Teacher Appreciation Week is COMING!

Being a teacher myself, I am very enthusiastic about Teacher Appreciation Week! :) Here are some of my previous posts with goodies to share with those wonderful educators in your life!!

Teacher's Deserve Treats!

School Memories

Teacher box

Personalized hand sanitizer

Personalized Post Its

You deserve chocolate!

You are o"fish"ally the best!

:) Tracy

Teacher Appreciation at the Aquarium

(Andre, Cash, and Luc at the Aquarium)

This past Saturday was teacher appreciation day at the Tennessee Aquarium! It was awesome! I got my entire family of 4 into the aquarium for only $6.50. Sweet action!

Wait, double sweet actually because my good friend, Allison, (who is also a teacher) came with us with her two little girls. We had a great time.
Reagan and Charlie

Me and Cash

Cash, Reagan, Luc, and Andre admiring the fish.

The gang!

Thanks to the aquarium! I know a bunch of my teacher friends enjoyed this day!!-

Mrs. Crosby :)

Classroom Projects

Here is another set of projects that I meant to post lllllllllllooooooooooonnnnng ago!

This year I moved to a new school, and a new classroom. It is always a process to get my room set up at the beginning, but it was doubly hard when I wanted to change EVERYTHING!

I picked a couple of coordinating fabrics/colors, and went to work.

This pic above is from a wall right by my desk. I use the small cork boards (bought at Wal-Mart) to keep all my little reminders on.

I saw some covered clipboards online that were like this, in a set of four, and I loved it. I never use four clipboards at one time, but they are fun....and CUTE! I cut the material out the same size as the clipboard, and used several coats of modpodge to adhere the material. Pretty easy, except aroun the clip. That part can get tricky, and you definitely need a craft knife.


I took a larger (old ) cork board, and made this memory board for my pics. Now I can look at all my loved ones when I am right at my desk!

OH! My last name starts with a C, so I guess I wanted to remind the kids. :)

These big cans were already in my room, left by the previous teacher, and they looked useful. Useful and UGLY! More fabric and modpodge....a little hot glue/ribbon....and so much cuter!

All my plants got a little snazzy piece of material, too. :)

Then.....my bulletin boards had to coordinate.....

These glass jars (use to hold salad dressing) are painted from the inside, and topped with a strip of material. In theory...they are suppose to hold fresh flowers, but...I have yet to bring any in. Opps. I should probably get some fake gerber daisies to put in them. One day.

Oh, and the little wooden crate was some nappy looking thing I found at the Goodwill. I painted and then sanded it a bit to make it look "vintage." It was finished off with a watery glaze.

Lampshade...yes...I attacked that, too. I am telling you, there was no stopping me and my material.

THIS IS MY FAVORITE.

A teacher I use to work with made me a name sign years ago, and I loved it. However, time past, and it started to look raggedy. I made this one to replace it. I love the chevron stripes, and the old typewriter font.

It's hard to tell in the pic, but the bunting flag says w-e-l-c-o-m-e. :)

Well, that's it folks. Is it overload? Too much? Luckily, my room is big with a wall of all windows. My curtains are white shears that are pulled together with...you guessed it...coordinating ribbon. Anyhoo- I get loads of light, and have a big space. It helps spread things out, so it doesn't all come off as "too much."

I love it, and it was a good change to start off at a new school!

Hope you are all having a great November 1st!

(28 days until my b-day!!)

Tracy

OH! I see that as of - right this second- I have 139 followers! Awesome! As soon as I hit 150, I am going to have a fantastic Paper Wings Studio

GIVEAWAY!!!!

(That's right, you want it.)

Happy Gift!

My dear friend, Corbett, (we go by last names at work) had a birthday...she turned...um...23, I think (cough cough35coughcough) :) She is a fantastic teammate, we taught 5th grade together this past year, and a super awesome friend. Anyhoo, I made her this cute little door accessory...can I call this a wreath? I love the summery colors, and almost kept it for our house since I am a Crosby....C would be fitting!

Handy Word Family Game

Cash will be starting Kindergarten this fall, and he has already started reading. (yay!) I wanted to make a little game that would be fun for him, and help him review common words. I remember seeing this idea a couple of times, and since paint chips are free....it sounded perfect! Ok, so you have to go into Lowe's, Home Depot, or Wal-Mart and take a LOT of paint chips...DONT feel guilty! They are free! You aren't stealing! ( I had to tell myself this over and over.)

What you need:
*sharpie marker
*aprox. 13 "long cards" for consonants, blends, and diagraphs
*34 cards that have the hole cut out
(I got a few extra, just in case.)
*1' punch (if you don't have a punch, you can just cut out a rectangle using scissors or exacto knife)
The "long cards" are the cards that have multiple blocks of color.
The cards you cut a hole out of are just one solid color.
I used my 1' punch on the solid colored cards, and punched a hole on the left side of each card.
Then, you just write the common word families on the cards to the right of the hole.
Here are the ones I used:

• ag
• ab
  
• ail
• ain
• ack
• ake
• am
• an
• ank
• ap
• all
• at
• ay
• eed
• ell
• est
• ew
• ick
• ight
• ill
• ine
• ing
• ink
• ip
• ob
• og
• ore
• ot
• out
• ow
• uck
• um
• unk
• y

Then I took the long cards with multiple blocks of color, and wrote consonants, blends, and diagraphs on them.

Consonants:

• b
• c
• d
• f
• g
• h
• j
• k
• l
• m
• n
• p
• q
• r
• s
• t
• v
• w
• x
• y
• z

Blends:

• bl
• cl
• fl
• gl
• pl
• sl
• br
• cr
• dr
• fr
• gr
• pr
• tr
• sc
• sk
• sp
• st
• sm
• sn
• sw
• spl
• spr
• str
• squ

Diagraphs:

• ch
• wh
• th
• sh
• ph
• thr
• shr

ps- I kept the same kind of diagraphs and blends on the same card to make it easier for Cash.

There are tons and tons of words you can make!

--ab cab, lab, blab, crab, flab, grab, scab, slab, stab

--ack back, pack, quack, rack, black, crack, shack, snack, stack, track

--ag bag, rag, tag, brag, flag

--ail fail, mail, jail, nail, pail, rail, sail, tail, snail, trail

--ain main, pain, rain, brain, chain, drain, grain, plain, Spain, sprain, stain, train

--ake bake, cake, fake, lake, make, quake, rake, take, wake, brake, flake, shake, snake

--am ham, Sam, clam, slam, swam

--an can, fan, man, pan, ran, tan, van, bran, plan, than

--ank bank, sank, yank, blank, crank, drank, thank

--ap cap, lap, map, nap, rap, tap, clap, flap, scrap, slap, snap, strap, trap, wrap

--at bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, rat, sat, brat, chat, flat, spat, that

--ay day, may, pay, say, clay, play, pray, spray, stay, tray

--eed feed, need, seed, weed, bleed, freed, greed, speed

--ell bell, fell, sell, tell, well, yell, shell, smell, spell, swell

--est best, guest, nest, pest, rest, test, vest, west, chest, crest

--ew dew, few, knew, new, blew, chew

--ick kick, lick, pick, quick, sick, brick, chick, click, stick, thick, trick

--ight knight, light, might, night, right, sight, tight, bright, flight, fright, slight

--ill fill, hill, pill, will, chill, drill, grill, skill, spill, thrill
--in bin, fin, pin, sin, win, chin, grin, shin, skin, spin, thin, twin

--ine fine, line, mine, nine, pine, vine, wine, shine, spine, whine

--ing king, ring, sing, wing, bring, cling, spring, sting, string, swing, thing

--ink link, pink, sink, wink, blink, drink, shrink, stink, think

--ip dip, hip, lip, rip, sip, tip, chip, clip, drip, flip, grip, ship, skip, strip, trip, whip

--ob knob, mob, rob, blob, slob, snob

--ock knock, lock, dock, rock, sock, block, clock, frock, shock, stock

--op cop, hop, mop, pop, top, chop, crop, drop, flop, plop, shop, stop

--ore bore, more, sore, tore, wore, chore, score, shore, snore, store

--ot got, dot, hot, knot, lot, not, plot, shot, spot

--out grout, scout, shout, spout, sprout

--ow cow, how, now, brow, chow, plow

--uck buck, duck, luck, cluck, stuck, truck

--um gum, hum, drum, plum, slum

--unk junk, chunk, drunk, shrunk, stunk, trunk

-y by, my, cry, dry, fly, fry, shy, sky, spy, try, why

(word list taken from http://www.literacyconnections.com/Phonograms.html)

**The Phonogram Page is a great site where you can hear the sounds. Also, All About Spelling has a list of Phonograms and how to teach them.**

Cash loves the game, and really likes the idea of "word families." It makes him laugh. :) This is super easy, so make one today for your little guys!

Easy Appreciation Gifts with FREE PRINTABLE!

Cash is in Pre-K this year, so I really haven't made too many teacher appreciation gifts. I did make some last year for the other teachers on my grade level. They were inspired by Eighteen25, and you can see them here. I am excited to show Cash's teachers (in super cute ways) how I DO APPRECIATE THEM taking on my speeding bullet...aka...CASH. :)

Anyway, I made these cute little treats for his teachers and for my grade level teachers. As I sit here, I am thinking...wonder if I could make enough for the entire faculty?? They all deserve much more than some chocolate, but I dare say....chocolate is a good way to start!!

Best part about these treats is that they are, as I always say, SUPER CUTE AND SUPER EASY. Oh!! Can't forget SUPER ECONOMICAL! :)
Here's what you need:
toilet paper rolls
hot glue
scrapbook
paper ribbon
mod podge
small candies
ruler
label/printable
scissors

Ok, so first thing you have to measure the width of the tube.
I just recently broke my paper cutter, so I had to go old school on this one. I measured out the width of the tube on the back of my paper, then drew a straight line.
Then cut on the line, and you have yourself enough for two treats. Cut this column of paper in half.
Now you are ready for the first layer of Mod Podge. Slap some on the back of your paper...
Then place the tube on the paper. Make sure it's straight, so the paper doesn't end up crooked.
Roll the tube until it's covered with your paper.
After this, you may have to wait a few minutes and let it dry completely. Once it's dry, it will be time for the second coat of Mod Podge on the covered tube (coat the picture side) and let dry.
Take the dried tube and bend one end of the tube down like this...
Then fold the other side down like this....
Now you are ready to flip tube over and fill with candy goodness! I used Hershey Kisses. A yummy classic, AND Easter colors (that match my spring-y scrapbook paper) on sale! Whoop Whoop!
Repeat same folding on open side of tube. Use a dab of hot glue in the middle of container to place ribbon, then wrap it around to back of container. Hot glue ribbon down. On the front, you can make your own label or you can use mine. You can download it here.

FOOT NOTE: When you click on link, it will show you the labels, and they won't look right. Go ahead and click download. It will give you an option to choose Adobe, Word, or Txt. PICK "WORD"!! Then it will download the proper label. Sorry to make it such a hassle. I am working out the kinks here. :)

Now, go out and whip up some treats, and show those hard working teachers that you appreciate all that they do!!

Tracy

LAST Teacher Present!

Maybe I went overboard a little with the gifts for Cash's teachers. I know my husband thinks so. :) It's just that I didn't want to do too little for them, you know? Anyhoo, this is it. The last gift. Reeeeally, I only made the post it holder, the organizer, and now this cutie patootie notebook. That's not over kill, or is it?
Those super cool chicks over at Eighteen25 gave me this idea, and I pretty much copied how they covered their Christmas Planners. I thought it would be cute for Cash's teachers to have a little journal to write down all the funny moments in the up coming year. As a teacher myself, I always think to myself, "I should be writing this stuff down...adults couldn't make this stuff up!" But...sadly enough, I have no cool journal at school to do so in. I didn't want these pre-school teachers to be without. :)
I won't rewrite the tutorial. Just check out the link above. As I always say, those girls are da bomb. If you haven't discovered them by now, you need to.

Peace out-T.