Made It Monday... On Tuesday :)

Better late than never, right???  

My Made It Monday just didn't happen on Monday.  This week has been a little hectic {to say the very least}, or I might have just forgotten what day it was, but really, I'm just a day late to the party.

For this week's edition of Made It Monday, I am showing an {almost} finished product from my TpT shop.  I have a feeling my new alphabet letter line is going to be one of my new favorite things in my classroom.  I have made it in a sweet little shade of Tiffany blue with chevron, pennants, AND chalkboard accents {trendy alert!}.  This product is available in both D'Nealian (Modern Manuscript) as well as Manuscript.  If you are really sweet, I will even change the color from Tiffany blue to any shade to match your classroom. :)  The pictures on each card follow the Saxon Phonics curriculum, and vowels feature a long and short sound picture.

I apologize in advance for the horrible pictures.  I sequestered myself in my son's bedroom so I could actually finish this project without kids walking all over them. I love my children to the moon and back. :)

Here are the supplies I needed to make my banner:

1.  The pennants themselves.  These are Tiffany blue (but I can DEFINITELY customize to fit your classroom theme), chevron, and chalkboard.  Vowels are solid in the pennant shape, while consonants are chevron with a triangular shape.

2.  Ribbon.  I bought my ribbon at the Lob when it was half off.  It took about 1 1/2 rolls.  I used a hole punch to make holes in each of the top corners, then threaded the ribbon.  I put 5 pennants on each group, but of course, 26 is not divisible by 5, so there is one group of 6.

And here is the finished product, ready to go up on my classroom wall!

I must say, I cannot wait to get into my classroom tomorrow afternoon and hang these bad boys up.  I am going to put pom flowers on both ends of the banner for an added flair.  I will post pictures to my Instagram and Facebook as soon as I get it up!

What's that?  You'd like to have this little piece of adorableness in your classroom?  Well, don't fear!  You can buy them in my TpT shop, and until Saturday, both the D'Nealian and Manuscript versions are 20% off!

I have some exciting news to share with you too... Check back Friday to see my favorite Pins of the week, as well as hear what is going on in my {blogging} life! 

Favorite Pins Friday! Plus a GIVEAWAY!!!

I'm once again linking up with Cara from The First Grade Parade for the Favorite Pins Friday Par-Tay.

For My Classroom

This is actually my product.  I am in the process of assembling this ABC pennant banner.  It is just too cute for words.  You should probably go check it out here. :)  It is also available in ball and stick writing here.  I will be sure to post a picture of the banner post-assembly.  It should be pretty much the cutest thing ever.

Making Me Chuckle

(Click picture for source)

If you haven't watched this little gem of a newscast, do it.  Now.

Sweet Brown is pretty much my hero.

(Click for Source)

I also need to purchase this...  Truth.

(Click the link to order yours, Mommas.)

Pinterest Fail of the Week

(Click if you dare to try this...)

Words can't even describe how excited I was to try this.  I don't know if it is the fact that my hair is all kinds of layered, or if it's because my Claire Bear was under my feet like a cat, but I just couldn't do this.  We were 15 minutes late for a playdate because of this pin.  You win, Pinterest.  You win again.

Speaking of hair, this is the BEST website for hair tutorials around.

(Click to have your life changed.)

I am also doing my very first GIVEAWAY!  Simply enter below for your chance to win my Sight Word Palooza Pack!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(Click the picture to see this in TPT.)

Favorite Pins Friday!

What a busy week it has been!  I'm excited to link up to The First Grade Parade's link-up party!

Pinterest was my first form of educational social media.  I discovered it way back when in 2011 just after I had my daughter.  From there, I discovered amazing teacher blogs like Deanna Jump and The First Grade Parade.  In February, I was a featured pinner for the Indiana Department of Education's Digital Learning Day.  In a nutshell, Pinterest has changed the way I teach.  It opened my life up to a world of resources.  It's more than just education though.  When I need a recipe, I go straight to my Pinterest app.  When I want to search for cute chevron class decor, Pinterest has an answer.  But enough about my feelings on Pinterest...  Let's move on to some of my favorite pins from this week!

General Education

Source:  Apples and ABC's Blog

Our Open House will be here before I know it!  I love this blog, but I love that she used balloons to decorate her room and give the kids something fun to take home.  

Math

Source:  Math Coach's Corner Blog

My Math Focus Wall is bursting at the seams with important stuff, but I think I will be making room for this idea!  I love doing daily/weekly graphing and surveying with my kiddos.  This will help me be more consistent.

Reading

Source:  Teachers Pay Teachers

This little something-something is from my TPT shop.  It correlates with Scott Foresman Reading Street series.  I just love it!

Class Decor

Source:  Rust Sunshine Blog

What can I say?  I love flower poms.

For the Home

Source

I did this!  For Father's Day, the kiddos and I attempted this for Daddy.  It was the most stressful 10 minutes of my life, but as you can see below, the results were well worth it. :)

Yum-O

Source:  The Pioneer Woman

For my Nanny's Fourth of July festivities, I was in charge of baked beans.  Who else to call upon for help but the Pioneer Woman!  These were to die for.

For Dem Kids

Source:  Catch My Party

My son has a slight Lego obsession...

Source:  Apartment 46 Blog

My girl gets to start dance class in September!  I will definitely be doing this.  I think I am more excited than she is about starting. :)

Gettin' Crafty

Source:  howjoyful.com

My room has been all cutesyfied up, and yet I still have a nasty, burgundy chair.  This is on my to-do list

Styling and Profiling

Source:  The Homet

I just love this.  I need it!

Source:  Tattoo Ideas Central

Those are the cutest nails I have ever seen.  

L-O-L

Source:  Humor Train

I snorted the first time I read this. :)

Words to Live By

Source:  PhatMass.com

Unfortunately, I have had my share of haters.  My husband says this saying ALL THE TIME, and while it is true, the scripture attached to it is very meaningful to me.  

I'm drifting in and out of consciousness, so link up and have fun!

Made It Monday!

Happy Monday!  I am so excited to link up to 4th Grade Frolics for....

I have been surprisingly crafty so far this summer.  

So this sweet little project is someone else's idea, but man, is it a good one!  I follow the amazing Michelle from Apples and ABCs on Instagram.  She posted the cutest little project a couple of weeks ago, and I knew I just had to do it, too!  

I made a trip to Michael's early this week and bought a wood letter {on clearance, I might add}.  I also purchased a sheet of scrapbook paper.  Add in some Mod Podge, and you have all the ingredients you need for the cutest little photo prop you have ever seen!

Step 1:  Trace the letter onto the scrapbook paper.  

Step 2:  Cut out the tracing.

Step 3:  Brush Mod Podge all over your letter.

Step 4:  Carefully place paper letter onto wood letter.

Easy peasy.  Someday I will learn to take step-by-step pictures.  Until then, bear with me.

{For some background knowledge, my kiddos do lots of projects in groups throughout the year.  For example, they work in groups to create math addition and subtraction stories using Doodle Buddy at least once a week.  Also, our final activity for the year is to create an iMovie about a zoo animal for that unit.}

I really wanted to create some kind of cute background for my collection of iPads.  I have 7 iPads in my classroom, and while I am so thankful for them, it is sometimes difficult for little ones to remember which iPad they have used when working in a group.  The way I break my kids in groups is by their table seating arrangement.  I name my tables by color, so this is the way I chose to name my iPads as well!

To make this cute little background, I used Keynote (or PowerPoint if that's how you roll) to basically just make a slide of exactly what I wanted.  Notice the chevron, chalkboard, and bunting.  Trendy to the max.  Then, you export it as a picture, email it to yourself or DropBox it, and there you have it!  iPad background in a jiffy! :)

Another digital item!  Can you tell I {love} my MacBook.  I don't know how I lived without it.  

This cute little banner is for my My Big Campus page.  For those of you who don't know what that is, you can check it out here.  I will also use this banner for my newsletter and Facebook page.

To make this, I followed very similar steps as I did for my iPad backgrounds.  

First, I opened Keynote (my program of choice).  I drew a shape and filled it with my signature yellow chevron background.  I added the graphics and wording that I wanted.  Then, I exported it as a picture. I had to open Photoshop to crop it, but it is just as cute as can be.

Finally, for my most favorite crafty project...  A sneak peek of my painted classroom.  I was able to go into school for about an hour and a half yesterday, between church, lunch, and a writer husband who is nearing a deadline (love him!), and I got one wall painted.  I am going in today, tomorrow, and hopefully not Wednesday to finish up.  

Here is a little sneak peek for ya:

I pretty much love it.  

Next week's Made It Monday will {hopefully} be my finished classroom!

Be sure to link up for this fun par-tay!

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