123... ABC {A Plush, magnetic alphabet crafty tutorial}

Now that summer school is done, and for the first summer in a few years I'm no longer working on my masters degree I have found myself with LOTS of crafty nesting time (see here just in in case you missed the announcement). While perusing Pinterest (yes, very productive use of time... I know) I saw this adorable magnet board with magnet letters on it: It was love at first sight.

(click the image to view the original source)

I followed her link to check out the alphabet on Etsy but I just couldn't swallow spending $50 on it, adorable as it is.  So I determined I would make my own.  Now be warned.  I am a VERY amateur sewer (I don't even dare venture use the word "seamstress".  NO way!) And this project is not for the faint of heart, nor can it be done in a jiffy. Hopefully these instructions are of use to someone :)

Materials:

lowercase alphabet block letter template (free PDF)

26 fabric scraps (~4x4in)

26 Batting squares (~4x4in)

26 Felt squares (~4x4in)

52 1/2 in. diameter magnets

1. Select your fabric scraps.

(I arranged mine by color for a rainbow-ish effect to help my baby girl learn the sequence of the alphabet as she visually sees the color scheme in order).

 2. Create or print your alphabet template on cardstock.
(I chose lowercase letters because as all you early-childhood teachers know MOST of the English language is represented with lowercase letters.  Simply learning to recognize the letters by name, while helpful, is a far cry from learning to read.  That is why I always begin by teaching the sounds of lowercase letters before names or introducing capital letters.)

 3. Cut out your template and lay each piece with it's corresponding fabric.
(I used an exacto for the center of the tricky ones).

 4. Cut the fabric, batting and felt into approximate rectangles/squares for each letter.  Layer them in that order. Make sure you have at least a 1/4in. edge of fabric, batting, and felt around each letter.
(I considered using the same fabric for the backs, but ultimately decided on black felt to make it easy for baby girl to recognize the front and back of the letters).

 5.  Now I know I'm breaking lots of true seamstress rules here... but I didn't bother to pin OR trace my template. I know, I know.  Shame shame on me! I simply used the letter template as a guide and stitched through the fabric, batting and felt, making sure they all stayed aligned, and making sure to backstitch as I went.  If you're not as inclined to wing-it as I was, then by all means pin and trace away! But wait!  Don't forget the magnets!  I almost did, a few times in fact.  Think carefully about where to place your magnets.  They must be balanced on opposite sides of the letter or somewhat centered, otherwise the weight of your letter may cause it to hang crooked.  I found it was easiest to DECIDE where to put my magnets before I started sewing, THEN sew the letter ALMOST all the way (without the magnet), and finally stick them in at the last moment, and then finish up the last few stitches.

6. For those fun letters with the holes (a,b,d,e,g,o,p,&q) sew the outside edges and place the magnets first, then sew the inside of the letter (this part can be tricky!) and then finally cut out the center once the whole thing is sewn.

7. Trim all the excess around the edges and another letter is done! With each completed letter I found myself feeling happy and triumphant. Hopefully you do too.  When they're done, hang them on you refrigerator, a magnet board or a filing cabinet and admire them to your heart's content.  Hooray!

PS - I just have to add that after completing my alphabet I COMPLETELY understand why these are around $50 on Etsy. If I were selling I would have to charge at least $100 to make it even remotely worth my time. So go make your own and have fun!  Let me know if you do, I would love to see pictures!

Valentines Heart-felt Handprint Hearts

 A few weeks ago I saw this adorable idea floating around the great www and just had to try it out. 

 (Sorry I don't know whose original idea it was - I wish I did so I could say thank you.  It's genius!)

  I was actually REALLY happy with the result.  I had the kiddos work on another activity while I pulled them aside one-by-one to paint their hands.  It was much easier than I had anticipated. (And I have 26 first graders and just me.)

  The trickiest part was having them write their message to their parents around the outside of the heart once it dried and then outline it with pen.  Here are a few of my favorites.  They turned out SO cute.  I think we'll adhere a handprint poem on the back before we send them  home on Valentines Day, but we haven't gotten to that part yet.  

 And this photo is just a little blast from the past of our Valentines activity last year.  Their  heart valentines bags turned out SO cute (all pre-cut and prepared by parents - the best kind of craft :).  This year I opted to do a valentines box/bag contest.  (I snagged a great freebie for it on TPT here.  Thanks so much to Cute Classroom Creations!)

One of my favorite things about teaching is sharing ideas.  Tell me what you're doing for valentines!  

Leave me a comment or a link to it!  

(Check out my previous post if you want to grab my free bubble valentine template or a free February scrambled sentence sort.)  

Bubbly Valentines {Freebie!}

 Around Christmas time, (or it could have been after - it's all kind of a blur you know) I picked up these cute little bubbles at Michaels.  They came in an 18 pack for $2.50 and I knew they would be perfect for some little student gift or another.  

Well... I've found the perfect use for them.  Valentines!  (What 6, okay, maybe 7, year old really needs more candy after Halloween, Christmas, and Valentines all packed into 4 months?)  

So I whipped up some bubbly little cards and went about assembling my valentines.  I didn't have any cardstock on hand so I glued them to colored paper, but that is certainly not necessary.  Feel free to pin or download the template here.  (Please follow my blog if you do).  You could use them with wedding bubbles (also found at craft stores) little bubble jars (found at the dollar store) or even bubble gum! 

 

I've been so excited to share these, I just had to link up!  I've joined Teresa's linky party over at Fun in K/1, DoodleBugs Five for Friday, and Mrs. Lilypad's Little's Valentine Linky Party! Go check them out and link up!

On Friday my kiddos starting making an adorable valentines craft for their parents, but we had to leave it in-the-works, so stop back soon to see it.  It's so cute and so easy you don't want to miss it!

(I also recently posted free February scrambled sentences - check out this post if you want to download those.)

What do you do with your kids for Valentines?

Do you have a blog post about Valentines?  I want to see it!  Leave me a comment and a link to it!

Cheap Puffy Paint & Glossy Goo Maps & Geography Unit

We survived!!! Last week was our second week back to school and it was (phew!) slightly less exhausting than the first!  Is anybody else counting the days until their little kiddos are used to listening!?  Man, I sure am.  However, that being said, they did really well on our Continents & Oceans world map crafts.  They turned out SUPER cute too.

 First we labeled the oceans.  (We did the continents the day before).

  For the water we dyed corn syrup blue.  It is a sticky mess, but a neat one when it dries.  It looks glossy and wet and it's transparent, making it the perfect medium to represent water!

For the land we made made a mixture of one part glue and one part shaving cream, plus a little green food coloring.  I've also used colored paint when I didn't have dye on hand.  It dries soft and puffy to the touch and the kids LOVE it! My kiddos were SO excited to take them home. Only six kids of my 26 (I know!!  26-6 year olds, crazy, right!?  Does anyone else have that many first graders?) let me hang them up on our bulletin board.

 We had a LOT of fun with our Spatial Sense/Geography unit in the first two weeks of school.  It's always a fun one.  I created a whole bunch of resources to go along with it. We teach the Core Knowledge Sequence by E.D. Hirsch, but this unit could be used in the primary grades at any school.  Click the image if you're interested in downloading on TPT!  

Or you can get it on Teachers Notebook here. 

Birthday Freebie & Dr. Seuss Classroom Theme Highlight #4

 Happy Birthday!  .... to someone.  There's gotta be someone whose birthday it is today!  Here's what I'm going to give my kiddos for their birthdays.  (Got the cup for $1 @ Target, yay!)

 

My school has a no-food policy, which can be good and bad, so months ago I saw these crazy straws at the dollar store (6/$1 - Score!) and thought they would make awesome candy-free balloon strings.  If you want to download them for free please do!  Click the image below.  (Obviously I printed mine in black and white, but you could do color).

Next project... My classroom speakers and filing cabinet were pretty much hideous.  Yep, definitely hideous.  I snagged two cans of blue spray paint at Walmart recently and decided to give them a shot.  They couldn't look worse, right?   

Ta-Da!  And now they match my Dr. Seuss theme.  :)  Yay!  

However... I'm a bit of an inexperienced spray painter and left blue paint shadows on the sidewalk at my school.  Oh no!!!  I am so embarrassed!  I had some vinegar in the cupboard (thank you volcano experiment!) and worked hard to scrub the sidewalk with a rock but it still looked like this when I left.  :(  Hope I don't get in big trouble... 

Last of all - here's one more Dr. Seuss classroom reveal photo.  I hung this quote up last night.  I love it.  Stay tuned for pictures of my WHOLE classroom - it is just BURSTING with Dr. Seuss things.

Also, if you haven't seen my Cat in the Hat shelf and truffula trees you definitely need to.  Check out that post here. If you want to see the DIY Dr. Seuss lightswitch post click here. And last, if you want to see the DIY Dr. Seuss balloon wreath click here.  

Dr. Seuss Classroom Theme Day 3 Truffula Trees & Cat in the Hat Shelf

Dr. Seuss Classroom Theme Highlight #3

Truffula Trees & DIY Cat in the Hat Shelf

 I wanted to create some trees for my classroom this year, so when I decided to do a Dr. Seuss theme I thought truffula trees made with pool noodles would be PERFECT!  When I googled truffula trees to get some ideas for how to make the tops of the trees I discovered I was not the only person with the idea and I found an AWESOME DIY tutorial at Mrs. Lodge's Library.  Her trees are super cute too. 

 I love how they turned out. Here are some pictures of my trees and bulletin boards in progress. 

A few weeks ago, while rumaging through mostly junk at the thrift store I found this shelf for $3.  It basically screamed "DR. SEUSS" at me and I had to buy it. (Don't mind my legs... :)

I painted it, and it was super cute, but it just seemed like it needed some arms, so I went back to the thrift store to find some white gloves.  I stuffed the 50 cent exfoliating gloves with tissues, then I cut a wire hanger in half, threaded knee-high black socks on them and stuck the gloves on the end.  My husband helped me bend the end of the wires and screw them onto the back of the shelf. Love him :)

I bought this Dr. Seuss quote on Etsy and it was the perfect touch right beneath the shelf since the colors matched PERFECTLY!  Love it!  

Remember, you can see LOTS more Dr. Seuss crafts & ideas by following my blog and checking back the rest of this week.  Please leave me a comment if you like it or have any questions!

You can see my Dr. Seuss lightswitch & outlet cover post here and my Dr. Seuss balloon wreath post here.

I've now posted pictures of my WHOLE classroom - see that post here.

Dr. Seuss Classroom Theme Day 2 highlight - Balloon Wreath

It's another one of those nights.

A migraine night.

Good news: the medicine worked!

Bad news: In my moments of agonizing pain and desperation I gulped down a couple of caffeine-charged pills.  I forgot that second to easing the pain, my goal was to sleep.  Oops.

So I laid in bed while my brain danced silly circles like an energizer bunny ballerina until finally I concluded that I might as well put that battery-charged ballerina brain to better use... so here I am.

Blogging.

At 1 am.
Yay.

.... continued...

Dr. Seuss Classroom Theme Day 2 highlight: 

Dr. Seuss DIY Balloon Wreath

(inspired by Catch my Party)

 1. First I got a Straw Wreath and greening pins (@ Joanns), and two packs of red, white, and blue balloons (@ Walmart).  I also happened to snag this huge roll of 25 yards of red ribbon at the thrift store for $1!

2.  I wrapped the wreath with the ribbon and stapled the end.

 3.  Then I just "went at it" and started pinning the balloons to the wreath.  After just a few balloons I realized stapling them would be a LOT easier than pinning them all.

 I stapled all the rest and just put in a few pins for extra security.  The  pins do help prevent the balloons from drooping too, but you could forego buying greening pins and just staple all of the balloons on.

 Here's what she looked like partially completed.

 4. Before I finished securing all of the balloons I attached a ribbon to hang the wreath from.

 Here's what she looks like from the back.

Ta-da! Here's the front, ALMOST all complete.  I have since added some twisty pipe-cleaners, a hanging letter B, and a Dr. Seuss emblem, but to see pictures of the finished product you'll have to check back for my final capstone Dr. Seuss classroom theme post at the end of the week.  :)

You can also check out my Dr. Seuss lightswitch & outlet cover post  here

Dr. Seuss Classroom Theme Day 1 and You might be a teacher if.... {linky!}

I have been hard at work moving classrooms and decorating with a Dr. Seuss theme. I have had SO many Seussy projects going on I figured I'd share them in installments.... with a culminating capstone post at the end of the week with pictures of my whole classroom.  Don't forget to check back the rest of the week to see more!  

Up first... 

DoItYourself Dr. Seuss theme lightswitch & outlet covers.  (You could do this with any theme). So easy.  So cute!

 1. First I got myself one of Dr. Seuss's ABC books from the thrift store.  It was a little difficult for me to peel the inside cover off since I'm a book lover and felt like I was defaming it.  :(  

2.  Next I cut the paper to approximate size.   

 3. Then I covered the switch plate AND paper with modge podge.  

 4.  Next I pressed the paper to the switch plate and folded over the edges.  Cut the corners at an angle to better fold them.  

5.  Cut the inside (where the actual light switches go) in an X with a razor blade then fold them inside.

6. Show them off! 

(Pictures of them installed in the classroom to come... stay tuned! :)

And a Linky party...

Tanya @ A+ Firsties is hosting this awesome linky party and I giggled when I read about and checked 'yes' to all of the things that definitely mean I'm a teacher.

You might be a teacher too if any of the following apply to you!

You might be a teacher if....

A) You make regular trips to the dollar store and spend exorbitant amounts of money on $1 items.  How is that even possible!?

Recently I couldn't resist snagging 27 bags of styrofoam balls, perfect for solar system planet mobiles!

B) You go to Target intending to buy 1 item and leave with at least 10.

C) Your car or trunk are overflowing with "teacher things"

D) Your Dropbox (or wherever you save things) is overflowing with teaching files.

E)  You have spent over $200 getting your classroom ready for school

F) All of the above.