December Monday Made-It

Oh my goodness, December is already here and I only have 2 weeks left until my Winter Break. Now how exciting is that? I realized that it has been a while since I linked up with 4th Grade Frolics for some Monday Made-it. I definitely would like to share with all my wonderful bloggy friends what I have been up to this month. So . . . here I go!

Acrylic Sub Tub

My good friend's birthday is coming up and I decided to hand make her a gift this year instead of buying something she might not need or like. Recently I have been obsessed with acrylic items; from my acrylic bed tray to my acrylic EC recipe box. So, when my friend Aris from Sailing into Second, introduced me to an acrylic file organizer from Target turned into a sub tub I just had to get myself one. 

Below is a picture of the one I made for myself:

(Yes, I was too lazy to take my tub out of my shelf. Don't judge!)

Here is the one I made my friend:

(I feel like the one I made her came out WAY better than mine. LOL)

Aaaaannnddd . . . here is what I mean by obsessed with acrylic:

(I even had to get myself an acrylic pencil holder, which is really a straw holder)

Nautical Whales Book Hospital & Box Top Bucket

This past summer, I remember going to Learning in Wonderland's  blog and telling myself that I needed to make myself a nautical book hospital and box top bucket like she did for her owl themed classroom. However, that project got put on hold since I was teaching a 2/3 combo class for the first 2 months of this school year. BUT now that I am a regular 3rd grade class teacher again, I have time during weekends and breaks to actually craft like I like to! I was finally able to create my projects using my Cricut Explore:

(I'm SO happy with how my project turned out! You can't tell from this pic, but the whale to the left is also holding a box top sticker)

Winter Classroom Projects

Pinterest has seriously been my best friend this past year. I saw this awesome D.I.Y for kids using mason jars as snow globes and decided to try it to test out the level of difficulty. It actually is a very easy project, especially if you have parent helpers helping in the classroom. I will be having my kiddos bring in an empty and unlabeled glass jar to school next week along with a picture of themselves. I also used my Cricut Explore to make labels that say, "There SNOW Place Like Home". Just search for "mason jar snow globes" on Pinterest and you will find all the directions and list of materials needed!

(Believe it or not I don't print out pictures and this old picture of me feeding a deer at the SD Wild Animal Safari Zoo was the only picture I could find of myself)

 Elf on a Shelf Delivery

Tomorrow, Santa will be delivering my Elf on a Shelf book along with a letter to my class. My sister made this awesome bow and I am using Jaimie Knudson from Kinder World Way Elf on a Shelf resources and note tags this year. I can't wait for my class to meet their elf!

 Stampin' Up

Isn't my sister so crafty? She held a stamp class for my teacher friends this past Sunday. These are the cards we all made! My favorite one is the car with the Christmas tree and the snow angel. I just hung mine up on my mini tree.

 O.C.D Tendencies

Lately I have been getting WAY too many clip art (I mean can you blame me? They're just SO cute!) and I was starting to lose track of what I had already purchased or not. So . . . my crazy, anal, needs to be organized or my life is chaotic self; was inspired by Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd's "Organize Your TpT Cover" to organize ALL MY CLIP ART COLLECTION! 

This is what my file cover and 2 out of 10 pages of my clip art file looks like:

(Don't you just love the Aztec background paper? I'm also obsessed with collecting digital background paper if you can't tell)

As you can see, when I need a file I can just open my document open on my laptop and see if I have the clip art already or not. I am still working on adding the actual title of each clip art above each picture. My summer plan is to have all my digital files that I purchased on TpT also organized by subject. Life is just easier when it is organized, that is all I can say! 

Whew . . . what a long post! 

Procrastination = My Best Work

Hello there mateys! 

I don't know about you, but some of my best work comes from the pressure of me slacking off and waiting until last minute to do things. (It is stressful at the time, but the stress makes me work super hard). <-- Anyone understand me on this one... or is it just *crickets*?!?

So... just like my style, here is my Monday Made it on a Tuesday .... YAY! I am SO extra glad that 4th Grade Frolics keeps her linky open ALL week for us not so proficient teachers out there =P

My interactive chalkboard 

Since putting this up, I struggled to find why I even put this up in the first place. But I am so glad that I did. Instead of dealing with annoying post-it sticks that fall incessantly, I am having students answer their essential question of the week during their Workshop time on this chalkboard. I was able to purchase these super awesome & colorful chalkboard markers from Amazon. I tested it on a small patch to make sure it wipes off and it does! All you do is take a wet cloth and erase what you wish to erase and let it dry for the next use. It is seriously so neat! My students had a ball using this today. It allows me to do a  quick check of not only their ability to relate text-to-self connections, but I can see sentence structure, spelling, grammar, and punctuation. 

My Mailbox Area

Ever deal with tattling? Or inappropriate comments during instructional time? Well, I got the solution for you! A few years ago, I saw a tattling turtle from reallygoodstuff.com. Instead of investing on the turtle, I decided to pull out this mailbox that I bought from Lakeshore during an episode of compulsive shopping on my end. Since then, my mailbox station was born.

I tell my students during the first few days of school, that they can write to me and put their thoughts in my mailbox if they have a concern, a comment, or random things that are NOT emergencies. I tell them I check my mailbox after school and will "reply" to them by Friday of that same week. Most of the time, I either get students tattling on one another or sweet notes. The tattle notes, I usually address with a "thank you for informing me and I will take care of it" or if it is serious, then I do address it as a class on a Friday. Notes and letters from students I usually give a thank you card with a sticker letting them know how they made my day.

The note above is from one of my students in my class this year. I never throw any of my students' notes. I keep it in a file folder and take out it after school to read for those really tough days (I'm sure every teacher can relate). Along with this note, her BFF wrote me one informing me that her previous teacher had 3 trash cans. She wanted to know why I didn't invest in a 3rd one as well. To that student, I will write "Thank you for your concern, but 2 trash cans are plenty for me." =)

Homework Club Board

I finally finished making my "Are you in it" homework club sign to go with this board! I had all the magnets, but kept procrastinating on the actual sign to let students know what that board was for. With homework starting this week, I HAD to make it. Hmmm...can you tell I am obsessed with lime green these days?

Close Reading Bookmarks

Last year, I went to a CCSS training with my grade level team. We learned how interactive close reading can be. Students are asked to constantly reflect on their reading which I thought was really neat! After all, we all learn during HS (a little too late in my opinion) how good readers take notes during reading. The fact that this training opened my eyes to how EARLY good note-taking takes place; blew my mind away! 

I was bored one day and decided to make my kiddos their own Close reading bookmark. They keep one in their supply bin and another one they take home. Let me know if anyone reading would like one and I will gladly e-mail it to you. =)

That is it for my Monday (really Tuesday) made it! Don't forget to link up with 4th Grade Frolics to join!