sub Plans!"... YESSSS!  But here's to hoping that never needs to happen.

I'm so excited about this, I just had to pass it on!  I KNOW if you try it out, it will help you stay healthier and avoid some of those icky bugs flying around the schools this time of year!  Several times I've felt a headache or a sore throat coming on, but then I take my garlic and BAM!  All better and nothing ever comes of it.  It's too, too cool.

If anyone has any other tips for how to stay healthy or do the garlic thing- leave me a comment!  I love to learn!

Cheers to staying healthy!