Quiet Book Pages with Spray Paint {and a neighbor page exchange!}

A few years ago a neighbor friend asked if I wanted to participate in a quiet book page exchange. I had never heard of anyone doing this and I instantly loved the idea.

I love to create. I love to collaborate. I love to teach. I love kids.
It was the perfect project for me.

One of the other moms in our group went to Joanns and got a giant piece of white felt (using a coupon to help cut costs) and I volunteered to cut it in 8.5"x11" pages for everyone, then we distributed the appropriate number of pages to everyone. I think we had six people in the group and each person made duplicates of their own two pages for a total of twelve pages total, six copies of each page.

I liked to sew, but I wasn't crazy about sewing elaborate details over and over again since we were each making several duplicates. I also didn't want to glue my page pieces together because I was confident in my kids destructive abilities 😆 and knew if I invested the time and money into making it I wanted the pages to last.

I also didn't want to add extra cost purchasing several sheets of several different colors of felt for each page (in hindsight at about $0.50 a sheet this seems like a small expense, but at the time I guess I was feeling frugal 😄).

I had lots of spray paint on hand already from several various projects so I decided I was going to try spray-painting felt. I had never seen it done before and honestly, wasn't sure how it would turn out, but in the end, was really happy with the unique results!

Solar System Page

Space has always been one of my favorite subjects to teach. There's something really mysterious and exciting and intriguing about this vast, expansive world beyond ours that we know so much and still so little about. When I taught preschool and elementary I had a set of glow-in-the-dark planets that hung from the ceiling, and I always found a way to squeeze space into our curriculum, so when I contemplated what pages I wanted to make and exchange with our group it was easy to settle on a Solar System page.

How I made it: 

First I collected circular objects of various sizes from around the house - a water bottle lid, a milk lid, a mason jar lid, a plate for the sun, etc. Then I laid out all my circles on my white felt page where I wanted them. With my circles in place I sprayed the page with black spray paint followed by a few mists of white and glitter spray paint for star galaxies.

Next, using my collection of circular items I traced a bunch of circles on my extra white felt and cut them all out by hand. I sprayed all my duplicates, 6 Earths, 6 Jupiters, 6 Mars, etc. at the same time. I added velcro to the page and each piece, hand-wrote the name of each planet for emerging readers, and viola! Easy-peasy.

Shape Matching Page

The concept behind this page was similar to the solar system planet matching page, except instead of simply matching to the correct size circle I wanted to add in colors, shapes and shape names.  I noticed it was easy to practice common shapes like circles, squares, and triangles with my kids because they are easy to spot in our environment, but less popular shapes are trickier, so I was excited to incorporate a page with other shapes too - kind of like those wooden-shape-sorting block-boxes. 

How I Made it: 

First I cut all of my shapes out of cardstock then I laid them out on my white felt pages similar to how I did the solar system page. Then I simply sprayed the page gray with spray paint. 

Botta bing, botta boom! 

Next I cut my shapes out of felt, using my same cardstock pieces as my template for each shape. I double layered each one, stitched them together and added a smile and two buttons for a face. How fun would it be to make all different expressions on each shape?! Then I used whatever craft or kids paint I had on hand and a set of stamps I had for my preschoolers to stamp the name of each shape in a corresponding paint color. I messed up on the spelling on trapezoid and had to fix it by sewing a white trapezoid over the top of the mishap. But that was only 1/7, not too bad. 

 

Camping Pretend Play Page

Back in my sewing days (I sold my sewing machine, custom-made sewing cabinet that Colby made, and serger before our world travels) 😓I used to always shop the remnant fabrics. They're like 50% off and an additional 50% off that. They're small pieces of fabric, usually less than a yard, but since I usually didn't have projects in mind, I would just go browse and see what I fancied. It was like a treasure hunt for hidden gems! I think that's actually how I came up with this page design - I found the fabric and it made me think 'tent material' and it all exploded from there. 

How I Made it: 

I used my same cardstock overlay technique for spray-painting this page. I cut a page in half using an uneven zigzag and then laid it over the bottom half of my page, spraying the sunset sky first. With my "mountains" in place I placed my mini start stickers and then sprayed away with orange, pink, purple, whatever colors I had on hand that fit a sunset. It was fun! 

Then when that was dry I removed the star stickers and covered up the top half with the opposite zig-zag jigsaw piece and sprayed the bottom. From there it was just a matter of sewing my detail pieces - the tent, rocks, campfire, etc. There was a little person with a roasting stick and sleeping bag at one point that they kids loved to put in and out of the tent, but those have long since gotten lost. 

Buckle the Dog's Collar Page

Are all little kids obsessed with doing buckles, or is that just mine? As I thought through various skills I wanted to incorporate in my quiet book I settled easily on a buckle page. The dog was just a fitting afterthought. Feeling thrifty again I hunted through my house for a buckle I could use and found one on an old, dilapidated backpack I was ready to donate and repurpose anyway. 

How I Made it: 

I sprayed my page green first, using a letter D cutout to leave a silhouette of the letter behind. Then it was just a matter of cutting out all my dog pieces and sewing them together. I intentionally left my pup's tongue and ears flappy so he could give some slobbery kisses or bashfully hide his eyes and play peek a boo. 

Truthfully I wish I had thought of more skills or activities to incorporate with this page, but my kids definitely didn't care. They love to do the buckle time and time again and as my older two have gotten older I've celebrated that they're able to undo it themselves and don't beg for me to undo it every 2.5 seconds. 

Feed the Monkey Page

When Crew was a baby he had a little sock-monkey carseat toy that stretched and vibrated and I thought the thing was adorable. Maybe it inspired this feed-the-monkey-page, I don't remember? But I also loved the idea of feeding the monkey fruits and it brought back reminiscent memories of wild monkeys jumping on my kayak to steal our fruit as we rafted through mangrove forests in the ocean in Thailand so many years ago. 

How I Made it: 

Making this page was much like the making of the dog buckle page - I sprayed painted the page blue but instead of adhering a D to it I painted over a stencil of the letter M in pink to coordinate with the monkey's polka-dot shirt. I was sure to include a few more skills on this page than I had with the dog buckle page too. I cut out all my monkey pieces, sewed my zipper, pocket, and button holes for her shirt, then layered everything and sewed it in place. The fruits I included - an apple, an orange, and a banana, I made out of scrap pieces I had laying around. I put some velcro on her hand so she could hold them or they could be stored inside her mouth. All three gives her a nice big mouthful. 

Piggy Bank Page

This page is one of my favorites because it's so interactive, educational and you can shake up your change and hear it rattle inside just like a real piggy bank! 

How I Made it:

This was one of the few pages I left white. Making the pig was fairly simple, just a matter of cutting and stitching, with a button-hole for the coins and velcro on his underside to remove them. I added some of my trademark spray paint for a finishing touch and left his curly piggy tail loose for little fingers to twirl. 

I didn't make this apple-picking page with snaps on the back, but it's also one of our favorites. I had wanted to incorporate a page with snaps, but silly enough, was too intimidated by them to do it! I'm amazed we still have all five apples almost five years later. A neighbor friend made it and I had to include it in our roundup because it's SO dang cute.

To see more of the pages my neighbor friends made (minus the ones we lost in our latest move), plus a demo of my pages and tutorial for how I made them check out the YouTube video below:

https://youtu.be/ePfbJKiX0k4

If this post inspires you to make your own quiet book pages I would LOVE to see yours!!!
Please leave me a comment, send me a message with pictures or tag me if you post about it. It makes my heart happy to share with others.


xoxo,
Emily

PS - Looking for something else? Check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store with 70+ educational resources for parents and educators with hundreds of reviews, many of them FREE.

100th Day of School Valentines Candy Shirt

Every time I’m back in an elementary school I’m rocked by a wave of happy nostalgia - so many happy memories of teaching! Teaching is truly a passion for me and like an athlete revisiting his old stadium, field, or court, it comes flooding back the second I step in the doors and remember being at the top of my game with an audience of mini-super-fans. They were the reason I loved what I did. Them, and my love for all the subjects and all things learning. Those little learners made my day, every single day, five days a week, 36 weeks a year. 

It’s been so fun to have Zoe be in school this year learning Chinese and yet it ignites a flame in me that burns to be back in a classroom teaching and itching to be a fly on the wall following her learning adventures. I feel a little sheepish to admit that I always leave her school scheming ways to land a part-time job teaching art or music or science or something and I may have even contacted her school administrators and my old ones about such opportunities without telling Colby first. 🤫 Shhhh.

Alas, I know the time isn’t right with my health endeavors and everything we have going on, but it’s fun to conspire and relive those glory days for a minute. I've decided maybe I'll fuel some of my unspent passion here into the blog! :) Thanks for being here and reading! 

Today was the 100th day of school in Zoe’s kindergarten class. I had signed up to volunteer and Zoe was allowed to decorate a shirt or hat to wear for it and I completely spaced both until mid-way through the morning! (Thank goodness for afternoon kindergarten in this instance). Fortunately I’m pretty quick on my toes and we already had an idea tumbling in our brains and were able to pull something together. 

If you, like us, happen to have these few easy supplies on hand you can whip out a Valentines- meets-100th-day candy-heart-filled-dispenser-shirt too :) 

What you'll need: 

• White or Plain Colored T-Shirt
• 1 or 2 Sheets of Craft Foam or Felt
• 1 Giant Googly Eye (we got ours around Halloween and repurposed it for this project)
• Applesauce Squeeze Twist Lid
• 1 quarter
• 100 Conversation Hearts
• Scissors
• Hot Glue

Assembly was pretty straight forward. We googled a picture of a candy machine to get an idea of the shape we liked. Then we cut out the craft foam, painted the applesauce lid gold, counted out hearts and placed them in the googly eye to see how many fit. We fit about 75 inside, scattered the rest around and glued everything in place with hot glue.

I reminded Zoe that this shirt probably wouldn't last forever and not to melt down at school if something fell off or fell apart. Fortunately it held up and is still in tact today, a few weeks later now, although it obviously hasn't taken a ride through a wash. 

Once I got Zoe out the door, looking adorable in her hand-crafted shirt (it took us less than an hour to whip together) I had 45 minutes to figure out what activity I was going to do in her classroom for the 100th day celebration rotations. I had intended to exercise that morning and then the last minute remembrance of her 100-day shirt hijacked that plan, so deciding to combine purposes and exercise with 27 kindergarteners instead was easy! Boy did I get a good workout too! I whipped out my computer, crafted a quick plan, stayed in my exercise clothes and headed to the school. 

My goal in designing most learning activities (based on what I learned in graduate school) is to engage as many senses and learning styles as possible, so that's what I went for here. I wanted physical learning (hands-on, gross motor, strength & flexibility), plus wanted to throw in some literacy with reading, writing, repetition and sentence structure, and a little math. Some deep breathing, mindfulness, and spatial awareness were a bonus. 

The kids loved it. I loved it. And I felt especially happy about the 100 exercises we did (well 500 for me after 5 rotations! And yes I was sore the next day) since the kids made froot loop necklaces in another rotation and got handed several treats as they were leaving. 

Click here if you want to print this FREE activity for 100 exercises.

Please check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store! I have lots of amazing products for parents, educators and homeschoolers - teaching and creating are my passion and I love sharing with you! If you feel so inspired please pin or share anything you find here.

Sending you lots of love friends!

Seriously Spectacular Space Projects

2 Summers ago I saw these little bags of styrofoam balls at DollarTree. They caught my attention instantly because an idea had already been tumbling around in my head for a couple of years but

styrofoam balls from the craft store are ridiculously overpriced, especially when you need about 8 (sorry Pluto :{ ) for 25 or so kids.  

I just couldn't believe how perfect these little $1 bags were.  Each one has 8 styrofoam balls AND 4 of them are small and 4 of them are larger!  Could it be more perfect?  

(Well... actually, yes, I suppose it could, and I did have a little discussion with my kiddos about how these 8 little balls weren't PERFECTLY proportionate to all 8 planets, but they are perfect for approximately representing the 4 inner Rocky Midgets and the 4 outer Gas Giants.) 

Anyway, I'm sure you can see where this was headed.  I saw the bags;  The idea was already brewing and just waiting to burst out of my brain; I had to buy them, that is 30 bags of them.  :)  So there they sat in my classroom cupboard for 2 years waiting for the perfect opportunity to be put to use.  I wanted to use them with my little firsties last year but it just seemed like a little much.  So this year when I switched to third grade the timing was perfect and they couldn't have turned out any more amazing!

WANT TO MAKE SOME WITH YOUR STUDENTS? YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR FREE HERE.

I gave each student a little bag of balls and a note of instructions that explained that they needed to represent the sun, all 8 planets, (and Pluto if they wanted), the stars, and the asteroid belt and each celestial body needed to be labeled.  I gave them some ideas for mounting/displayed their project and offered wire hangers for any students that wanted them, but most found their own way and they seriously turned out so awesome.  Can you believe 3rd graders did this?

We left them on display in the entryway of the school and they were quite the hit!  

Some kids cut them in half and mounted them.  Some kids used wires and sticks to mount them.  Some hung them.  

Quite simply: They were amazing.

This one was quite possibly my favorite. It's impossible to tell from this poor phone photo, but she went far above and beyond.  She labeled several stars and even added little labeled moons to the planets with toothpicks.  And of course you can just barely see little Pluto there on the end.  The whole thing was about 5-6 feet long and pretty impressive hanging from our ceiling.

When we were all finished learning about the solar system and completing our Planet Books, (click image to purchase)

and had finished our test, we celebrated by making delectable Solar System Cookies. 

I haven't quite caught back up with blogging/teaching/mommying/and creating teaching projects... so I don't have a picture of the 3rd grade cookies from this year, but here's one from a few years ago.  You can check out more details about the cookies and a few highlights of our Space activities from last year here.  

Hooray for the Humans...Part II

Since our little angel was born I have been busy with returning to teaching half-day, adjusting to life as mommy and teacher, and settling into our new home.  My third graders and I recently had a blast learning about the Human Body.  We used the Human Body Book that I created last year, 

  

and of course displayed the Human Body System Posters I created. 

Plus we added lots of fun new things to our learning! 

Unlike last year, we didn't have access to real-life skeleton so we had to settle for this little guy that the 6th grade let us borrow:

Like most, my kiddos love everything hands-on.  They were so fascinated with the human body and all of it’s amazing systems and I wanted them to have the opportunity to CREATE something to help solifidy their understanding of each system and its parts so I created this Human Body System Craft Book.  We used common household/classroom items to represent the different parts of the system (for example – little pink water balloons for the lungs, gold pipecleaners for the nerves, and a sponge for the brain).  When we finished learning about all of the systems we bound them in a book and wow, they look fabulous!  What a neat learning souvenir. 

 

You can purchase the Human Body Systems Craft Book here.  It includes a materials list and instruction page for each system, as well as a template for each body system, covers for the book and pictures of the completed crafts.

Of course we also made our little body system paper dolls (the kids LOVE them) before we took our test.  

Want a copy of the study guide and test I used?  You can download it for free here:

 And I had a wonderful TPT follower ask if I could provide her with the Human Body System Posters so she could translate them into Spanish.  Well… since I work in a school with a Spanish emphasis and LOTS of great Spanish-speaking teachers I went ahead and did it myself (with their help of course) and you can purchase those here if you’re interested.  They are PERFECT for Spanish-speaking schools or Spanish-immersion schools where science is taught in Spanish.  I hope somebody finds a good use for them!

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!

Giveaway Winner & Wintery Update

Okay.. so I just might be the worst teacher-blogger ever...you know how the holidays are, plus it's like 5 degrees outside and I have been sick, sick, sick for weeks and with all those little kidlets coughing in my face, sneezing, and nose-blowing left and right it has seemed impossible to stay healthy!
But school starts up again tomorrow so my fingers are crossed for a healthier 2013.

Anyway, some of you probably thought I completely forgot about this little giveaway I ran what seems like way-back-when, but I didn't, and the winner of a $20 TeacherNotebook giftcard is
.... (drumroll please....)

 Denise @ Yearn to Learn!

However, if you commented on the giveaway post and you are reading this I want to say thanks so much for your support so please feel free to choose anything from my TN or TPT store that you're interested in and I'll send it to you for free.  Yes, Anything.  :)  Just let me know in your comment and tell me where to send it.  I promise not to be such a major slacker this time.

Here are just a few of the fun things we did before the break...

 We made shaving cream-glue snowmen invitations to our Christmas program... aren't they adorable?
So easy too!

We had sPiRiT Week @ the school.  

It was a pretty big deal because our school has a strict uniform dress code so the kids LOVED all of the creative freedom.  They were so cute.

Monday was crazy hat day so of course I had to go with the Dr. Seuss hat (if you've seen my classroom pics you know why...)  

Tuesday was crazy sock day. Mine were a huge hit. They're like Dr. Seuss & Mrs. Claus at the same time!

Wednesday was pajama bottoms day and I was woefully boring that day.

Thursday was crazy hair day and I stuck with the Dr. Seuss theme and tried to pull of a Who. How did I do?

Friday was our Christmas Program & red, white & green shirt day!  

That also happened to be my Masters Graduation Day.  So I saw their program then gave the reigns to a sub and headed to the university for my commencement.

We did lots more and I promise to be back soon.

 Happy New Year!

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.