Classroom Maintanence

Here’s a few more little Pinterest gems I use that make our classroom routines a little smoother.

Job Flip Chart

Now this one didn’t exactly come from Pinterest, but it’s how I do things. For the week, I choose a girl and a boy helper. They do all of the classroom “jobs” that we need (line leader, hand sanitizer, bathroom monitor, etc). This is how I keep up with it. It’s just index cards that are hole-punched with a big ring. Done!

Lunch Choice Magnets

I found these little gems last year at The Dollar Tree and used them for Daily Data. This year I bought another set, spray painted them to match (they come in a set of blue, pink, grey, and black), and labeled a Dollar Tree cookie sheet to keep track of our lunch choices. This is also a super easy way to notice who is absent first thing in the morning.

Sign-Out Board

Last year I used a pocket chart for this. Students inserted a blue card if they were at the restroom, red if they were out. I liked how I could look at the board and easily know how was out. Students could also see if another student was already in the restroom (we go as needed when I’m not giving instruction). However, it didn’t take long for the little pockets to get torn up, no matter how many times I laminated them. So enter this Pinterest idea.

Now this hasn’t been perfect. I’m having issues with students taking a LONG time to write their names (and add stars… or hearts… or squiggles… or… whatever!), so I’ve had to spend some time explaining it’s purpose (and not it’s purpose) and being a “mean teacher” by enforcing what I’ve said. “If you have time to draw, you don’t really need to go. Sit down.”

Felt Footies

I saw this all over Pinterest and thought there is no way that is going to last. However, after watching my floor quickly turn to a dull shade of grey yet again, I decided to give it a try. I bought colored felt from Hobby Lobby (to match each table color). I recruited my brother to cut them into fourths. Then as a class, we put them on our chairs. The idea was that if the students put them on the chairs themselves, they would be more likely to keep up with them.

So here’s how it’s going. First of all, the “buying in” really worked. The students spent their own time putting them on and they genuinely keep an eye out for them; making sure they are still on, putting them back on if necessary. Score! And even better, they are actually keeping the floor clean. I’ve already had several compliments from the custodians that my floor is looking pretty good. Of course, if a pencil lead or crayon tip gets caught under a foot, it’s still nice and scratched across the floor, but what cha gonna do?

Despite the general success, I have learned a few things about them that I hope to pass on to you! First, having the students put them on was great for buy-in, but they did not get them on as tightly as needed. They were popping off that day. So I did have to go back and redo those myself. Second, if you keep the rubber band too close to the foot, you create a large flap that can be stepped on. My solution was to put the rubber band on more like this:

Make sure the flaps are tucked in. Now this fixed the problem for most of my students, but my more active ones still step all over theirs. The other solution would be to cut them smaller.

Feeling inspired? Try one and let me know how it works for you!

 

 

Little Classroom Goodies

So I’ve taken a HUGE sabbatical from blogging as I got this school year started. I don’t know about you, but our district has adopted a brand new reading program and that means TONS of extra work for me. Luckily, I had some amazing guys to help me assemble our tests today. They are rewarding themselves with a little gaming, and I’ll be rewarding myself with a little blogging.

This post is to showcase a few small Pinterest finds that I’ve implemented in my room this year. Love them all!

Rubber Bands on the Hand Sanitizer

This is such a simple idea and probably the best one ever! Last year, I had a huge issue with hand sanitizer on the floor, which eats the wax. I saw this on Pinterest and it is the quickest solution ever!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No mess. Just the right amount for little hands. Perfect!

Push Pin Clothespins

I saw this for using on bulletin boards, but I knew it would be perfect for our hall display. We have a long strip of cork mounted to the walls outside our rooms. A thumb tack would be perfect and the clothespin would allow students to swap out their work quickly. All I needed was clothespins, flat headed thumb tacks, and hot glue.

Now for the record, I had a friend try the same thing and a few are falling apart. I think it has to do with the placement of the thumb tack. Make sure it stays closer to the pivot point than to the top.

So those are a few little gems from Pinterest that have made my year a little easier!

Handlettering on a Chalkboard

This has become one of my favorite projects. When I got married, my new team gave me a gift card to Home Goods. I wasn’t sure what to get with it, so I carried it around for the longest time. I finally settled on a huge, framed chalkboard. There’s a great spot for it in my “kitchen,” and I figured it’d be a good way to display motivational phrases and lyrics. PLUS I saw this awesome pin on Pinterest about how chalk lettering was so easy!

The Process:

The tip I picked up from several blogs was to create a design and print it out. I used Microsoft Publisher, since I became so familiar with it over the summer. Really. It’s much easier than Word for poster, worksheets, etc. Any way, print it out to life-size.

Now here’s the trick: rub the back of your printed paper with chalk. I had better luck tracing over the general outline of the design on the back than just rubbing across the whole thing. It will give you cleaner lines and guarantee you don’t miss anything.

Can you see a little chalk on there? Anyway, then comes the first long tedious part, flip it onto your chalkboard and trace the whole thing with a dull pencil.

This takes awhile and some back strength. Your cat may even be bored out of her mind.

But it’s worth it because when you remove the paper you have this lovely outline!

And now, long, draw-out, tedious part 2: trace it again!

By the way, if you haven’t seen this hand trick on Pinterest, it was a big help! It really works!!!

The Result:

You end up with this beautifully designed and polished piece, ready for display in your home.

The Review:

Overall, this idea is pretty simple with a stunning result, but it takes A LOT of time and a good deal of patience. The outline takes out a lot of the guesswork, but a steady hand is still a plus. Also, instead of using one big paper, you can cut the words apart and work on them individually. This makes filling the whole space a little easier (if you are working with a big surface), but there was something about it I just didn’t care for…

Here are some other pieces I did.

Try it yourself and let me know how it goes!

My Classroom Renovations

Okay, so it’s not exactly a Pinterest project, but I’m super proud of the updates I’ve made to my room this year. This is my fourth year teaching, but the very first time I’ve been in the same school, same grade level, same room, so I took full advantage of it and made it my own. The room already had an orange-ish wall, so I wanted to add a color that would compliment that. Plus, we have a wonderful principal who lets us paint, so I went for it! My theme: teal and dots!

First, I painted the focal wall (the first thing you see when you come into the room). This had two purposes: 1) to add color! 2) to cover up a big black rectangle that had been painted there by a previous occupant. This wasn’t a bad idea, but last year I acquired a Promethean board and that’s the only spot I could put it, so it looked kinda silly back there.

 

It didn’t take long for the old brain to get to turnin’ and I decided to expand my painting to the two long walls as well. But instead of painting the whole wall, I decided to do something less extreme. I would paint the top two rows of blocks and add something fun: POLKA DOTS!

I pulled the color scheme from a set of products I found at The Parent/Teacher Store. I knew I was going to implement teal because it was a such a wonderful compliment to the subtle orange already in my room. This color palette allowed me to integrate lots of other colors too.

So here’s the final product:

This is standing in the door.

Looking back at the entrance.

The white board with Daily Data.

My classroom library with coordinating baskets and objectives board.

Cubbies and my meeting table.

So that’s it! I’ll have to post another blog focusing on some of the features of my room, but I’m just in love with the walls! It’s so bright and cheerful. I love being in my room now 🙂 It really feels like MY room. I can’t wait to share it with a new group of students!

Tissue Pom-Poms

I’m sure most of us have seen this oh-so-simple idea on Pinterest:

I decided to update my classroom and add some color, so this seemed like a quick and easy way to do it. So I gathered my supplies (tissue paper, twist ties, and string) and got to work!

The Process:

I bought the mixed set of tissue paper from The Dollar Tree, so the first thing I did was separate them into colors.

I combined two sets of each color (two packs) for a total of 10 sheets of each color.

Then came the accordion fold. Easy enough.

And twisty-tied the center and tied a string around that. Then I clipped the ends. Some I did in a rounded petal, some pointed, and some not clipped.

Now here was my snag. I tied the twisty-tie TIGHT, so when I went to fluff ball, I couldn’t get down into the center without tearing it.

My solution was to untie it and retie it more loosely (almost flat). This helped a lot, although I have since seen some folks pull it off with a tight tie in the middle. To each his own!

The Result:

Overall, I’m pretty impressed. They were simple to assemble, fairly easy to fluff, and made a big impact. They were also MUCH cheaper than buying them ($4 for 10 vs $8 for 3 at Party City).  Here they are in my classroom:

The Review:

Pretty simple and impactful. Just remember to take your time when fluffing, and I had better luck with a lose tie in the center.

Listerine Foot Soak-A Guest Post

I’m super excited to have my first guest blogger. It’s none other than my friend who inspired me into the blogging world, Alyssa from Two-Thirds Scarlett. Here’s her latest misadventure from Pinterest:

If you’ve ever read my blog, (Two-Thirds Scarlett, shameless plug),then you know I’m not what you call “crafty”.  Very rarely do I attempt anything on Pinterest.  But this little home remedy was so easy I had to try it.

I have really dry, cracked feet from wearing nothing but sandals for months.  Not very pretty.  This “miracle” pin said:

“Mix 1/4 c Listerine (any kind but I like the blue), 1/4 c vinegar and 1/2 c of warm water. Soak feet for 10 minutes and when you take them out the dead skin will practically wipe off.”

First off, I had to double all the “ingredients” to even make a puddle deep enough to soak my piggies in.  Ten minutes later…nothing.  NO change.  No softening.  No dead skin falling off like snow (sorry for the visual).  The only thing I accomplished was making my feet smell minty fresh.  And they were tingly so that was kind of nice.

Long story short: Pinterest FAIL.  Don’t waste your time (or your mouth wash for that matter).  Apparently the real miracle home remedy is applying Vicks Vapor Rub or Vaseline to your feet and then just…putting on socks.  Surely Chris has a pair he wouldn’t mind sacrificing…

Thanks, Alyssa, for being my first guest blogger and sharing your Pinterest adventure with us!

Back to School! DIY Owl Decor

Well, that time of year is here: back to school! It both gets my mind running with new ideas and fills me with fear at the same time. No more sleeping in or having all day to accomplish simple tasks. No more squeaky clean house or friends over at all hours of the night. But I get a whole new crop of children, new ideas to implement, and I even picked up a few new teammates this year. I’m super excited!!! And so I decided to jump in to the back to school spirit with a fun, simple project I kinda found through Pinterest, but more teacherspayteacher.com.

I love owls, and I’m using them as a minor theme in my classroom (you’ll have to check out my blog about my classroom make over to see the main theme). So when I found this template on teacherspayteachers.com, I thought, “What a great door decoration!” So here it goes:

The Supplies:

scrapbook paper
white paper
black paper
yellow/orange paper
glue
template… “paper” (cardstock, cardboard, etc.)

The Process:

It was simple enough. Create the template, trace, assemble. I happen to have this fabulous Quickstitch paper lying around. Both my husband and I worked/work for an accessory company that used to do embroidery inside acrylic products like cups and key chains. When they nixed the department, we picked up the leftovers. It worked wonderfully!

The Result:

Absolutely adorable owls! I had a lot of fun placing the pupils to give them personality. LOVE!

Here’s what I did with them. Welcome new friends!

The Review:

Nice and simple. It took a little time to cut everything, but overall it was simple to do and had a powerful result.

Here’s the link to the free template again. Happy crafting!

Easy Cheeseburger Sliders

Week night dinner! Add to the mix that I have some how managed to injure my back and that means I need a much less “involved” recipe. Well, I found this post awhile ago, so we picked up some Hawaiian Sweet Rolls on a trip to Walmart, and we’re ready to roll!

Here’s a link to the original blog at Better Recipes.

The Process:

Right off the bat, I had this pictured all wrong. I assumed it was a 9×9 pan that made 4 burgers. Then I got to thinking about it and realized those would be full-sized burgers. Well, then I actually READ the recipe. It calls for a 9×13 pan and 2 lbs of ground sirloin. Ah. It’s beginning to make sense. Alas, I only had one pound of ground chuck thawed and it’s only the hubs and I anyway, so I would just tone it down.

I’m just going to go ahead and say, I had no intentions of following the directions on preparing the hamburger meat. In fact, there’s another recipe that has a fabulous slider taste that I planned on using. Of course, like any “good cook,” I just eye-balled it instead of measuring. For me it’s all about the smell! So my hamburger meat got some bread crumbs, some dry minced onions (I never have the real stuff in the house), a dash of Worcestershire, and (per the hubs request) ground garlic pepper. I mixed all that together in the pan and pressed it down. This was a little more trying than I expected since I used a glass pan, but I eventually got it all spread out and smushed together. Finally, another sprinkle of ground garlic pepper and into the oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Now my first thought with this was about grease. I mean, in a frying pan I end up with a puddle of grease, so won’t the same thing happen? Well, I was right. I ended up with a big cooked patty surrounded by grease. For the record, this is probably due in part to using ground chuck instead of sirloin, but still. Luckily I was able to hold the patty in place with a spatula and drain it into the sink. Problem solved!

Then I had another surprise. The Hawaiian Sweet Rolls I bought… I was quite thrilled because they were already cut as “hamburger buns.” I thought, “How convenient! It’s like they knew I was coming.” But what I failed to notice was they were actually hamburger-sized hamburger buns, so no sliders tonight. Just hamburgers. So I ended up cutting the big patty just as I expected: into 4 patties. No big deal. Still had leftovers and didn’t feel like a fatty putting two hamburgers on my plate 😉

The Result:

So now I know you’re dying to know how they came out. Well, here it is! It was quite tasty, even though it wasn’t a slider. Also, the process was really simple. It certainly beats standing over a frying pan and there’s no point starting up a grill for two burgers. I think it was the nice onion flavor in the burger and the Hawaiian Sweet Roll bun that made it fabulous.

(… maybe I need to do something with that flour left out from my cookie experiment.)

The Review:

• Yummy! But most of the flavor came from the onion, Worcestershire, and Hawaiian Sweet Roll.
• Pay attention to the buns you buy!
• A much easier alternative to cooking burgers on a stove.

Overall, I recipe I plan to repeat!

Here’s a link to the original blog at Better Recipes.

Firecracker Lofthouse Cookies

I had a get-together to attend this weekend and wanted to bring something. I scoured my extensive Pinterest boards and finally settled on attempting these projects in combination.

    

The fourth of July is coming up, so I wanted to try out this Pop-Rock sprinkle idea and Lofthouse house cookies are my all-time favorite, so I was curious if I could pull off these delectable treats myself! Turns out, I can!!!

Here’s the original recipe that I used from Authentic Suburban Gourmet, or here’s is a printable PDF: Lofthouse Style Frosted Sugar

The Process:

Assembling the ingredients was pretty basic for a cookie dough; no surprises there. Although, it would have gone much smoother if I actually had a paddle attachment and an actually Kitchen-Aid mixer. (If Kitchen-Aid would like to sponsor me in return for some good blogging, I wouldn’t object!) For some reason my little Sunbeam just isn’t up to the task of mixing dough and I ended up transferring the wet ingredients into a bigger bowl to blend with the dry. Overall though, I was surprised how easy it did blend together, even with my sad equipment.

Getting it onto the plastic wrap to refrigerate was fun since this is by far the STICKIEST DOUGH I have EVER worked with, but wasn’t too difficult. I managed, and chilled it over night. Then came the fun part: rolling, cutting, baking!

As mentioned before, this is THE STICKIEST DOUGH I’ve EVER worked with, so it required a LOT of flour and a second attempt at rolling it out. Luckily, the recipe called for cutting the dough in half , so I just balled that puppy back up, popped it in the fridge, and pulled out the other nicely chilled batch. The problem I ran into with the first attempt was I used my counter top and apparently did not flour it enough. I made it all the way to cutting the cookies, but when I went to transfer them to the cookie sheet, they would not come off the counter. I ended up having to use my scrapper for cleaning baking stones to get it all back together. (No pictures of that, sorry). Anyway, on the second attempt I used parchment paper and LOTS of flour, so I had no issues.

     

I ended up using a drinking glass to get nice, big cookies (as recommended in the blog). For the most part, it worked great. But I did end up spraying the rim of the glass with baking spray to keep it from sticking and had to clean it off quiet a bit to keep the cuts nice and smooth. This got easier the faster I was able to work with the dough. The longer the dough was out, the more it returned to a sticky mess. The morale here: work with it quickly and efficiently to avoid stickiness.

     

Then came the baking! I live an apartment with an oven that I have literally super-glued the handle back on to, so needless to say, it’s not the most reliable appliance. I’m still learning how to make it do exactly what I want. But after figuring out it actually heats itself up 25 degrees warmer than you set it, I’ve gotten much better. Now if I could just figure out how to get the center of cakes to cook correctly…. Anyway, all that to show you the difference a minute or two can make. The batch on the left was cooked for 10 minutes. Notice the golden brown color; yeah, you don’t want that for these cookies. They should stay nice and pale: almost no color change at all, like the batch on the right (8 minutes). For the record, the golden brown cookies weren’t “ruined.” They just didn’t have the same consistency as Lofthouse cookies. They were a little more crunchy on the outside, but still nice and soft on the inside. (Hey look! There’s my Sunbeam stand mixer, with the mixer pulled off.)

I ended up with 4.5 dozen cookies, using every last bit of dough (you need that .5 for tasting purposes. Can’t take something to a party you’ve never tasted, and you certainly can’t take an odd number of cookies. That just wouldn’t be acceptable!)

Decorating:

So Friday when I bought all the supplies was a pretty bad day and I didn’t feel like fighting with my sad mixer for dough AND frosting, so I opted for store bought. Then came the hunt for Pop Rocks. I was pretty sure that I could find them at The Dollar Tree, but after about 20 minutes of searching the one candy aisle, I was about to settle on a knock-off super hero version of “popping candy.” Then thankfully I noticed something in one of the bins… What’s this? It says Pop-Rocks? Ah, it’s masquerading in it’s retro 1970 packaging…. Thank you original Pop-Rocks for adding to my long day… But I had them!

   

My mother and I started an assembly line of frosting, sprinkling, and …. pop-rocking. The overall result was pretty adorable:

(please ignore the seashells on my counter….)

                               

Cute, right?

The Taste

And now the big moment: Do they live up to their namesake? The answer: heck yes! They were fabulous and just like a Lofthouse cookie. Then to top it off, the compliment I got over and over again was that they weren’t too sweet, although I think that was due to the store-bought icing.

The only disappointment was the Pop-Rock topping. After first making them, the Pop-Rocks were kind of fun. They added a little pop, but not much. Also, I had some concerns about the Pop-Rocks being cherry flavored, but I couldn’t taste that at all. But the major downside was Pop-Rocks on icing don’t keep! I decorated the cookies a couple hour before the party, and after putting them in a covered container, the Pop-Rocks ended up with a melted look. The batch I left out on the counter (open-air) didn’t “melt” so much, but certainly lost their power. The result: no one knew there were Pop-Rocks on the cookies 😦 Oh well.

Oh, and here’s what I’ve ended up with after 2 days in a sealed container. The icing feels just like it did coming out of the container. These are certainly cookies that need to breathe. But the good thing is leaving them out doesn’t dry out the cookies.

The Review:

• The cookie recipe lived up to it’s name, but the process was a little involved. But if you’ve worked with rolling out and cutting cookies before, you’ll have no problem.
• Flour, flour, and more flour! Protect anything that touches the dough!
• The more efficient you are with a rolling pin and cookie cutter, the less time you’ll spend in sticky dough.
• Do not overcook them or you’ll loose the Lofthouse texture.
• Keep the cookies in open air rather than an air-tight container (I know. Backwards, right?)
• If decorating with Pop-Rocks, add them shortly before serving.
• I also had an issue with the contrast of colors in the sprinkles and Pop-Rocks. If I revisit this idea, I’ll probably use this Pinterest recommendation instead:

Your turn! This really was a fun cooking adventure.

Here’s the original recipe that I used from Authentic Suburban Gourmet, or here’s is a printable PDF: Lofthouse Style Frosted Sugar

Spring Wreath

I live in an apartment, so I don’t have much say in what the outside of my home looks like. That’s how I fell in love with front door wreaths! It just sets the mood for the home you’re about to enter.

So here’s the inspiration I found on Pinterest:

Nice and simple, right? I thought so. Perfect for several seasons.

Supplies:

• grapevine wreath
• burlap
• wooden letter (or numbers)
• paint
• a few artificial flowers
• hot glue
• floral wire (or another idea for a hook)

I got all my supplies from Michael’s. It pretty easy to catch the florals on sale at any given point. I got individual stems of daisies for half off. Oh, and if you haven’t downloaded the Michael’s app on your smartphone, DO! There are always digital coupons they can scan at the register right from your phone. You can pretty much count on there being a 40% off any regular priced item at any given point, so I got the wreath for 40% too. I love getting a good deal 🙂

The process:

Simple enough. Remove the flower head from the stem and hot glue in place. Paint your letter and hot glue in place. Tie a bow with a piece of burlap (always start with more than you think you’ll need. It’s easier to trim down than start over) and hot glue in place. Finally, create a hook for the back. I use floral wire to create a loop and twist onto the wreath.

So here’s my finished product:

Review:

Super simple project with very nice results. The cost was very low for something I’m very pleased with.