Teacher Gifts for the End of the Year

Sometimes I really love buying gifts.  You know when you go shopping for a gift, but you're just not quite sure what you want to get.  And then suddenly, you're walking down the isle and a clever gift idea jumps out at you!  You stop and contemplate (and check the price), only to discover that you've really stumbled on to something pretty good.  That's what happened to me today!!!

I was out with my kiddos this afternoon look for teacher gifts.  (I know you're laughing right now and saying, "but I thought you were their teacher?"  The gifts were not for myself!)  My two oldest have been involved in some outside classes (ballet and drama) all year long, and I thought a small teacher gift was a nice way to end a very nice experience for both of them. 

I found these cute summer beverage dispensers with pour spouts ($6 each) and there were coordinating tumblers ($1.50 each - I bought 2 for each gift).  I grabbed a bow ($1 each) and set of note cards ($3 for 10, which I can use for other things this summer). 

So when all was said and done, each gift was less than $11.

(All items were bought at Target.)

I stacked 2 tumblers in side each beverage dispenser and stuck the bow on the top.  Aren't the pinwheel note cards adorable?!  The kids helped fill them out.  We wrote something along these lines:

Dear _________,

Thank you for a wonderful year of ______________. 

We hope you have a "refreshing" summer!

Then we tucked the note cards inside the beverage dispensers, as well. 

With the handle on top, I figured no gift bag was needed.  I think they are rather cute, yet simple as can be!  I wouldn't even mind getting one of these myself.  Maybe I will go back and buy myself a teacher gift after all - lol!!!!

The Big Room Switch-A-Roo

With baby number four quickly on her way, we needed to make some adjustments.  Our bedrooms all seemed to be busting at the seems, so I knew it was time to give up the spacious bonus room as our schoolroom and turn that into a bedroom.  After much contemplating, I decided this to be he boys' room.  My sweet Curly Girlie begged and begged to share a room with her baby sister (she was the one to pray nonstop that we would have a little girl), and this seemed to be our best option.  So we are putting the girls into the room where the boys were.  Leaving the smallest bedroom as a space for our school stuff.  

So the Big Room Switch-A-Roo was underway. 

As you can see, despite all my hemming and hawing, chewing of fingernails and late night contemplating this switch, everyone else was having a blast as we tore down and rebuilt the bedrooms.  Leave it to a 4 year old boy to make a slide out of the bed that daddy was taking apart.  I love his exuberance even if the angle didn't provide much sliding success.  He did make me laugh, which was a great success at the time!

I figured it would be really nice to have all of our schooling materials together, even if we didn't stay in there for school, due to lack of space.  I can't tell you how wrong I was - about the lack of space that is!  This small room turned out the be a perfect little schoolroom for us!  Here's a quick glace around our room.  The door is to the left of this first picture.  And I lined the shots up to give you a full tour around the room, ending at the door again.

 

Tic Tac Toe

I love adding a fun new game to our schoolwork! I made a Tic Tac Toe game recently. It's great because it can be used to review anything. And works great with multiple ages. In fact, it's been a huge hit at our house. The kids ask for it almost everyday!

I cut the tops off of 2 file folders to make each side of the file folder even.  I over-lapped the two folders and adhered them together to make it a tri-fold - I used double sided tape, but you could also use glue.  I found a pack of library cards at my local teacher's store and adhered them to the file folder, 3 in a row on each flap.  I also added some cute lettering that I found in my scrapbooking stash.  I made a sheet of X's and O's on the computer, laminated them and cut them out.  I added Velcro dots to the back of each one, placing the other half of the Velcro dots on the library pockets.

Next I folded up the bottom flap and added a second set of Velcro dots here, so we had a storage spot for all

The Jellybean Prayer for Easter

Our first Easter project finally took place.  And it's definitely one of my favorites!  The fact that jellybeans are involved might sway me a bit toward this project.  However, it's really how the jellybeans are used to share the message of Easter. 

The Jellybean Prayer

Red is for the blood He gave

Green is for the grass He made

Yellow is for the sun so bright

Orange is for the edge of night

Black is for the sins we made

White is for the grace He gave

Purple is for His hour of sorrow

Pink is for our new tomorrow

A Bag full of jellybeans

Colorful and sweet

Is a prayer

Is a promise

Is a friend's small treat

First we read through the poem.  Then I passed out a small bowl of jellybeans to each of them.  We went through the poem again, more slowly this time eating the jellybean color by color as the poem said them.  And we talked about each line and what it meant.  (This gave them time to chew, chew, chew!)

Changes and Adjustments Part 2

Changes are a part of life. I am learning that just about the time I think I have something set the best way I can imagine, something comes along that forces a change. Whether it's a physical, tangible reason to change or just that tugging at my heart telling me a change is needed. I sometimes really want to fight the latter - ignoring or dismissing those persistent thoughts. But what I really need to do is pray. Find out whether it is God leading me in another direction or not. And follow Him! Whether a big decision or a smaller one, sometimes it's just not easy to change. And leaning on God is the only way this stubborn girl can manage. 

Another change we recently made is with our spelling program. My Little Buddy was using Spelling Power this year. It's a nice program with some great ideas, but it just didn't click for us. It was hard for me to forgo the money I spent on that and spend more money on another program mid-year. But we finally hit a wall and I

Changes and Adjustments Part 1

Changes are a part of life.  I am learning that just about the time I think I have something set the best way I can imagine, something comes along that forces a change.  Whether it's a physical, tangible reason to change or just that tugging at my heart telling me a change is needed.  I sometimes really want to fight the latter - ignoring or dismissing those persistent thoughts.  But what I really need to do is pray.  Find out whether it is God leading me in another direction or not.  And follow Him!  Whether a big decision or a smaller one, sometimes it's just not easy to change.  And leaning on God is the only way this stubborn girl can manage. 

I am a planner.  I love to make plans.  I work out the details and the timing.  I write them out and make them all pretty, etc.  But not too long ago I realized that the planning I was doing for our homeschooling seemed off somehow.  I loved filling in my little planning boxes.  I would open my planning folder while we were doing school

Menu Plan for March

I am so late getting this out, but here it is anyway.  This month is scheduled to run from March 4 - 31.  So we've already completed the first week and are on to week 2. 

I've also decided to alternate our taco/nacho night with pizza, just to mix things up a bit so as to not get too tired of our favorite - tacos!  But we're still keeping it simple and easy for our busy day.

Having a menu plan has been so helpful for me.  Yes, it takes a little work to get it set for the month,