Tuesday, August 5, 2014

I Heart Vista Print!

I recently searched for bucket filler ideas and came across a blog called 3rd grade thoughts. She used business cards and turned them into bucket filler cards for students to fill out! So genius! Plus they are having a 50% off sale until Aug.5th! GO!GO! Naturally, I added way more stuff to my cart, sadly the shipping was over $13 plus tax :( but you can only apply one promo code per order so it was cheaper for me to use the "ITSBACK" code to get 50% off my items. Here is what I got...can you see a theme here??HooooHoooo

500 business cards/bucket filler cards for $10!
I added on a window decal that says "second grade scholars" for my front window, a key chain with my name on it, in case it gets left behind in the lounge (just in case), a large "car" magnet that says "learning objectives/ I can" and a window decal (that will be a cling on sticker) to place on my white board that reads "today is..."

I wonder what other cute ideas there are for using business cards....punch cards? behavior cards? homework passes?....endless!!!

SHOP NOW! use my link http://vistaprint.tellapal.com/a/clk/1hWMS5

Monday, August 4, 2014

DIY Calming Glitter Bottle

I saw a great idea on Pinterest a while ago about calming glitter jars being used in the classroom. I have not used it in the classroom yet, but here's what I'm thinking...
Students who are upset (not violently) can go to an area of the classroom away from the other students. The area can have a stuffed animal, journal, timer, stress ball, and or the calming jar. I looked around my house for a jar or container that had a flat top so it could be turned over and low and behold I found the Starbucks iced coffee bottle. Here is what I used and did:


Need:
A sturdy bottle with a flat top 
bottle of glitter glue (color of your choice) I had a bottle of black glitter glue
loose glitter (color of your choice) I had pink 
rubbing alcohol (for sticky bottle label removal)
hot water
decorative tape (mine was Scotch Expressions tape from Office Depot)
super glue



Steps:

1. First I removed the labels from the jar and soaked it in a hot water/rubbing alcohol bath, after it was soaking about an hour or so I used a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol to remove the rest of the sticky reside. 

2. Then I got some hot water (from my Keurig) and put it into the jar (this will keep the glitter glue from clumping up). I left a little space at the top so I could stir.

3. Here comes the fun part...pour in desired amount of loose glitter and then the whole bottle of glitter glue. 

4. Stir, stir, stir (I used a skewer stick to stir up the glitter glue and break up the pieces.

5. Then I shook the bottle (don't forget to put the lid on). Then topped it off with a bit more water.

6. Once it cooled down I used superglue around the top part of the lid to seal the lid on tight!


7. Once the glue is dry I used Scotch Expressions tape or you could use washi or duct tape to hide the lid. 

8. I am thinking of decorating the lid with some glue on jewels or rhinestones to hide the Starbucks logo...



Enjoy!! Tag me with your IG pics with my name so I can see what yours look like! @mrsspeed951