Fourth of July Treat!

I'm thinking about making these for the 4th of July! So Cute! The only problem is that I'm not sure how to package them. (And that I have to lose 5 lbs. for a medical procedure, so having these around isn't such a hot idea!) I like the M&Ms in the pail, but I'd need to make quite a few. If I could find the pails for cheap enough, I'm sure I could find a use for them in my classroom. I'll have to think about it. Super cute though!

Red, White and Blue Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Find directions and other cute baking ideas at Love From The Oven.

:) Andrea

Book Bag holders?

Yesterday was my last day. I didn't have kids, but I was cleaning. Like Deanna Jump, I can't seem to get rid of things. MAYBE I'll use it! But I love the way she is organizing, so I really want to do that. It will have to wait until the fall though.

I have been thinking about where to have my kiddos put their book bags though. Every year I think I've found the perfect place and then I'm ready to change it. This year I had 2 pencil coat racks that I purchased for $10 each at the Dollar General. They didn't hold up very well even though I loved them. I now have one and it's kind of pitiful (pegs have broken off!). Please pay no attention to the messy magazines in the background. Those are used for cool down and at first, it was a mess!

I'm wondering if I should try to buy one or two from Sears or Walmart, maybe they'll be more sturdy? Or go with these plastic hooks along the bottom of my front wall? I'm thinking I could fit at least 2 bags, if not 3, on each hook...

I'm always trying to take up as little space as possible and make it quick for them to get their books during reading workshop time. The pencils were actually pretty good as far as that goes, but I really don't want to have to buy something new every year. If you have ideas, please share! :)

What's in Your Summer Stack?

I wanted to try something new to get my kids excited about summer reading, so I told them that everyone should have a "Summer Stack". I invited my principal, PE teacher, Media Specialist, etc. to show them what reading materials are in their stack. I took their picture beforehand and glued their head to the clipart. Then the children created their own. I have a pic of one that's partially complete, but it's even cuter than it looks. If you're interested, get it here at my little TPT store. For sale is the clipart and ideas to go with it. One thing in my "stack" is The Help.  I really want to read that book!

My principal agreed to let me post the pic even though she doesn't love the picture. I think it's great!

:) Andrea

Update: I keep having more people come in and the kids get super excited when I ask why they think the person is in our room. They know it's to share their stack! I keep hearing them talk to one another and telling about their own stack! "My stack has Junie B. and it's this tall!" LOVE it!!

Pigeon Needs and Wants

Thanks to Jaime from What's the Buzz, I've discovered The Pigeon! Where have I been? We completed her cute unit, (check it out here), and my kiddos loved it! We crack up every time we read one of the books! We're still doing economics and read The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog and talked about what a pigeon needs to survive and what one might want. We came up with some pretty silly answers! We illustrated our page and included what the Pigeon might say. We made this into a cute class book. I got the pigeon from http://www.brilliantbeginningspreschoolutah.com/2010/02/p-is-for-pigeon.html. Thanks for sharing!

Click on the pic below to get the printable:

A pigeon needs shelter.
A pigeon wants a mansion!

4 1/2 days left!

:) Andrea

Partners and Pretzels

We're almost there! We get out next Friday. I've been trying to help my first graders to continue practicing what we've learned, so I made Partners and Pretzels to use during partner reading time! (Clip art is different, but everything else is the same. Long story!) You just pass out 1 paper for partners and a small bag of pretzels. They need to save 3 for the activity, but can eat the rest while reading and listening. They answer a question and when finished, put a pretzel on top. When they get 3 in-a-row, they're finished! :)

Partners and Pretzels printable

Enjoy! :) Andrea

Father's Day and Popsicle Fun!

We still have a few more weeks of school and we've been so busy! I made a wallet for one of my units and decided it would be fun to make one for our dads too! Here is a pic:

It has coupons that go inside. You can only fit 3 of the writing prompts on there, so I'm letting my kids pick. I'm thinking that we'll make a pocket for it to go in. I'll try to remember to post pics!  Here are the printables that go with it:

Father's Day Wallet Printables

We've also been trying to cool off because it's been pretty hot here! So we started by thinking about popsicles and making a chart together about all of the adjectives that we could use to desribe them. Then, we made some popsicles and wrote adjectives on the drips. Of course, we had to try some when we were finished!

Here are the words we glued to the top:

Popsicle Adjectives

Here are pics of some completed popsicles:

:) Andrea