Summer Send Off!

This year I created summer gift bags for my students again. Every gift they receive from me involves books! Duh, what else do teachers give?! Thanks to Scholastic Book Clubs, I can purchase books for $0.95 each and get more for free using my bonus points! I got the kids three books, one for each summer month. These included, Old Yeller, The Lemonade War, and I Survived: The Sinking of the Titanic.

I also included summer fun items in matching colors; pencils, erasers, bubbles, and sunglasses! They looked sort of impressive and the color coordinator in me was giddy over how they matched! The pencils came in packs of 12 from Dollar Tree and the erasers came in 6 packs from the same place.  I picked up the bubbles from there too, in packs of 3.  The sunglasses came from Oriental Trading in bundles of 10. 

I used red paper gift bags that I got from Dollar Tree and then used construction paper in blue and white to add decoration.  Using the Ellison paper punch at school and the star shaped punch, I made patriotic themed bags! 

The gifts were a hit! And my students were adorable in their new shades! They were particularly awesome as we all exited to the busses! I am so proud of these kids!

Here's to a happy, sun and fun filled summer!

How I Will Remember You!

Thursday, June 14, 2012 may be the most difficult day in my short teaching career yet.  I say goodbye to my second year students as they embark on their journey to middle school! I am fully prepared with tissues and water-proof mascara because I am quite certain I will be in tears. Just writing this is making my eyes damp! Oh gosh!

This winter I had a genius (well, I think it's genius) idea of a great personalized gift to give my departing 5th graders.  The concept seemed simple at first, but as I delved into the project I realized that it may be a bit more challenging than I anticipated! I started by creating a ring of notecards, one labeled for each 5th grader, and I began creating lists of words that describe or remind me of them. Some have ridiculous seeming words because I wrote down something they did or said at one point in the past two years.  It is easy to talk about kids in full sentences, but narrowing them down to single words was WAY more difficult than I thought it would be. After I compiled my words, I entered them into Wordle, a word cloud creator.  A word cloud is literally a random grouping of words that you choose to enter. I then adjusted colors and fonts until I had each one personalized to the student it was about.  I then printed them on 4x6 photo paper so they looked really nice.

Each cloud then got its own picture frame, purchased at IKEA in packs of two for $2.99.  They are simple, inexpensive frames, but they worked perfectly for the project! 

I then used Scrabble tiles to personalize the frames with the students names (Thanks to my aunt Kathy, Craig, and my parents for the donation of tiles).  I have decided that Scrabble games should come with more Ls and Es! I used super glue to attach the tiles in a tilted manner, because after consulting an expert (my dad) we decided that straight tiles just looked wrong. Each frame has a different layout, some tiles run across the top, bottom, and shorter names went down the sides.  The goal was to make it so no two were the same, just like my kids!

In the end they turned out way better than I even anticipated and I am so excited for the kids to open these up and reflect on our two years together! 

Wrapping was simple, brown craft paper and some natural colored raffia bows. After the extensive project, I figured that wrapping should be the easy part!

Here's to a memorable two years and to bright futures for all fifteen of these kids. I wish them all of the best things in life. 

Love, 

Ms. Grothe

  

The Willow Pattern Story!

I saw this art project on Pinterest months ago and have been wanting to have my students participate! I ordered "The Willow Pattern Story" by Allan Drummond from Amazon so I could have a text based introduction for the project.  I try to relate all of my projects to either something we are studying or to a book that I can share with the kids to give them a bit of background.  The project was fairly inexpensive, I bought about 8 packs of variety size paintbrushes from our local dollar store, Deals Only. The plates were about $3.00 for a pack of 100! You need paper plates, not waxed covered, if you want the paint to stay! The paint came from our school supply closet, blue and white tempera.  Students were given their Willow plate and a second plate for mixing the paint for varying shades of blue. Each group also had a couple cups of rinse water and sets of the paint.  In hind sight, I should have used wax covered or plastic bowls for the paint rather than more plates, because they would be more liquid proof and would be easier to cover with saran wrap. Oh well, to remember for the future! When students completed their pieces I hung them on the bulletin board for all to see!

While they painted, I displayed a tea saucer that I borrowed from my mom featuring the Blue Willow pattern.  This helped give students a visual reference for what they heard about in the story. 

The students worked hard to imitate the original pattern by incorporating the love birds at the top of the pieces, a river, pagodas, a zigzag fence, the bridge with three people crossing, and various trees. 

I had a couple unfinished pieces at the time of the following picture, hence the awkward gap! 

Happy Housewarming!

This weekend I finally put together a housewarming gift for my wonderful friend Ali! I picked up all sorts of treasures from some of my favorite home decor shopping locations.  I created a gift basket using a creamy, yellow locker basket from Vintage Hardware. I then proceeded to fill it with all sorts of neat finds.  My items, besides the creamy basket, were all in various shades of green, not because I planned it originally, but because once I started with green, I just couldn't stop. The main item inside the basket was a West Elm stripe favorite throw in beansprout and ivory.

West Elm is my new favorite home decor company! 

I then added a stack of three minty crackle painted flower pots from Dollar Tree. They are so adorable, I'm contemplating returning to buy some of my own!

They came in a few colors, so you have options!

I then added a three pack of flour cloth dish towels because they are my favorite for all things kitchen, plus they clean up nicely with a bit of bleach.  I also added the latest issue of one of my favorite magazines, Country Living! Always chalk full of great decorating ideas, products, and food. 

I especially loved the June edition this year!

While hunting around our local Goodwill, I came across two brand new, Pyrex liquid measuring cups.  They were identical and each hold two cups.  Of course I snagged both of them, one for Ali and one for me! What a great find!  I also added a fun, flowery frame that I found last year on a 60% Fred Meyer clearance table.  It has been sitting in my gifting pile waiting to find the perfect person that it should be given to.  I instantly thought of my developing green gift theme and new it would be a great addition in Ali's basket! Thank goodness I know that Ali LOVES Goodwill and good deals as much as I do, so she would not be offended that she is getting gifts that were steals! :)

Discount Pyrex and picture frames.

The last piece to the gift puzzle was actually three pieces.  I picked up three fresh herb plants from our Fred Meyer, taking advantage of the Memorial Day weekend Garden Center sale! I picked up onion chives, cilantro, and lemon verbena.  I then cut squares of craft wrap that covered the unattractive black, plastic store pots.  I folded the edges over the corners of the pots so they look slightly pleated, then used natural colored raffia to secure the paper in place with bows!

These would make absolutely terrific place markers or favors for a summer party!

Any good gift has to have a good card to accompany it, so my next task was to create a simple, green themed card!  I started with a crafting and card making staple, a paint chip! Acquiring new paint chips is literally the only reason I go to Home Depot.  They have the multiple color chips still, when most companies are stocking individual color chips only.

Happened to have the perfect green chip!

In order to make the chip less industrial and harsh looking, I used my Martha Stewart lace paper punch that I picked up a few months ago at JoAnn's.  

I only punched one end, only because I liked the look.

I then used a stamp that I have been dying to use, because it is just so cheery and cute! The uses for the stamp though are limited, so it was great having a purpose for it! I used a chocolate brown ink and placed it on a white pricing tag from my scrapbooking box. I attached the tag using a glue dot on one end and a green (go figure) brad through the hole at the other end.  

Picked up at Michael's for $1.00!

So simple, but so happy!

I finished the card up with a simple To and Heart in a matching chocolate brown marker. The card only took about five minutes to construct, but it matched the green themed basket perfectly!

:)

The finished product turned out so wonderfully, it may be one of my most favorite gifts I have ever given! Thanks Ali, for letting me blog all about your neat present! And may your new home bring you many wonderful memories and blessings! Love you!

The final basket!

Marimba Jams!

It was that time of year again! Marimba concert time! The 4th and 5th grade classes as well as the performance bands helped our Educators Association raise scholarship money by performing some rockin' marimba music! We started the evening with a chili feed and then followed with the concert.  In the end we raised over $1000 to give high school seniors! Needless to say, I'm always incredibly proud of my students for having the courage to play in front of such a large crowd, and I admire their seriousness and dedication to the project! They ROCK!

Two 5th graders that I will miss having in class next fall. 

A former student paying great attention to the instructor. 

These three were so focused during their performance, I loved watching them. 

My wonderful kiddos with their concentration going.

Watching their instruments carefully, wanting to play well! 

I have students in the JV performance band too!

This little guy has his groove on! 

Don't they look so lovely and like they desperately want to played?

Coordinated wrist action. 

Operation Bunny Suit!

Preparing to enter the operating room!

Today our 5th graders all got partake in an awesome adventure to the local hospital! For a good reason, of course! We were a part of a new program called Operation Bunny Suit! This whole bunny suit thing has nothing to do with bunnies, and no creatures or students were harmed in the process of this field trip.  The bunny suits are the white suits that are worn in operating rooms along with head coverings and shoe booties.

Adults and students alike suited up for the process! 

Our group started in the operating room checking out how a laparoscopy camera works, and also practicing stitching up "patients" after surgery! 

Our "body" was full of feathers, trinkets, a flowered lei, and porcelain dolls.  

You're on candid camera!

From the OR we moved back to the conference room to meet with one of the physical therapy staff members and talk about how our body works.  Students looked at a model skeleton, muscles, and nerves.  We then tested how our muscles work for us in a fierce wall-sit competition! 

Checking out the skeleton model!

How are your legs feeling???

After we were sufficiently worked out, Ms. Morgan, the PE teacher would be proud, we headed off to the post operative area to monitor our heart rates and oxygen levels. Students wore leads attached to monitors so they could observe their body systems operating, they then received read outs showing what they registered.  

Eyes closed, relaxing the heart rate.

Listening to our heart beats!

Looking over read outs.

Monitoring oxygen levels too!

The next Doogie Houser?

What is my temperature???

What a fun trip! The hospital provided us with a tasty hamburger lunch, a fantastic educational field trip experience, and sent us off with great goodie bags, including our hospital gear, stitched up patients, and neat new Operation Bunny Suit t-shirts! Thank you for your hospitality and time! We had a memorable time!

Happy patients!