Love, Hearts, and a Mustache Party Oh My!!!!

Well, today was the day I couldn’t wait for. I got to give my “sweeties” their Valentine’s. I couldn’t wait to get out of bed this morning and get to school. I blogged about my wild crayon adventure in a previous post. {Click Here} Even though it was a bit time consuming, trust me… Seeing their faces was worth every bit of it.

{What’s a little time when you “color” someone’s world?}

I bagged them in clear cello bags and added a cute tag. Since this is my “first” official year in a classroom, I decided that “you’ve made my year more colorful” fit perfectly!!!

We made these adorable Valentine Boxes. I got the idea from Mrs. Morrow at Mrs. Morrow’s Kindergarten. I tweaked her cutie patootie boxes by adding a “marbleized heart” and a “glitter” mustache.  I really loved how these turned out and they were super simple to make.

The marbleized heart idea came from The Muffin Tree. I gathered all the supplies. (shaving cream, food coloring, popsicle sticks, aluminum pans, cookie sheets, plastic table clothes, and scrappers (I used heavy duty cardstock)

Step One: Put some shaving cream into pan. 

 

Step Two: Add a few drops of food coloring. (We worked on fair share a fair share project so this was a great time to partner the students up. They each took turns adding colors.)

Step Three: Using popsicle sticks, students ran them up and down, across, and etc to get a swirl effect.

 

Step Four: Sorry no picture. Students placed their paper into the “shaving cream” mixture, patted it down, and then pulled it out. (Yuck right!!)

  

Step Five: Now for the magic. Simply scrap off the excess shaving cream.

Step Six: Gorgeous Marbleized Paper.

We let the papers dry overnight then we traced and cut out a “heart” image and glued them down onto a foam heart.

These were so fun! It was a bit messy. Make sure to cover your tables, desks, work areas with plastic table clothes. I will definitely be doing this again in the future. I am already thinking about Spring and Fall.

Well, I could stop there. When I stopped at Mrs. Morrow’s I saw the precious “flower” bouquets and I adored them. I knew I had to make them for my parents. I gathered all the supplies. (scrapbook paper, chenille stems, straws, heart punch, plastic cups, and tissue paper)

I forgot to take a picture, but one of my parents took this. A little smashed but you get the idea. Traveling on the bus home can be detrimental to flowers. (LOL)

Here is another picture. This one looks like it may have traveled better!! We also made cards for our “precious” Valentine’s (see right side of photo).

After our “Valentine Exchange”. Alright all I can say is overwhelmed and completely speechless with the plethora of gifts, candy, etc. I was showered with today. Here is a snippet of a few things from my “groovy” kids. I should have taken a picture of my desk too. All I can say is “truly blessed’.

 

We headed down to our “party” One of my parents made these cute invitations for the kids.

 

We made mustache shirts. We all adorned “fake” mustaches on our lips. Well, some of my kiddos got a little mustache crazy and had them everywhere. I had visions of my kids in the future as parents. 

We played a “cool” mustache game and even had a photo booth.

We feasted on heart shaped pizza, Jell-O, and took home some “sweet” Valentine mix. We had “mustache” theme water bottles and straws. Let me just saw my parents thought of everything. Not sure how many different ways you can say amazing, but they always throw awesome parties.

Sorry for the “LONG” post but I wanted to share my amazing day with you. I tried to take pictures, but I know I missed a few things along the way. If you have any questions or need anything clarified~ just send me a note.

Hope you had a fabulous day with your “sweethearts”!! I know I did. Now it’s off to bed with visions of love, hearts, and mustaches dance in my head.

Sweet Dreams!!

Always, Melissa

P.S. Feel free to pin any images from this post!!

It’s almost here…

Well, this has been quite an interesting week. I don’t even know where to begin. This just say it started with a snow day and ended in complete confusion. I have been a jack of all trades this week. Luckily, a sweet friend of mine needed a “cute” craft for a program and I was more than willing to offer some help. I whipped up this George Washington Craft for her to make with her “sweet” kiddos. I can’t wait to see them on display for the program. (I’ll add a picture as soon as they are finished!) Here is my whipped up version below. I used a pencil to curl the hair and a paper doily folded to create the ruffle of the shirt.

 

I decided to add this to my TPT store for you all to enjoy and create with your sweets. I would love to see pictures of your finished products.

Feel free to pin.

Thanks for stopping by… I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes by George Washington

“It is better to stand ALONE than in bad company!”

If you are looking for some K-1st grade center activities. I created a President’s Day Math & Literacy Unit last year and it has been quite a hit!! Just click on the picture to head on over to view the sneak peek images

 

P.S. Have you checked out Spelling City Lately???? Here are some great monthly themed lists: Simply click on the link for the “Fabulous February Lists”

Black History Month http://www.spellingcity.com/view-spelling-list.html?listId=2851114

Dental Health Month http://www.spellingcity.com/view-spelling-list.html?listId=2851115

Groundhog Day http://www.spellingcity.com/view-spelling-list.html?listId=2851117

Valentine's Day http://www.spellingcity.com/view-spelling-list.html?listId=2851119

Unfortunately, they don't have a designated list for Presidents' Day, but this would be a great time to learn how to search for any list using their  Find A List feature!

Hope you enjoy!!! I know my kiddos have “loved” using this for our indoor recess activities.

It’s Fresh, Fun and FABULOUS!!!!

Always,

Melissa

Feeling the LOVE

I am not quite sure what crazy ideas go through my head as I surf through pinterest. Oh My Oh My… I really need someone to stand behind me and shout, “Forget it, You have no clue what you are getting into!” Well, I pinned this adorable idea last year from The Rainbow Room.

 

I loved the idea and knew immediately I wanted to make them from my kiddos for Valentine’s Day.

Well, I gathered all of the necessary supplies

Alphabet Ice Cube Trays

Crayons (A Ton!!! I had a collection drive at school. A great time to ask, after x-mas so many teachers buy their kiddos new crayons for x-mas what to do with the broken crayons… Donate them to that crazy pinterest inspired teacher!)

Disposable Pans or OLD Cookie Sheet (The wax will run over)

and I set off to create. I thought I was being quite “smart” by making a list /tally of each letter quantity that I would need. Trust me this saved me tons of time. I finalized my list and every time I finished a “batch, I would add a tally next to that letter! This definitely saved me a lot of time and I didn’t waste any of my precious “peeled” crayons by making un necessary letters.

During one weekend, I was melting crayons like a fool. It is quite simple to do… Here are the directions I followed from One Charming Party

My first batch………… YUCK!!!! I think I was a bit too impatient and needed to just “chillax” and give the crayons time to dry. (Once I let the crayons set and harden, I was melting and creating like a wild woman!!)

Luckily, my son was sick and sleep most of the weekend. It wasn’t until he began feeling better that he said “what is that smell”? Needless, to say I didn’t even realize that my entire house {which usually smells like cake or vanilla} began to take on the smell of “waxy crayon”. Not that intriguing… To be honest it is quite stinky! (Note: Burn a candle –something strong to over power the smell of waxy crayon- Cinnamon works wonderful!!! Vanilla or cake batter is just not strong enough!)

After many hours of breaking crayons into little pieces, melting, drying, and popping them out of the molds “carefully” , I finished my classroom Valentine’s!!!

I am in with how these came out and can’t wait to give them to my kiddos on 2-14!!!!!

Now I need to come up with a “cute” saying to attach to my tags. Taking a poll… Which one do you like???? I do have one favorite, but curious as to what you guys think….

Here are a few that I was thinking about

Valentine, You “color” my world!

Valentine, You “melt” my heart”!

You’ve made my world more “colorful”!

For “crayon” out loud! Won’t you be my valentine.

You’ve made my year so colorful! Happy Valentine’s Day!

President's Day Unit

Hi Everyone!!! I just posted my President's Day Activity Unit under my Teacher's Pay Teacher's Site!!! Go check it out!!! There are 34 pages of activities to implement in your classroom to teach your students about President's Day. There is a booklet to create, 4-square writing activities, patterning, money counting, sorting, skip counting, etc.