$200 in TPT Gift Cards Giveaway!

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A Quick Mother's Day Recap

This year, I did NOT plan ahead for Mother's Day.  Had I planned ahead, I probably would have done this craftivity that I created a few years ago.  If you want to download it for free, click the image below to head to my blog.

Instead, Thursday morning, on my way to the store to buy items for our potluck lunch I decided to look for ingredients to create a facial scrub that we could use as gifts.  

I was pleased with how easy it was.  I set everything up at a table.  While students were working, I called them up 3 at a time to start working.

I added about 1 1/2 cups of sugar to the container.  I'll be honest.  I did not measure.  I used the line on the container to guessstimate.  I only brought one measuring cup and I knew it was going to get oily.

I started to have students pour and measure their own oil, but I quickly realized that was a silly idea because that was a BIG bottle of oil, their hands are little, and they aren't well versed at measuring.  You can tell by the table that after one round of that, I realized it wasn't the best idea.  So, instead, they held the cup while I poured, and then they dumped it in.

And stirred.  And stirred some more.

And stirred some more.  Really, this gave me time to help others get started, and helped me eyeball if they needed more sugar or oil.  They all kept saying "EW!  This smells!"  Or, "It looks like applesauce.  My mom will wash with this?!??" :)

Then, we added the vanilla extract.  I used imitation vanilla, and, again, didn't measure.  I also, again, realized I shouldn't let the kids pour. :)

The kids cut and glued their own labels.  They went nicely with our "I love you because" writing that I threw together.

This little cutie asked if she could write her letter in Spanish.  I think I like it more because it's in Spanish. :)

I told the kids they could decorate their page as they wished and they could write whatever they wished.  These are truly heartfelt, and non-edited.  It also was a super easy morning work activity.

If you'd like to download the labels or the writing page, just click the image below.

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$200 in TPT Gift Cards Giveaway!

Are you having post sale let down?  Thinking about all the things you wish you had bought?  The girls here at Owl-Ways Be Inspired want to help you wrap up your wish list by giving away 8 $25 Teachers Pay Teachers gift cards.

How do you enter?  Take a hop through our TPT stores.  Along the way, follow each store and collect the letters to spell out a secret message.

You can get started here.  Then, just click on this graphic as you hop through to get from one store to the next.

Keep going until you get back to where you started.  Keep track of the letters for the secret message as you hop through.

That’s it!  Come back here to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway.  Use the letters from the boxes in the stores that spell out the secret message to enter the code.
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8

Math Stations/Centers - Classroom Organization & Management Tip

Classroom organization and management are HUGE for me.  Everything has a place {yes, I'm slightly OCD}.  This structure helps with classroom management as well.

Take a look at my Math stations/centers rotation board:

Do you see the colorful post-its on the right?  They have 

a special meaning.  Each color correlates to a group of desks 

in the room.  When my kiddos start their Math stations/

centers, they know to go to their specific groups.

Here's how they know where to go...

My room is set up in four groups of desks:

Above each group (taped to the ceiling) is a colorful 

piece of paper naming that group:

Side note:  I tried hanging them, but it didn't look right.  You could read the signs from the front of the room, but not from the sides or back.  With them being taped to the ceiling, you can read the signs from anywhere in the room!

Here's a closer look at what the papers say:

Each group of kids knows to take their Math basket and manipulatives/tools to their specific group.  

"M" group sits at the yellow group of desks

"A" group sits at the orange group of desks

"T" group sits at the green group of desks

"H" group sits at the blue group of desks

"★" group completes calendar, then works on laptops

That color-coded piece of OCD heaven makes a 

world of difference with my kids!   It helps with 

management, keeps them from wandering around 

the room, and gives them more structure.

I wasn't sure if other teachers color-code stations/centers.  

If you do something different, feel free to share below!  

Make me feel a little less crazy/OCD!  :)

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Happy Teacher Appreciation Day!

Aloha and Happy Teacher Appreciation Day!

Today I gave my co-teachers personalized mason jar water cups and I'd love to show you how to make them, too! 

I started with 24 ounce, wide-mouth mason jars that I got from Walmart, Aladdin brand straws that I found at Target, and rubber grommets and I got in the hardware section at Lowe's.

My husband drilled holes in the top of the mason jar lids with his cordless drill and slipped the grommets in place.  I washed everything really well to make sure the metal shards were all out. 

 

I then used my Silhouette Portrait cutting machine to cut out apples and the teacher's names onto vinyl.  The apple clip art is from Creative Clips on TpT.  

Inside the glass jars, I put a 5 ml sample of my favorite essential oil to put in my daily water - Wild Orange! I wrapped it up in some tissue paper and tied with yarn - just using what's already in my classroom! I put the little package and a product info sheet folded up so they can read all about the benefits of the oil.    

If you are interested in checking out more oils, you can go to my website here.  I recently signed up as a rep for DoTerra!

I then used the same yarn that I wrapped around the tissue paper and wrapped it around the lids and attached a simple little card.   They came out so cute and my co-workers loved them!

 

You can grab a copy of the card from my Google Drive.  Just click the picture below.

Leave me a comment below if you end up using the card or making these glass water jars.  How else do you celebrate Teacher Appreciation Day?

1

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Are you singing the song now?  Maybe have an uncontrollable urge to watch The Sound of Music?

It’s Megan from I Teach. What’s Your Superpower?  With the school year wrapping up (hallelujah!!!), I thought I’d share some of the things I loved using this year:

Hands down, #1.  This app from Junior Learning and the Touchtronic letters are AMAZING.  I enjoyed seeing the kids using them as much as they enjoyed learning with them.  You can read more about the app here.

I scooped these whisper phones up at the beginning of the school year for $2 each.  We used them allllllll year long.  Everyday.  All day.

These fluency passages from Stephanie at Falling into First.  We used these all year long.  This would be a great set to score during the sale.  Just saying.

National Geographic Explorer is so amazing.  The articles are well written, the photographs are amazing, and the magazine is great for teaching main idea and details, summarizing, nonfiction features, schema, pretty much anything you’d want to teach for non-fiction.  You can read what I wrote about them here.

I loved this bulletin board.  It made me happy all year long.  I pretty much (all the way) completely copied it from Rachel at The Tattooed Teacher.

What are some of your favorite things from this year?

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Let's Write! Springtime Writing Resources

Springtime, summertime...whatever you'd like to tell yourself!
I know many of you are beginning to count down the days, but meanwhile I am over here with more than 7 weeks to go! wah!!!

However, the end of the year brings, in most cases, more maturity and than means more fun stuff. I know I do a lot more crafts with our lessons because at this point they are a tad more independent so they can do a craft on their own while I am conducting reading groups.
In fact, just yesterday we watched The Lorax (unfortunately it was only the 30 minute version) and afterwards I showed them a craft from Pinterest and they just made it! All I had to do was copy the stache because they would've made handlebar mustaches on the poor little orange guy! (and I forgot to take a picture, but it'll be on my IG soon enough!

I wanted to show you some perfectly adorable springy writing ideas I've rounded up from my Owl girls!

Here's a real cutie! a Tutti Frutti Summer Cutie to be exact!

Includes the template to make the pineapple cutie-boy and girl version of course
and tons of extra printables!
Sunglasses brainstorming sheet and writing papers
Possible Prompts-my favorite sunglasses, when I wear sunglasses I feel. Students could use the black/white sunglasses from template and design their own to display
Summer is... brainstorming and writing papers
Summer is Seed-sational brainstorming sheet and writing papers
Fruits bubble map 
What is your favorite fruit write and draw
Writing center fruits word wall
survey-what is your favorite fruit? with survey pieces
ABC Order
Fruit Salad word scramble
Fruit and Veggie Venn

And here's some of our favorite spring and summer time writing crafts!

/1/ Linda Kamp's Life Cycles on a string. I used both last year...yes, they will be writing//

/2/ Teacher's Clubhouse Wonderful worms unit has an adorable craft and writing pieces//

/3/ Stephanie Stewart has an adorable chicky unit with this craft that I'm hoping to use soon//

/1/ Bubbly Blondes Steppin' into (anything) is a great way to end the end! Her We had a Ball craft is perfect for displaying student memories from the year// 

/2/ Primary Graffiti has just posted an amazing Shark unit! It's to die for hahaha//

/3/ I have the cutest little fruities you ever did see! We added sunglasses to really bring the look together too! It includes tons of end of year busy work learning activities too!//

/4/ I also posted a quick and easy bug jar craft to get something up in my classroom before awards days and all that jazz. We used leftover Scholastic magazines and captured whatever part of speech we happened to be focusing on! You could use it for insect facts too!

So let's get writing!

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