Teacher Down-Time

What do you do to relax when you get a break from teaching? I know that it helps me a lot to do activities that have nothing to do with teaching sometimes. This helps me to recharge and I have more energy to give to my students when I return to work.

This Thanksgiving Break, when I was not with family and eating turkey, I worked on creating a playroom for my grandson in our house.

I love crafting and painting, so this was really fun for me. This room had been my son's room and then it was my craft room. We are now in the process of creating a "She Shed" in a shed outside for my craft room since we decided to make a playroom for Benjamin.

Here are some pictures:

I am planning to cover the top 3 shelves on the left with fabric to hide those bins. I still need to add cars to the black "road".

My husband was a drag racer for years, so I am going to add pictures of his race cars on the black "drag strip" on this wall. I also need to add the "B" to the alphabet. The larger letters in the alphabet are for the first initials of the people in our family.

Here are some close-up pictures of the word BEN in the room. I got this idea from Pinterest (of course):

These letters are about 18 inches tall. They are from Hobby Lobby ($3.50 each).

I cut up white stickers for the roads.

Then, I used hot glue to attach the cars. I used Command velcro to hang them on the wall.

I hope everyone got some time to relax this holiday break.

Monday Made It

I can't believe the summer is going by so quickly! I have been trying to slowly do some crafts for my classroom without going on school overload. I'm trying to relax this summer.

Here are some things I have finished:

These letters are from the word "DREAM" I had up on my class cabinets the past couple of years. I decided to reuse the letters to spell"READ" in my class library.

I painted them in a darker blue. Then, I used Mod Podge to attach sports cut-outs that I had at home. The Gator heads are cut out from a roll of ribbon. This was a quick change (once the paint dried) that I think will add something to my class library.

I ordered this wooden football shape with an "H" from Zulily for my classroom. (It was only $10). It is a very nice thick wood. I just used paint to transform it. Again, some blue paint for the "H".

I am planning to attach it to my classroom wall with Command velcro. I have a walkway area in my new classroom and I think this will be perfect there.

This was a quick and easy craft. This is a wooden ipad/cookbook stand I used in the kitchen. I no longer really use it. So, I decided to use it on my desk at school for my Erin Condren Teacher Planner. It fits perfectly.

I painted it white and used Gator ribbon to decorate it.

That's it for this week. Having my wisdom teeth out last Thursday has slowed me down some. I have a few more projects I want to do before going back to my classroom. (We can't get back in until the week before Teacher Planning week.)

Monday Made It

I can't believe July is already here! June was busy around here. Luckily, July should be a little slower and relaxing. I love making crafts and painting. So, I really enjoy these Monday Made It blog posts. I love seeing what other teachers are busy making over the summer.

Here are some things I have been working on:

"MATH" Letters

I didn't take a "before" picture, but these are cardboard letters that are about 5 inches tall. I got them from Hobby Lobby last week. I kept them fairly simple and just painted them in blue and orange for my classroom - Sports theme with orange and blue for the Gators. I plan to put them on top of the shelf where I keep the math manipulatives. 

Flamingo Teacher Toolbox Labels

I have been working on adding Teacher Toolbox Label Card sets to our Teachers Pay Teachers store. This set has Flamingos. There is also a Tropical Fun set and a Pineapple Set. You can find this Flamingo set here. (for only $1)

Tropical Fun Schedule Cards

I have been busy making items to match the Tropical Fun theme in our Tpt store. Here are the Schedule cards. They come in 2 different fonts and there are lots of choices to choose from for your schedule display.

If you are interested,you can find the Schedule cards here.

Those are some projects I have finished this past week, while recovering from our trip to Oregon (on a plane with a 1 year old!). Hope your Summer is going well!

Stephanie

Monday Made It (a little late this week)

After a week long trip to Oregon to visit family, I am back and have started slowly working on things for next school year. We have linked up with 4th Grade Frolics for the weekly "Monday Made It".

Sign Make-Over

This is a sign I made for my last classroom. I decorated with turquoise and lime green. I had those colors for a few years, so I decided to change for next year. I have decided on a Sports theme. The colors will be mostly black, white, green, blue, and orange. The blue and orange are for our local college football team. Go Gators! 

So, I am trying to reuse items in my classroom. I decided to just paint this since I enjoy using it to hang up pictures during the year. This is what it looked like last year.

I painted it blue. The "H" was painted orange.I put Gator ribbon and a logo in the corner. The clothespins were already dark blue, so I just painted around them. Here it is now:

  

         
                                                     

Fast and Easy White Board Change

This took less than five minutes to do. I bought this cute small white board at Target last year. I hung it above where I displayed student work and changed the titles of the work. The trim was turquoise.

I hot glued black ribbon over the turquoise, and now it will match my new room.

                                                      

Tropical Fun Themed Welcome Sign

I have seen the cutest tropical themed items this summer! If I had seen them earlier, I may have chosen that as a theme for my classroom next year. A teacher friend of mine is doing this theme- with an emphasis on flamingos. So, I have been designing things for her. 

Here is a FREE Welcome sign I have posted on Teachers Pay Teachers. The letters come in both pink and green. You can click here (or on the picture) to download your own banner.

Tropical Fun Themed Calendar Set

This Calendar Set matches the Welcome Banner. It comes in 4 different fonts and colors. Thee are 5 different sets of calendar numbers so you can choose which clip art to use. It also has year cards for the next four years. You can click here to go to the Teachers Pay Teachers page for this or click on the picture below.

                                                         

Whimsical Succulent Garden

I saw this cute little pot for planting succulents. It's from Amazon. It was very easy. I just bought soil for succulents and three succulent plants. Here are the pictures:

Summer Begins with "Monday Made It"

We have linked up with 4th Grade Frolics to start the Summer off with our Monday Made Its.

I have decided to change my classroom theme to "Sports" next year. I have had a color-theme for the past few years of turquoise and lime green. I am ready for a change. Since I will still be doing 3rd grade next year, and sports are big in our college town, I have decided on a Sports theme. 

I finished painting the letters for the top of my cabinets. Here they are:

The letters are made of cardboard. I think I will use velcro to help them stay straight on the cabinets, especially for the "P" , which is top heavy. 

I printed out a "Welcome" sign from Schoolgirl Style (set: Team Spirit). I'm not sure yet if I will hang it horizontally or vertically but I will attach the letters to a ribbon. I am going to use the black and white striped border and green scalloped border on my bulletin boards. 

This is the latest Magic Tree House Reading Comprehension packet I have made. It is available in our Teachers Pay Teachers store (You can click on the picture.) Packet #1 is available for FREE. 

Now, for a couple of "Made Its" for the house. My husband and I made planter areas for in front of a small shed behind the house. We decided to use wood around the area because when it rains hard, the water runs to the front of the shed since it is at the bottom of the hill. Since it decided to flood last week, they have already been useful. The plants were fine and the wood helped the water go on either side of the shed.

Here's a fun "Made It". I found this tray at Hobby Lobby. We have a lot of squirrels in the woods around our house and I like to feed them corn. I was looking for a low feeder I could use. My husband drilled holes in the metal tray to drain any rain and I fill it with corn for the animals. They seem to enjoy it.

Stephanie