Keeping My Mornings Sane!

I am NOT a morning person!  My husband is, but he is long gone (to work) before the four kids and I wake from our slumber.  He and I have a good thing going.  He does lunches and I do clothes.  Still I felt like I was always scrambling in the mornings... matching socks... steaming out wrinkles... praying my Bigs (who chose their own outfits) were matching! Getting them dressed, teeth brushed, fed, shoes on (you get the idea), left most of my mornings feeling frantic and rushed.

I was shopping in Ikea a few weeks ago and found these canvas-type shelves that hang from closets.  They had five shelves, perfect for Monday through Friday!  My kids don't have traditional rods in their closets, so I had to hang them using hangers.  I made little signs with the days of the week and we lay out all their clothes on Sunday night.

This has made my mornings HEAVENLY!  I know in the mornings that the kids will have wrinkle free clothes (because I take care of that on Sunday) and clean underwear.  I check the weather and let the Bigs pick out their own clothes.  Zach (my five year old) has even begun doing his own clothes (he had been just doing underwear and socks). I do the two year old's clothes (obviously) and put a diaper for each day too (one stop and I'm DONE).

My Big kids have deodorant now and they put it on to the new shelf each day after putting it on (which also makes me feel good knowing that they will smell fresh and lovely). I think this is a wonderful thing for people (like me) who hate mornings (and have a lot of little people to get out the door every morning).

What I really need now is to get this organized for myself...

Mr. Potato Head Party

 I stole this idea from my friend Lisa H. at work!  She is on Pinterest (I need to start following her) and always finds these great ideas.  Right now at our Costco, they have these giant Mr. Potato Heads for $20! Inside are two spuds and lots of fun accessories.  Though these guys would be fun for an indoor recess, that's not what we're using them for!
I got one spud all dressed up and showed her to my class.  Then I took all her parts off (one by one) and put them back into the giant Mr. Potato head.

 Each time my class works as a team and has a great day at one of their FAPES (fine arts~ music, art, PE, media center... etc), I add a part onto our spud.  When she is fully dressed they are going to get 15 minutes to do whatever they want (if it's a nice day we'll go outside). The kids were so excited!  They had a great day in PE (and earned some legs) and media center (eyes).  They are already asking if the next spud can be a boy (of course)!

 I like keeping all the needed parts in the big Potato Head so they can see how many pieces they still need.  I took the other 'extras' and put them somewhere else so it would be really obvious to the students how many more items were left.

Orphan Crayons Find a Home

As a teacher, I am always finding orphan crayons. I found that most of my students didn't like coloring with broken crayons (or even well-worn long crayons) so were throwing them out.  Instead of throwing them out, I had them put them in an old tub.  You can see that the orphan crayons got kind of out of control.  I thought I should melt them down and make new crayons but then I thought of some other kids that I didn't think would mind the orphans.

 My kids (and especially my oldest son) LOVE to color and draw.  My Joe has colored pictures with crayons that really SHOULD be thrown out (less than an inch long).
I have mentioned before that my kids are the messiest in the world so often they lost their crayons.  There may be some in Joe's room, a few in the car, some in an old backpack... (you get the idea). And so I got an idea.  Time to organize the old crayons and give my kids an OBVIOUS place where the crayons should go.  So I bought these cute little drawers at Bed, Bath and Beyond and put my kids to work.

 I had them sort the colors (which was also a fun activity for my little kids~ age 5 and almost 3). They did a great job and sorting them took no time at all.  Soon they were working on projects with the 'new' crayons and they loved that they had all the colors that they need right at their fingertips (and no fighting over colors because there are so many).

I was going to make some cute labels for the drawers (because that's just how I do things), but they didn't need them.  You can see the colors right through the drawers.  I thought this was a great idea and plan to pick up more drawers for the future orphans that will no doubt again grace my classroom this year.

Brilliant Birthday Bag

 Because we have many students in our building with severe food allergies, my school went to "non-edible" birthday treats this year.  Secretly I LOVE the idea! I was never a fan of the mess cupcakes made in my room or loading up my students in all that sugar (and then trying to teach).
I have given the parents different ideas to celebrate, which I think are way better than the cupcakes ever were... They can send in a wrapped book for their child to unwrap and I will read it to the class.  That book can then be donated to the classroom library or sent home with the birthday child. They could also send in a fun game for indoor recess and of course send in non-edible treats for students (pencils, stickers and other dollar store finds...). What I am most excited about though is the Birthday Bag.  As I mentioned in my "Terrific Tooth Tote" post, I got three bags for $9 at JoAnn's. Last night I got my puffy paints out yet again and made a Happy Birthday Bag.

The birthday bag will go home with the birthday child.  I have put different "birthday" books in the bag for children to read with their families and (my favorite), "Ollie the Owl."  Ollie (as I named him) was a gift from my friend Jessica who noticed my Owl decorations in my classroom and gave it to me after a blog workshop I did (thanks again, Jessica!). My students get to keep Ollie with them all day and then take Ollie home with them overnight to help them celebrate.

This is a picture of the outside of the binder.

I then made a binder (very similar to the Terrific Tooth Tote), where children can write about how Ollie spent their birthday with them. It was very easy to make.  I just searched google for an image of an owl.  You could do this for any little stuffed animal you had. I used a binder with a plastic covering which made it easy to design a cover and slide it in.

 The first page of the book includes instructions to the families on what they do with the binder.  I did put a note on the bottom of the page that says that this is an "optional" activity and not something that has to be done. This note is in a plastic sleeve and I put more plastic sleeves behind the first page for students to add the page they made.  My hope is that students will take a moment to read their friends' pages.  I will also read the page the next day in class so that everyone can hear about Ollie's adventures.  At the end of the year, I will take out their birthday page and add it to their portfolio and send it home as a fun keepsake of first grade..

In the first pocket, I have an easy template for the students to record what they did with Ollie.  I created a simple box at the top for an illustration and lines at the bottom for writing.  I created this page in Publisher.  Again, I used the same image I found on google. I am really excited about this and so were my students.  Ollie is having his first sleepover tonight!  If you like this idea too, steal, tweak and make away! If you click on the pictures you should be able to enlarge them.

First Day Survival Kit

It's fun to give something to your students for "Surviving" their first day of school.  We have a cute poem that we use at our grade level but because of allergies in my classroom, I had to tweak it a little. Here is what I do (in case you'd like to steal it).  

You will need, band aids, Smarties, erasers, stickers, baggies and Starbursts.

I then wrote the following poem:

Today was your first day of first grade.

I knew you'd make it through.

We had a lot of fun today

and tomorrow we'll have fun too.

There are many things I have planned this year.

I know you'll learn a lot.

And so I've made this little kit

to remind you of what you've got...

*An Eraser: The best way to learn is from mistakes, and we'll make a lot together.

*A Sticker: This class will stick together and cheer each other on.

*A Band aid: You have a teacher who cares about you and will take care of you while you're at school.

*Smarties: You are a smart person today and tomorrow you'll be even smarter!

*A Starburst: You are a STAR!

Let's have a great year!

~Mrs. Doran

Then I put all the items in little baggies and hand them out at the end of the first day of school 

(that is if I survive it...).

First Day Fun

I was at a staff retreat recently and we learned this fun activity to get to know each other's names (though most of us knew each other) and learn a little bit about each other. This is a great game for the first days of school.

All you'll need is a beach ball and a marker (or I used clip art and packing tape).

On the beach ball you can write questions like "What makes you scared?" or "Where is your favorite place to be?" etc... Or if you have lower elementary students (like I do), you could find clip art that represents questions.  For example the dog and cat picture above could be, "Do you have any pets?" and the bus picture could be, "What is your favorite thing about school."

The way the game works is you stand in a circle and throw the beach ball to someone.  When they catch it they say their name.  So if I caught the ball, I would say, "Hi, I'm Laura." To which everyone would reply, "Hi, Laura!" Then I would look at the pictures near my thumbs and share something about myself with the group. Below my thumb landed on the crayon box so I would share with the group my favorite color.  Then it would be my turn to throw the ball to someone who hasn't had a turn. 

This is a fun game to play that helps you learn names and a little more about your students.

Terrific Tooth Tote

Perhaps you saw my "Adventure of a Tooth" post recently where I talked about what I do when a child loses a tooth.  I wanted to share what I did to house the tooth binder and the books I will send home.

Today I went to JoAnn's and got three canvas totes for 8 bucks.  I also got some sparkly puffy paint (it wasn't necessary but I'm a girl who likes glitter). To house my 'teeth' things, I decorated a bag and called it "Mrs. Doran's Terrific Tooth Tote" I used sharpies to draw and write and then I went over the tooth and Ts with the sparkle puffy paint.  It turned out really cute.  I am planning to use the other bag as a birthday bag and I haven't yet decided what I'm going to use the third bag for but I know I'll come up with something.