Sunday, May 31, 2015

Guest Posting for Minds-in-Bloom


5 Simple ways to integrate the arts in your elementary classroom!  Use music, visual arts, poetry, and more to inspire, motivate, and engage your students!

I'm so excited to be guest posting for Rachel Lynette over at Minds-in-Bloom!  I know most of you are either already out enjoying the summer, busy packing up your classroom, or counting down the days!  But it is never to late (or to early)  to think about ways to enhance your curriculum with art.  I hope you'll take a moment to hop on over to Minds-in-Bloom and read about my ideas for 5 simple ways to integrate the arts into your daily curriculum!  

Be sure to visit the Literacy Loves Company blog later this week for a post on "Stained Glass Selfies", another great, simple, integrating art idea for you to use in your classroom!  

Have a great day!  

Friday, May 22, 2015

It's Been a Ball! End of The Year Student Gift

The end of the school year is quickly approaching.  This great DIY gift idea is a perfect the last day of school.

The end of the year is quickly approaching and I know for some of you, the school year has already ended.  LUCKY!    I have about 13 1/2 days left with my kiddos and I'm having those same mixed emotions I have every year...  excited for the upcoming summer and sad to see my students move on to the next grade.

The last few years I've given a small end of the year gift to my students.  Just a small token.  With 30+ kids in my class, giving gifts can get expensive.  Luckily, it doesn't take much to put a smile on a 10 year old's face.

For under $20 dollars, I purchased 100 bouncy balls and clear cellophane gift bags from Amazon.com.  This gives me enough gifts for at least 2 classes.  I then printed these little tags:

The end of the school year is quickly approaching.  This great DIY gift idea is a perfect the last day of school.

and VOILA...  A quick, easy, fun gift for your students!

The end of the school year is quickly approaching.  This great DIY gift idea is a perfect the last day of school.


Click HERE for a free download of the gift tags to use for your own students, a gift from me to you! 


Now that you have end of the year gifts covered, what about memory books for your students?  I'm not organized enough throughout the school year to keep photos and momentos of the special moments with my students.  I envy the teachers who are!  

I'm also crazy busy with assessments, report cards, parties, field day,  end of the year activities, and packing up my classroom!  Because of this chaos, I'm all about finding ideas and ways to save precious time during the busy days at the end of the school year!  I also know how hard it can be to keep students engage.  With this new resource in my TpT store, My End of the year Pass Around Party Book, very little prep will give your students a great way to share with their classmates and collect fond memories of their school year!  

You can find this resource in my TpT store!  Click HERE to take a look!  
 I hope you have a wonderful, peaceful, productive summer and I invite you to stop back by the Literacy Loves Company Blog over the next few months for more classroom ideas, free downloads, and more!