Grandparent’s Day Craft

Hi everyone! A couple of weeks back we celebrated Grandparent’s Day at our school. It is a really big deal around here. We always do a small performance for the grandparent’s where the kids sing songs, then they come back and show off our classroom, present their grandparents with a small craft, and then they can finally go buy books at the Scholastic Book Fair. So it is a pretty busy week for us to get ready for.

I have always done the same craft every year but really wanted to do something different this year so I started looking on Pinterest for ideas. After days of searching I found a craft that I really liked. Here is the original craft that was actually for Mother’s Day, so if you already had Grandparent’s Day this would be a really cute craft for Mother’s Day.

 

I found the original craft on KareWares blog. I fell in love immediately. It is just so cute and it was super easy to make.

I changed it a little bit to work for my class. I didn’t have time to take pictures of the kids so this was the compromise I made. Here is what I did:

I first made a pattern for the flower pot. Then I took a brown piece of 12x18 brown construction paper and folded it in half. The bottom of the flower pot the folded part and the top is the opening so the pieces can fit down in.

Next, I cut out the pot:

  

Then I took a strip of green paper cut slits at the top and then glued the grass to the front of the pot on the inside:

      

 

Next I taped a long piece of green yarn to the inside of of the pot and then stapled the sides closed. I tried to glue the sides but they kept popping open so the best way to do it is to staple it closed.

The last piece is to make the flowers. I have the kids trace a flower tracer onto three different pieces of colored construction paper and one white piece of construction paper. I also cut out three circles with circle cutter. Then the kids glue the circles to the middle of the flower. We then wrote I on one circle, love on the second circle, and you on the last circle.

   

The last white paper I had the kids draw a picture of their grandparents and themselves together.

   

I LOVE the way their pictures turned out. They are so cute. All the flowers get tucked in the flower pot and I have a little piece of string hanging out of the pot.

Grandparent’s really loved them and I got so many compliments on them. This is a final look at the finished craft!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you can use this in your classroom!

Indiana Meet-Up

 

I finally get the chance to sit down and tell you about the amazing time I had at the Indiana blogger meet up. Holly from Mrs. Ehle’s Kindergarten Connections put the whole event together and what an awesome job she did.

There were 50 teachers from every grade and many teachers that drove many hours to be able to attend this event. We met at French Lick Resort in French Lick, Indiana. This resort was so beautiful. It had a casino, spa, and a beautiful atrium where we got to see a light show (colored lights on the ceiling) and enjoy each others company.

  

Michelle from Journey into TK, Amy from Teaching in Blue Jeans, and myself all met up on Friday night and shared a room. After dinner we went back to Holly’s room and helped put together the decoration for the meet-up that were donated by School Girl Style.

                  

Also donated by School Girl Style were the agenda cards and our name tags.

                 

Holly did an amazing job at getting some really good sponsors to donate products for us to bring back to our classrooms. Companies like Scentos, Vera Bradley, Crayola, Jamberry Nails, and Erin Condren.

           

Holly had a lot of prizes to give away…..I won a LCD writing tablet called a Boogie Board. I can’t wait to use this in my classroom!

I loved going to the meet-up and getting to see old friends again. From left to right is Amy from Teaching in Blue Jeans, Michelle from Journey into TK, me, and Holly from Mrs. Ehle Kindergarten Connections. I met these ladies last year at the I Teach K conference.

My favorite part was that I got to make a lot of new friends as well! I am looking forward to spending more time with all of them!

                              

Vegas Teacher/Blogger Meet Up!

The night finally came....the night I had been waiting for...the teacher/blogger meet up!



It was so much fun! We had drinks and snacks and they had a raffle where we could win prizes. I won the Scholastic written by Erica Bohrer from Erica Bohrer's First Grade. She even signed the inside of the book. The CD came from Jennifer and her blog is Simply Kinder. I told her how much I loved her blog and she gave the CD to me with freebies from a collection of different bloggers. So I went away feeling pretty lucky!

At the meet up I met many of the teachers that I read and follow their blogs. It was fun to put a person to the actual name. I wanted to share with you who I met.

 

Kathleen Pedersen from Growing Kinders...I use a lot of her centers in my classroom.

 

 



 

Fran Kramer from Kindergarten Crayons.....she changed my teaching life when I found her blog. I started following her and through her blog I was linked to this whole world that I never knew existed.

 

 

 

Deanna Jump from Mrs. Jump Class......I use a lot of her Literacy Units but also her popcorn words, and guided reading program.
 

 

 

 

Alessia from Mrs. Albanese's Kindergarten Class (the sweetest teacher I met by far) I love her blog and I use her center items in my classroom.

 

 

But I was even more excited to spend time with the ladies that I had met on Sunday night. There was about 8 of us met up for dinner at the Grand Lux Café. Amy from Teaching in Blue Jeans set it up so we would have people to go to lunch and dinner with and so we would have familiar faces to spend the week with.

 

I had so much fun with each and everyone of them! From left to right it is Amy from Teaching in Blue Jeans, LC from The Beezy Teacher, Michelle from Journey into TK, me, Susan from Teaching Doodles, Elizabeth from Kicking it in Kindergarten, and Holly from Mrs. Ehle's Kindergarten Class. I look forward to a long friendship and we are hoping to connect our classes through Skype!

 

 

 

 

 



 



 

 

My First Post and Vegas!

I am really excited to start my very first blog. I love going to classroom blogs and learning about what other teachers are doing in their classrooms. One day I thought "Hey I can do this too!" So with the help of a very patient friend I was able to get my very own blog up and running. I look forward to sharing my classroom and meeting new friends along the way.

I have been reading blogs for a couple of years now and I was reading about all the Kindergarten teachers going to Vegas for an I Teach K conference. After doing lots of research I was hooked and knew I had to get out there too. I am stoked to say that this is finally the year I will get to attend the conference.

Not only do I get to attend the conference but I get to go to a meet-up on Tuesday night. I finally get to meet the amazing Kindergarten Teachers/Bloggers that I have been following all in one place. I may be a little star struck! :)

The Teacher Wife made this cute button!