St. Patty's Day in Review :)

So last night when I linked up for the fabulous Monday Made-It I said I would try really hard to get back on today to post my pics of everything I talked about.  I'm here!  I did it!  :)
When the kids came in the classroom they found this on their desks,

their bag of Lucky Charms (I bought a big bag of the generic stuff and 1 box of the real stuff and mixed it together so that everyone would have some of the real in their bag) and a 4-leaf clover sticker to wear (in case they didn't wear green or just to be festive).  They were very appreciative about it (which is so nice) and some of them even replied that they were so lucky to have me as a teacher, which was so sweet and a great way to start the morning.
For morning work they had an old St. Patrick Day worksheet of words to unscramble.  Later they had a couple more St. Patrick Day themed papers to do as well.
Our PTO got the Earth Dome again this year.  We've had it in the past, but it's been a few years and it's very cool so after lunch it was our scheduled time to go do that, which they loved.  After learning about the outside, you actually get to go inside too.

That ate up almost 40 minutes of our math time so when we got back we didn't have time for the math game so I had 2 St. Patrick Day themed math papers ready to go as well which filled that time very nicely.  After math the students go off to specials.  While they were in specials I got the little surprises ready.  

The first was the green coin and card.  

Then I had to get the Rainbow Treasure Hunt ready.  

Halloween cauldron doing double-duty.  :)

After I picked up the kiddos and we had our bathroom break, before we entered the room, I told them that there was some St. Patrick's Day fun and surprises waiting for them in the room but I needed them to be good listeners, follow directions, not ask a million questions when they went in the room, but to just sit down and wait for directions.  They were very excited and I got a chorus of how I was the best teacher ever (Thank you Teri from Cupcake for the Teacher for making me "the best teacher ever!"  lol).  They did a really great job with all of that.  They were excited about the "good luck" coins and loved that they could keep them.  lol  Then I explained the directions of the treasure hunt.  I told them that there could be no running or pushing or they would have to sit out.  I also told them that they would have to work all together to figure out the clues and whoever got to the clue first could grab the clue and read it aloud to everyone.  They had a great time with it.  

On the hunt…

The very last clue (before the prize) is to look under your chair.  Well I had taped it to the underneath of my helper of the day's chair.  They all looked on the floor under their chairs.  lol  Then I told them that it was taped to the underneath of a chair.  No one could find it.  I said it IS taped to the underneath of one of the chairs, if you have to, turn your chair upside down.  Then the clue was found, which said where the pot of gold was located, "where your teacher sits."  I had placed it under my desk.  

It took a little bit for them to find it.  I had my chair pushed in.  They were looking all over the top of my desk.  Then some decided to look for it in my comfy chair where I do my read alouds before someone finally found it under my desk and passed out the treats to everyone.  They were very thankful again.  So it was a very nice day and the class had a fun time.  

Tomorrow they learn about the Flat Stanley spring break project and get to start coloring their Stanleys. :)  

March Made-It! St. Patrick's Day edition :)

Okay so I can't believe that it's been a couple of months since I was on.  February was VERY hectic for me.  I had my niece's FROZEN birthday which was crazy trying to get ready for (I help with planning and making decorations, and the cake and everything).  Then I had conferences.  Not to mention how it's the shortest month and you have 100th Day and Valentine's Day and Presidents, Black History, and Dental Health Month.  I would have had a TON of made its to share!  Maybe I'll remember and share this week anyway.  lol  I don't know what happened with the rest of January that I didn't post and this month it has been all about assessing and report cards.  Well report cards went home Friday.  So that leaves me with time to actually post Made-Its!  I was reminded that Made It Monday was this week because of good old Facebook.  I forget that it's the 2nd Monday and not the first.  So this weekend was all about getting things ready for St. Patrick's Day for my kiddos.  Now I don't have a lot of pics of these things yet because I'm going to take pics when they are set up in the classroom.
Made-it 1:
I too, made those fabulous, "I'm so Lucky to have you in my class" goodie bags for my students with the lucky charms.  Loved the freebie from A Cupcake for the Teacher as well.

This is her pic.  I thought I'd use it so you could see my other Made-it as well.

Made-It 2:
I also made the "You're the pot of gold at the end of my rainbow" with oreos baggie for my kiddos too.
I'm putting these in my Halloween black cauldron that will magically turn into a pot of "gold" for St. Patty's Day.  This will go along with…
Made-It 3:
Also from the fabulous Cupcake for the Teacher (she's fabulous isn't she??).  We will be doing her classroom Rainbow Treasure Hunt where they will find those fabulous oreo pots of gold.  So those are printed, cut, and ready to go.
Made-It 4:
A Leprechaun will be leaving the kiddos green coins on their desk with this little note:

The coins I've had for a while.  I think I got them from Party City one year.  I had exactly enough left over so I guess I was lucky!!  So these are cut out ready to go and I'm going to put the green coin right in the middle of the clover.  I honestly don't remember where I found this.  I googled "leprechaun note for kids" and found it, so if it belongs to you let me know and I'll link to it!  

Made-It 5:

I also made stickers for my kids to wear because I like them to have something green on in case they don't wear any to school.  I couldn't find any that were a good size or that I liked in the stores so I just made some using this DJ Inkers clipart and 2 x 4 in. labels. 

Made-It 6:

My final Made-it is for my co-workers.  I follow http://www.howdoesshe.com/.  If you subscribe to the blog you get certain Members Only Freebies.  Well this month's freebies were for "St. Patrick's Day in a Jar" labels.  They had different ideas of filling the jar with rainbow candy or colorful flowers or mini rainbow cupcakes.  I thought of this:

So it's just Smart Pop Kettle corn that I popped and then melted a package of green Candy melts, poured it over the popcorn and mixed it up to coat it.  Then I sprinkled on rainbow colored M&Ms and let it set.  I bought mason jars and some green fabric (already had the ribbon) and printed the labels.  I thought this was definitely St. Paddy's Day in a Jar, green and rainbow.  So my team will be getting this as well.  

Oh!  Made-It 7!!

While I was uploading these I remembered one more Made-It!

Flat Stanley!!!  I had to re-make him again this year because apparently my other one has gone off traveling some where and couldn't be found.  We have Spring Break NEXT week so I had to get him ready so I could show my kiddos what to do with him over spring break.  So he's copied, colored, and laminated again for this year.  

So as you can see it was a very busy Sunday for me.  All this plus laundry (did grading Saturday).  

So I will try VERY hard after school to post the pictures of St. Patrick's Day in the classroom with all of the goodies.  

Have a great day and woohoo for me for getting a blog post done!!!!  

:)

Winter Break and "Cold" Days

So as always, not a lot of blogging that happens during the school year.  But I have been good with keeping up my goal of at least posting once a month!  I usually do it only for Made-It Monday, but I thought I would post today since I have time.  :)
The week leading into winter break was fun.  We did a lot of holiday themed Roam the Room activities from Teachers Clubhouse and Christina Bainbridge, which was a fun way for the students to learn and get them moving that crazy week before break.  Also to go along with our social studies curriculum about Cultures, Customs, and Traditions we did our yearly Culture Quilt Square where families decorate a "quilt square" with things about their culture and we put it together on a bulletin board to form a Culture Quilt.  The students present on their quilt square before it is hung up.  You can click here to download a copy of the "quilt square" we use.  We also did this awesome Holidays Around the World Paper Bag book by Hope King.  The students loved making it.  We did 2 pages a day and I tried to use the countries of the students in my class.  During guided reading groups we used this great Close Reading packet from Ashleigh, that I LOVE!!!  I'm really working on close reading this year due to common core and that packet made it super easy!!!  I hope that makes even more!!  
We had a fun "Snowed-in" theme for our winter party leading into break.  The students were allowed to come to school in the pajamas and bring a blanket, small stuffed animal, robe, and a board game.  During math time they played the board games.  Only 3 of my little girls brought in games, which I couldn't believe!!  So I let them use the board games I have for indoor recess.  You can tell that most families don't do board games, because they were having a heck of a time staying focused on a game, or playing the correct way.  While they were as music, my parent helpers came and we got everything organized for our celebration.  We made the hot chocolate so it would be cooled down, got the craft ready, and the treats.

Mini donut snowmen, oreos, and popcorn.

We did the snow globe craft where you use a clear bowl or dessert plate.  I just had the students draw a winter scene and them add fun winter stickers.  Then they went to a mom and could add some glitter and snowflake fun foam shapes as the snow in the snow globe and the moms hot glued the plate over it.  The kids really liked it, but they were done in like 5 minutes, which surprised me.  I kept telling them to go back and add more to their scene.  All they wanted to do was fill the circle with stickers.  Then they got their treats and we watched the Elf on the Shelf movie.  Then it was time to go home!!  

My break was nice.  I finished my shopping, wrapped, baked, spent time with my family.  The day after Christmas is my birthday so we did it all over again, but at my house.  Then finally got to relax a bit and went out to lunch with a friend.  For New Year's Eve my friends and I went to Red Lobster and then to the movies.  We were super lucky because the theater by my house is having $5 Tuesdays with a free 44oz. popcorn through February and that included NYE!!!  So we saw Saving Mr. Banks which we all enjoyed.  Then we hung out at my house watched the ball drop in NY, played 80s Scene It and then rang in 2014 here.  It snowed quite a bit during break, not a lot, just a little at a time, but that continued NYE into the New Year so I stayed at home and took down my Christmas tree.  The next day I went out to dinner with my parents.  Friday I went in to school to get everything ready for when we get back, which always makes me feel better.  Otherwise I would be stressing.  Got things cleaned up, organized, and ready to go.  I also have a new student starting so I wanted to make sure everything was ready for her.  Later on I scrapbooked and had dinner with a friend.  Saturday I took down my Christmas village and then went to see Frozen with my sister and niece.  We loved it!!  Olaf the snowman is so great!!  We were quoting lines from the movie the rest of the day!  Sunday I started working on some school stuff to get ready and got the call that we weren't having school today because of the frigid cold that was coming.  Sure enough when I woke up this morning my phone said it was -43 with the windchill.  So I have stayed at home all day and got another packet done for tpt!!  Also printed out some great resources I bought and got this weekend with the awesome 2nd grade fb hop that happened.  We already got the call that there is no school tomorrow due to the cold temps too, so I will probably work on more school stuff.  My own personal professional development day from home.  

So that's been what's been going on with me.  How are things in your neck of the woods?  Hopefully I'll be back next Monday with Monday Made-It!!  :)