New Bulletin Board

I hate staples!! I was sick of constantly changing my bulletin board. It would take me so long and last year as a first year teacher I did not have the time to spend on them. This year since I switched grades I needed a solution. This solution was tacks, washi tape and clothes pins. I used target borders from the dollar bins (i purchased when I went to the states), a black plastic tablecloth and my pins. End result is great! I hung up all 27 of my third graders work in 2 minutes!! SUCCESS!!

Window Valance

To add to my classroom, I wanted to add a Valance. I bought some non sew iron tape, the same material for my curtain, and some ribbon. This is a complete non-sew project that I completed in my classroom.

We measured. We ironed. We finished!!

Butterflies **Update on an Old post!

During the last couple week, my firsties and I have documented our caterpillars growth from 1cm larvae to beautiful painted lady butterflies. 

The picture above shows a small 2-3cm larva, a caterpillar beginning to spin its chrysalis and a fully developed chrysalis. 

The bottom layer of the container is the powder mixture they provide. The darker layer on top is there in firstie terminology 'poop'. 

Started to tape the solo lids onto the container!! Woohoo!!

An awesome picture of the chrysalis'. As you can see the two are more orange, this is because they are more mature than the other.

June 8th

I went to school this morning and WE HAVE BUTTERFLIES!! 

Today we had 13 hatches with only 2 fatalities! My firsties were so excited! Our painted lady butterflies are BEAUTIFUL!

Slitely looks like a masacre in the  bucket but we have some butterflies and plenty of chysalis' waiting to break free. 

We will see how many butterflies we will have tomorrow!!!

Dry Erase Erasers

At my school for our student white boards/chalkboards the students use tissue or a sock. This year, with the help of pinterest I am trying these Dollar tree finds!! $1.25/pk in Canada or $1.00/pk in USA. 

These are down with the bath/spa items in Dollar tree! They come 3 in a pack and come on blue, pink, green and orange. 

Classroom Curtain

At our school, we have big windows on our doors. Last year, we decided we should have black paper ready in case of a lock down. These papers were hidious and I disliked them. So with my new classroom I decided to find a solution.. My solution... A curtain!! I went to my local fabic store and bought 50% off Linen that looked similar to the colour of burlap and some chevron ribbon (I used my coupon from michaels to purchase my ribbon) 

Do not get me wrong I do not sew. I learnt how to thread a bobbin in 6th grade sewing and haven't sewn since my interior design class in highschool. 

This is what I did:

1. Bought my material and ribbon.

2. Measured and cut my material to size and pinned. I needed to double layer mine as my material was too thin and for lock downs I needed something thicker.

3. I sewed around the edge. Left a small opening so I could turn back to the proper side and hand sewed the hole up. I then laid the ribbon down so I could prep the ties. 

4. Did the second ribbon.

5. I have no picture but next I cut my dowel, painted it black and put it through my curtain. You could use a curtain rod but because I was paid over 10 months i hd no income this summer and was trying tonhse things I already had!

6. TaDaaa!! I am very happy with the end result (it really needs to be ironed). Also i hung up my rod eith command hooks!! 

Washi Tape Sign!

I was walking through Michael's grabbing a few things when I came across wooden letters that were 80% OFF!! Score!! So i bought an S (my last name initial), some washi tape (a variety of designs), yule string and a burlap flower hair clip and went to work! I purchased all my materials from michael's/ dollarama ( I found some more black and white Elmers masking tape there). 

With my letter choice going horizontal was the best choice for me. So i began by putting various pieces of washi tape on my 'S', leaving about a half an inch on the ends to wrap on the back.. Here are some pictures!

After many pieces, I ended up with this.

After adding the hair clip and some yule...

My finished product!!

Leave a comment of your washi tape/ letter creations!! 

New Grade, New Classroom, New Theme!

This year I moved from my grade one classroom all the way down a different hallway to my new grade three classroom! When I started grade one I decided I was going to have the best Dr.Seuss classroom ever! Everything was going to match (which it did). I ordered things from the States and loved every minute of it. But when I walked into my new classroom, I knew I needed something different. Do not get me wrong I love Dr. Seuss! But I am in love with my new theme!!! 

BLACK AND WHITE with BURLAP!!!

I do have pops of colour as if was way to pricey to buy all new buckets for my library, etc and a pop of colour never hurt anyone!

So follow along with my better late than never posts!! 

Mmm Mmm Mmm: Tortilla Soup Recipe

So I am back in Canada and brought a great recipe back! In Texas there is a soup that is very popular, Tortilla Soup! This is extremely delicious! My cousin gave me a recipe she had, this is super easy with almost all ingredients coming from cans. Super simple soup. I will give you the US recipe and my Canadian recipe.

You will need: 

United States Version

1 can cream of potato

1 can cream of chicken

1 can chicken broth

1 can rotel

1 can ranch style beans 

1 can corn (drained, if you want it less soupy)

Shredded chicken

Stredded cheese (optional) 

My Canadian Version

1 can cream of potato

1 can cream of chicken

1 can chicken broth

1 can rotel *****

1 can Heinz chili style beans

1 can corn (drained, if you want it less soupy)

Shredded chicken

Old El Paso Taco seasoning hot and spicy

Stredded cheese (optional)

*****Rotel is not available in Canada. I brought some with me but I found some substitutes that may be close. I cannot say forsure as I have never tried them. Look at the bottom for the found substitutes. 

Directions:

This soup is super easy to make. 

1. First thing you need to do is cook your chicken breast. I cooked 2 large chicken breasts at 350 degrees celcius for 20 minutes with 2 tbsp of oil and salt and pepper. You could also buy a rotisserie chicken from the store.  

2. Shred the chicken with 2 large forks until shredded into small pieces.

3. Open all the cans and add to a large pot on medium. Add the chicken snd taco seasoning to taste.

4. Heat until soup is hot. 

To Assemble:

1. Place tortilla chips in the bowl

2. Pour soup on top.

3. Add some cheese(optional) and VOILA! 

BON APPETIT!! 

*****Rotel option: please remember as of now i have not tried these. If they work out please comment below. 

 

UP, UP AND AWAY!!

Today I am going on a trip to Houston, TX. We travelled from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to Calgary, Alberta (which is currently where I am writing this post) We will go from here to Houston, TX. I have never travelled there and it will definitely be an exciting experience. We included my mom, sister, 4 month old nephew Luke and myself. We are going to visit family. We have one more hour to go before we are up, up, up and away!! P.S. We have been up since 3:50am and it is now 9:30am... It is going to be a LONNGGG day!

This is the view right before we landed in Calgary, Alberta

Skinny Tea Mac Makeup Contest

Skinny tea is having an amazing contest!! Giving away tons of mac makeup!! Enter if you want a chance to win!! Follow this link for a chance to enter!! 

http://skinny-teatox.com/blogs/skinny-teatox/28736193-mac-cosmetics-skinny-teatox-giveaway

Our Caterpillars Arrived!!!

Our baby caterpillars arrived today!!! 

**These are painted lady butterfly larvae

They came with this little package!! 

All the baby caterpillars arrived in this container (approx. 30 larvae) 

I started by laying all of these containers out that are included in the kit. I poked 3 pin sized wholes in the lids. These are little solo containers similar to the jello shot containers!!

I poured the premixed powder into the container and added approx 150ml the first time to create a firm cookie dough texture. I added a bit more water after as I found it was not mixing well. 

 

I put a little bit into each container and pushed it with my thumb to the bottom. I suggest that you make sure it pushed down and some bubbled released as you do not want the mixture to trap or crush the larvae. 

 

Now for the fun part (and a bit tricky). You need to take the lid and netting from the top so you can access the caterpillars. The kit includes a paint brush and a spoon to help guide them into the cups. The kit says 1-2 in each container but i had to do 3 in each as they did not provide me with the right amount of cups for that amount. 

After 10 minutes of harrassing these little guys they are FINALLY safe in their cups. They will now grow from caterpillars to cystalisis'. I finally told my firsties what we were doing! They are very excited for get to watch the butterfly lifecycle!! 

Wish us luck and enjoy the journey!! 

Lifecycle of a Butterfly

This week, I am supposed to recieve larva!! I am so excited!! With my firsties we will get to witness the lifecyle of a painted lady butterfly. I have not told my kids yet! I am planning to use my Scholastic hungry catapillar stuffy that converts into a butterfly for a 'motivational set'. I am hoping to recieve my larva tomorrow! I will be sure to keep you up to date with any changes!! 

This is an example of what a painted lady butterfly looks like...

Mini-Greenhouse Prep

In June I am wanting to make mini greenhouses and watch the lifecycle of a plant with my firsties! I have grown beans in soil but never in a ziploc on the window. I thought I would give it a shot this year. I decided to prep a sample before starting this journey with my students. I will show you what I used and Daily changes of my bean plant! Hope you enjoy the progress! 

Step 1:

Materials needed:

Ziploc bag
Piece of paper towel
Bean 
Some good ol' H2O
Tape

Step 2: 

Wet the paper towel and wrapped the bean inside.

Step 3:

I taped the bag onto my office window. It faces south and gets the most sunlight during the daytime. 

Step 4: 

Wait and see what happens!!

UPDATE:

Day 4:

IT WORKED!! 

Day 6: May 22nd

It continues to grow and I havent needed to do anything to it! No new water as the paper towel is still wet since its in a ziploc bag!! 

DIY Spa in a Jar

Starting a secret friend exchange at work this week! Decided to do a spa in a jar. Reused a jar and costed me less than $10!! I included cotton pads, tweezers, essie nail polish, toe seperators, nail polish remover, pumice stone, nail clips and other nail tools. Added some gems, ribbon and used my cricut! Very happy with the end result! A super easy, practical DIY present! 

Don't be an Angry Bird

For our Saskatchewan Grade one curriculum we need to teach feelings and healthy behaviors. I struggled when planning this unit as I could not think of an exciting thing to motivate my students and allow them to be interested in a topic that can be rather 'dull'. Many students I have taught in the past struggle with healthy ways to deal with emotions. So I decided to focus on some strategies my students could use when their emotions became too much. Hmm.. something that would interest my students and something that would interest them... ANGRY BIRDS!! My students are slightly obsessed with Angry Birds. I found a booklet online that is a very good resource to use for a lesson. It is available at http://www.elementaryschoolcounseling.org/sg-anger-management.html . This website has many great ideas using characters students will recognize. Along with our booklet, we made our angry bird crafts. I chose to create the Angry Bird, Red. I made these templates myself as I struggled to find any Angry Bird templates online that I liked! Hope you enjoy!