3D Paper Flowers

The other day, I saw these flowers on sale at Walmart for a not-so-much low price. I said to my husband, "I can't believe they're selling these things for this price when you can make them at home, using whatever color or design paper you want for SO much cheaper!!!"

I actually made these for my wedding reception. We placed them on top of the napkins.

Kind of hard to see, but it is a black rose.

I have also used this for a Mother's Day boquet craft with kiddos at children's church. However, my latest use was bulletin board use. When my classroom had a garden theme, I used them for my first bulletin board of the year.

These things are SO easy to make.

Woo! Swirl!

 Let me prove it to you.  

First, draw a "swirl" on your sheet of paper. 

(The bigger the paper, the bigger the flower.)

In this picture, I am using a scrapbook sized
sheet.


Next, with your scissors,

Snip, snip.

 cut along the swirl lines.

You should have a dangling   

swirl left over.

(Btw, these CAN be fun

to hand from the ceiling.)

Now, starting at the end of the    

Cut it, then roll it, and now we're almost done...

swirl, begin rolling it towards 
the middle of the swirl.
It should look like a very tight
tulip when you are finished. 











When you finally have it bunched up, release it. You'll be amazed at how it sits like a flower. It can get a little too loose, though, so that's where the hot glue gun comes in. For heavy paper, like the pretty scrapbook paper that I used, it's best to use this so that the "petals" don't come apart too easily.

Glue guns solve almost any problem. 

See! I told you they were easy. 

So please don't go spend your hard earned money (or somebody else's hard earned money) at these home decor stores or sections. 

Make them yourself. Hang them anywhere!

I hope you'll love them as much as I do!!!

Say What?!

Yes, it's Friday. I should be thinking about anything BUT school, but I had a great first week, so I thought that I'd share another idea of mine.

Ok, before I explain, another fact you should know about me is that I'm a tiny bit of a theatre geek. Not a huge one; I've never wanted it as a career, I've never been to NY Broadway (although I will someday), and I don't know all the shows and names and stuff. However, I like acting, and it was my "thing" in high school...the drama club, that is.

Therefore, I got pretty familiar with Improvisation...ya know, the kind of acting when you are given a situation and just go with it? Shows like "Whose Line Is It, Anyway?" have made it pretty famous.

Well, I'm no Wayne Brady, but I love improv, and I like integrating it with teaching.

Teaching English can often be a drag, especially when teaching diagramming, grammar, classification, and so on. So I use improv to teach the first lesson in our English curriculum: identifying types of sentences. After we study them, I challenge my kids to play a game called, "Say What?!" A group of students are called to the front (my stage) and are given a funny situation, like driving a car and then crashing it. However, they are limited to certain types of sentences to use. I switch it up every round. For example, sometimes they can use every type of sentences except exclamatory. Other times, they can ONLY use declarative sentences. If a student uses a sentence he/she is not supposed to, the entire audience (who is supposed to catch it) shouts out, "Say WHAT?!" and the team loses their round. If they can make a scene work for a couple of minutes without messing up, they win their round.

It is a great way to engrave the sentences in their heads. I've done this 2 years in a row, now, and my students always beg me to let them play it, even during their "free time" (last 15 minutes of the day). It is the favorite game so far.

I encourage you to use this if you can, or just incorporating improv into your lessons. The students love it, whether they're participating in the acting, or just watching (laughing uncontrollably) in their seats.

Happy Friday everybody!!!

Technology Themed Classroom

The view as soon as you walk through the door, straight ahead

Ok, I'm about to post THE post that I've always wanted to: my classroom and technique how-to's. Don't get me wrong; I'm still new to teaching, and I am nowhere near to having it all together. However, I have learned a lot, especially in my first year, and I am really (finally) happy with the way my classroom looks this year.

I will also be up front and admit (unashamedly) that I got most of these ideas from other experienced teachers. As I said before, Pinterest is an amazing tool, and I have used it well. Here we go!

view to the right

view to the left

Take a look around the room!








I teach a secluded (meaning they stay with me for all subects) 6th grade. What better theme to center around than technology? (At least, that's what I thought.) I picked up the phrase "Wired for Success!" to center the theme. I love it.

Above the windows, on the back wall, are the letters spelling out "Wired for Success" bordered by garden lights.

"Behavior Bars"

This is my behavior management plan. It is very similar to the plan I had my first year of teaching, and since the plan worked out very well, I decided to use it again, just more conducive to my new theme. Anyway, the students each have a "behavior cell" that they attach to the the "Ready to Learn" bar as soon as they come into class. I also use this for attendance; whoever's cell is not there is absent. As they day progresses, the students make choices to determine where they stay on the bars. If they receive more than 3 warning that day, they bump their cell to first warning, and possibly to second warning, and finally, down to "loss of a privilege." The privileges they might lose are up to me, and the include things like recess or lunch with friends. Depending on the situation, this also might mean that they have to see the principal, write sentences or a paragraph explaining their behavior, and other negative consequences. The parents are always contacted in some way as well. If the students have an "ok" day, they stay on "ready to learn," which isn't bad, but it means that they didn't behave their best. BUT if they students did try their best and adhere to my rules/expectations, they get to bump up to "Amazing Reception," which means that they get a treat (in my case, a Starburst candy) at the end of the day. Again, the parents always receive a report of their child's behavior; I always write which bar they reached by the end of the day inside their agenda, right next to their written homework.
This idea, the bars, and the signs I DID come up with on my own, but the cells I found on teacherspayteachers.com.

My "behavior cells", each with the students' assigned numbers. Each has Velcro on the back which attached to the Velcro on the bars.

Above is my iHelp chart. This idea I got from pinterest, but it was really easy to recreate. I used black bulletin board paper for the base, silver ribbon (from Walmart) for the border, and silver duct tape for the little square at the bottom. The icons are made from construction paper. They are laminated, so I am able to change the jobs by writing the students' numbers on a certain job with a dry erase marker. I change the jobs every week. Also, I was able to put the entire chart up with stick tack. =)

I also got this idea from pinterest. I am a huge pusher for making my kids read, and I like to have books available to my kids inside my room. This goes great with my theme, and I just love the play on words! A librarian, who came up with this idea, designed the letters and the "rent a book" sign and offers it as a PDF for free download. I traced the letters on white paper, glued them to a red poster board, and laminated it. I took this cheap bookshelf and painted it red (with spary paint) and then covered the shelves with red bulletin board paper. I also attached two push-lights to the top to shine down on the books. I also laminated the "rent a book" sign and attached it to a little container to make it stand up right.

This is where my "class debit cards" come in. (I also designed this, too.) The "debit card" number is based on the students' assigned numbers, and every time they grab a book from the shelf, they must put their cards inside the container behind the sign. There is also a clipboard next to the readbox so they can write down their name, title of book, and date checked out.
If you would like to download your own set of class debit cards, check out my TpT store. Here's a link to the product: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Classroom-Debit-Cards-1975231

This is just one of my decorations on the wall, but it's another of my original ideas! It is a replica of the new Windows phone, but the icons on the windows have to do with school, such as math, reading, writing, and listening. This was made from black bulletin board paper and green gift wrap paper (dollar tree - whoopwhoop), silver duct tape for the windows icon and speaker, and white printer paper for the icon images. Also, I was able to mount it with sticky tack.

Another one of my own ideas! This is how I present my homework. I used dry erase crayons to outline the text bubbles, and I will write the HW inside the bubbles with a regular dry erase marker.

My calendar! Each number looks like a smart phone. I got the numbers from another technology themed package from teacherspayteachers. They each have a magnet on the back so stick to my white board at the front of the classroom. They were originally cubby numbers, so I made my own month tags and wrote the days of the week. I also added the bright orange magnetic boarder to be placed around the day's date.

These are my daily schedule smart phone magnets. Also from a teacherspayteachers package.

If there is one app that my students love right now, it is instagram! And evidently there is another teacher who knows that too, for she posted it on pinterest, and I copied her. However, I call it my "instlearn" board, and the students get to post a pic of themselves on it. Eventually, they will also be able to post their super-star work (if they so wish) on it. I used blue, white, and black bulletin board paper to make it. I got all the icons off the internet (google) and cropped and chopped them to make it look real. I also downloaded a free font that looks like the instagram font for the "instalearn" sign on top. I laminated it all and stuck it up with sticky tack. 

This isn't actually part of my theme, but it is the way I collect work. The basket system I have works pretty well, but I am mainly promoting my highlighting technique (also stolen from pinterest). All teachers have a problem with students forgetting to write their names on their papers...well, I don't really. Sure, it happens every blue moon, but definitely not that often. Why? Because I also REQUIRE them to highlight it. Hey, if they have to pay attention to highlighting it, they will notice if their names are actually there. As long as this is enforced from the beginning of the year and on, it will work wonders. =)

Yes, that is an old dish rack. I love it. 

I strive for good communications with the parents, so although the parents have access to their kids' grades online and through email and everything, they also see the actual assignments with grades - homework, classwork, tests...everything! I send home the child's folder every week and ask the parents to date and initial the log you see in the photo above. This way I have documentation that the parents are made aware of their kid's progress. I keep the papers when I get them back, too, and keep them in the kids' portfolios. Yes, it's time consuming, but I believe that it is well worth it, and with my number system, it's pretty easy to keep organized.


Below are just a few more details I thought I'd share with you. Refer to the captions for description.

Adopted from pinterest

To keep with my theme's colors (purple and green), I found some great green and purple bins at the dollar store. Everything has a place. =)

Each row of desks is labeled A, B, C, and D. When we play review games (which happen a lot in my class), I use these for my teams. I also give points for the rows are being really well behaved and/or very prepared and ready to learn.

Even laminated passes don't last by the end of the year, at least not for my kids. Walmart has a pack of these wooden door knob hangers for a cheap price (located in the crafts section), and they are great for long lasting hall passes. You can also make them your own this way.

You know those ugly metal cabinets in your room? Well, this one is required to stay in my room for an after school club. I hated it last year, but now that I dressed it up, I love it, especially for my vocabulary wall!!

Here is my desk area (to the left).

It's in the back corner, and I can see EVERYTHING from my view point.

To the right I pictured my IKEA wicker place mats. lol. I use them to paper clip pics and cards and such. 

Finally, I end with my outside bulletin board welcoming my new kids in. Again, this idea came from pinterest, but I was able to make it and replica it quite well. I used gift wrap to make the ipod, silver duct tape pages for the ipod screen, ribbon for the head phones, and I made the letters myself. "Tune in to a new year!"

I must say, I am excited about this one. I hope you enjoyed yourself, maybe even picked up a few tricks for yourself. If you would like any tips on how to do any of this yourself, don't be afraid to comment and let me know.

Happy New School Year!!!!