GIVEAWAY ALERT!

Elizabeth at Fun in Room 4B is giving away this pencil sharpener. 

I want to win it. 

 I would love to win it.  

I need to win it.  

Everything I've heard about this pencil sharpener 

sounds like it's a dream come true.

There are some steps to follow to have your own chance to win. 

But like I said -

I want to win it.

Seriously though, I hope whoever wins it has a 

magical time sharpening pencils.   

Head over to her fabulous blog to take your own crack at winning.

Good Luck!

Sincerely,

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Free Kindle Books - Fabulous Find Friday

Yay!  Another linky party!  

I'm linking up with Elizabeth at Fun in Room 4B to share my newest addiction.  I love reading (when there is time) and even more, I love not having to pay for good books.

So I started following Pixel of Ink a couple of months ago and started loading up free books onto my Kindle.  Now you may already know about this site, but it was new to me.    

  

That's what this website does - it just finds free and sale Kindle books and sends me an email (or posts it on their FB page) to let me know what to look out for.  They have the description of the book and the link, and it's just a click away from downloading onto my machines.  Yes, plural - machines.  For Dr. Seuss' birthday my class this past year had a Read-a-thon and raised enough money for a NowBoard! and a Kindle Fire for the classroom.  Then I bought one for the classroom as well using gift cards, and I have my "old" one too. (I call it old because it doesn't have the fancy color settings that you need for picture books.)  In the past couple of months I have downloaded hundreds of free books for myself, my own little kids, and my older students.

It's more than just the original Pixel of Ink.  They have a sister site called Pixel of Ink - Young Edition, and then other ones too for Christian fiction, non fiction, recipes, etc.

I hope this helps someone out there in blogland.  Remember, to read Kindle books you don't have to own a Kindle - you just have to have that app somewhere on your computer, iPad, or phone.  Anything to get kids (and adults) reading, right?  

Hope you have a great day!

Sincerely,

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I Went Shopping! (Linky Party)

I'm joining the linky party over at Ladybug's Teacher Files.  I love shopping!

Here are some of the things that I've gotten lately. 

From Big Lots: 

spiral notebooks, pre-sharpened pencils, labels, pencil boxes, glue sticks

The idea:

Spiral notebooks will turn into whole class journals

Pencil boxes will turn into alphabet/word work collection boxes.

 From Barnes and Noble:

The Daily 5 book (I have used my Kindle version in the past, but I wanted a hard copy so I can write in the margins and highlight).  I also picked up some dot dicuts.  

 From the Dollar Tree:

pizza pans, stamp pads, cutsy pens/paperclips/binder clips, staples, pocket organizers, baskets

The idea:

Pizza pans will turn into my new hall pass board and the other ones will become word work magnetic boards 
Pocket organizers - center stuff or new prize "box"
Baskets - center stuff

 Not pictured:

Craft paint (Michaels)

Pillow cases (Dollar Tree)

Tri-fold boards (Michaels)

I really do love shopping!  Still so many more things to look out for... next trip I need to buy some magnets, alphabet stickers, and that cool magnetic paper.  

Hope you had a great day too!

Sincerely,

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Teaching Blog Addict

Why oh why have I never heard of TBA before today?  I just found the website tonight as I was blog hopping, and I'm so thankful that I did.  As a 4th grade teacher, I am always on the lookout for other teachers that are dealing with the same material/curriculum/hormones/maturity level that I am.  I went onto their site and it was so easy for me to navigate to the different grade levels.  Then I found their Pinterest link and... well, once again I was thankful.  So many ideas that are ready to go.

If you haven't checked them out already, please get going and do so quickly!  There is so much more support for your classroom that is literally a click away.  

Hope you have a great day!

Sincerely,

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Updating My Clipboards

I know there are a lot of different ways to update clipboards.  I've seen the ideas on Pinterest and Classroom DIY.  My first idea was to use contact paper on the clipboards, but I know me and how I was when I was little.  I needed a solid color to focus if I was writing on something.  So I turned to spray paint. 

Here's how I tackled this project.

Materials: 3 blue cans of spray paint, 1 can of metallic, and then the basic drop cloth.  

First, I had a big plastic drop cloth that I put all the clipboards upside down on.  I spray painted the backs first.  It took the entire can to tackle the backs, and they still needed a little spritz of a second coat to finish it (2nd can).  The type of spray paint that I used dried very fast.  I only had to wait about 30 minutes between coats for them to be really dry.    

Then I flipped them over and I sprayed the front.  I didn't worry so much about the metal part, I just aimed a little closer to tackle the top part of the clipboard.  I had to do a 2nd coat as well - that put me onto my 3rd can of blue.

The last part was a spray on the metal part with the metallic spray.  I used a file folder, traced out a rectangle from the top part and cut it out.  That allowed me to put the file folder under the clip part and protect the blue color at the top part of the board from the metal color.  The metal paint was just a quick spray, and I didn't do a second coat.    

   

 I think they turned out so nice.  After using the same clipboards for 12 years, these look brand new.  No marker stains, no pencil marks, no doodles...  we'll see how long they last like this.  

Now, my neighbors have seen this project in my front yard basically all afternoon.  I had to do it in my front yard as my puppy probably wouldn't have been much of a helper.  The last thing I need is a blue dog.  I had quite a few people slow down as they drove by my house.  It might have been that they were looking at the boards, or they were admiring my now "smurf" looking hands.

It was an easy project, one that I won't think twice about tackling again if I ever want a different color.  

Happy Painting!

Sincerely,

This has been linked to 4th Grade Frolics - so much more is happening over there.

  

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Birthday Pencils

For birthdays I have always celebrated in class by having my students make each other a birthday book.    In primary grades they drew the birthday child a picture and wrote a sentence wishing them a happy day.  In my 4th grade classroom, I changed it up to make a birthday wish book.  My students use a 1/2 sheet of copy paper to write a wish for the birthday child.  My wish for you is _____________.  They have to use color, draw a small picture, and include the child's name on it.  The kids think of so many things for birthday wishes - everything from a pony, to an ice cream sundae, to a vacation at Disneyland... it's just something fun for them to help celebrate that child's day.  My wish to the student is always for them to not have homework.  I give them a homework's pass for a complete day's worth of homework.  Of course they can save it for another day if they want, and of course they can't use it for projects or take home tests.

This summer I wanted to create something else for them, something that they can keep from me.  I saw this at Classroom DIY, a birthday bouquet of pencils and dicuts.  On the original it has each student name and their birthday.  I changed it to being just a simple saying, "Happy Birthday! Love, Mrs. S".  Of course I don't have just 10 kids in my future class, so the rest of the pencil/dicuts are already completed in a plastic bag ready to refill once the pencils are dwindling.

I learned from my past experiences that you never just make 32 of something that will be used all year long.  I almost always have students moving and coming (last year was the exception).  So, I created 36 of these - yes, I used all 3 packages of pencils, and a bunch of the dicuts.  This project cost me $5 - I went to the dollar store for the fancy pencils and dicuts, and used a planter and glass beads that I had at my house.    

Sincerely,

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