Monday Made-it: Whisper phones, magnets, and my new lanai!

Welcome to another Monday Made-it!

 

 

 

I can't believe it is July already! Last week was pretty busy here. I babysat my parent's yorkie, Gidget. She is a very sweet and loving dog, but she is also quite neurotic (some neighbors have been known to call her the Yorkshire terror!)

 

 She was with me for about 7 hours... it certainly reminded me why I am a cat person! Poor Maggie had to stay in my office all day, she is twice Gidget's size and not the friendliest cat when it comes to other animals. Needless to say, none of us were thrilled with the arrangement!

 

 

I did get to spend my fourth of July in a very relaxed setting though, so that helped me to de-stress after a day of barking yorkie!

 

Now on to the made-its!

 

 

My first made-it this week was something I have been wanting to do for a long time... whisper phones!

 

I actually ended up getting the wrong pieces (oops!) and they didn't fit together, so I used a combination of hot glue, e-6000, packing tape, and duck tape. Maybe a bit overboard, but I didn't want to take any chances of them falling apart!

 

Naturally, the duck tape had to be the flamingo kind... :)

 

I plan on keeping these in the library so my students can take one when they get books.

 

 

So my next made-it is something that I already had in my classroom. I made myself some number magnets a few years ago, but some have gotten misplaced or broken and I figured I could use a few new sets.

 

I use them on my behavior chart and a few boards around my room (center groups, guided reading groups, data chats, etc.) The boards are all made out of cookie sheets from the dollar store, so the magnets work really well and the boards don't take up too much space.

 

I started by tracing the glass stones onto the scrapbook paper and cutting them out (very time-consuming, but they fit better than when I tried just winging it!)

 

I wrote the numbers with a sharpie and used the mod podge to attach the scrapbook to the back of the marbles.

Once the mod podge had dried, I used E-6000 to attach magnets to the back of the stones. I used to use hot glue, but I find that the magnets usually pop off if they get dropped, so I am hoping that E-6000 will hold up a little better.

 



 

Here they are! I ended up making one set this way, them I found these solid white glass stones and decided it would be much faster to just write on the front with a sharpie!

 

Not as colorful, but a lot of my classroom has white polka dots, so I figure they will fit right in!

 

 

And now for the project that I am most excited about, my new lanai!

 

 

I am very into turquoise and green lately, so my lanai ended up matching my new classroom colors!

 

 

I got most of the new furniture from Pier 1 and Target, but there are a few things from Wayfair and Amazon as well.

 

 

It actually all started with this papasan chair. I have always wanted one and it was impossible to resist when I saw that they had the outdoor cushion in turquoise!

 

 

I got that little planter and planted some flowers, ornamental grass, and catnip. Unfortunately, I do not have a green thumb and only the catnip has survived! I think I might have to replace the real plants with silk ones.

 

 

 

The door to the storage closet looked a little bare, so I made this wreath. The flowers are supposed to be for indoor use, but they get very little sun and don't get wet when it rains, so I am hoping they will last.

 

 

Maggie and I are loving the new lanai, and she even lets me sit in the papasan chair sometimes!

 

 

As always, make sure you head on over to Fourth Grade Frolics and check out all of the other great made-its!

 

 



Dollar Store Confessions

I have a confession. I have tried to deny it, but it just won't stay hidden any longer. I am a dollar store addict!

 

 

I go in for one thing, and come out with 20. Every. Single. Time.

 

This morning I went over to get some pool noodles so that I can make some card holders for my word work center. I ended up leaving with all of this-

 

 

and forgot the pool noodles! Sigh. I am going to have to go back in.

 

 

Jokes aside, I can always find lots of goodies for my classroom. I am going to make letter cubes for word work with these:

 

 

 

 

I have always wanted the unifix cubes with the letters on, but at about $16 a set, I think I will stick to these! They don't connect, but I like that they came in 4 colors so that I can make 4 sets and have different letters on each side of the cubes. I plan to store them in my new green tubs.

 

 

 

 

 

I also found these sentence strips in bright pink, green, and blue. How perfect! We use the Reading Street series, and I plan to make cards to go with our spelling words each week. They will go very nicely with the (forgotten) pool noodles that I plan to make!

 

 

 

I saw these cut-outs and I thought they would work well for some kind of matching activity, maybe contractions or place value.

 

 

 

 

I've seen a lot of pins about cool down cubes and have always wanted to make them. I think that these bright cubes will look nice and be good for giving kids options for when they need to cool down.

 

As for the rest of my purchases, I am still thinking about how to use them! I will have to make another trip to the dollar store this week to get those noodles... maybe I will make it out without buying anything else this time!

Monday Made-it: Lots of Labels!

 

 

It has been a busy week here! I have been working on the finishing touches of my lanai redecoration project in addition to my classroom projects. I hope to have the final lanai pictures up for my Monday made it next week!

 

Here is a little sneak peak...

 

 

Maggie is enjoying it already!

 

 

 

I am linking up with Fourth Grade Frolics for another Monday Made It.

 

 

 

 

 

First up, my new desk nameplates! I am using the same format as last year, but I updated them to use my new colors.

 

 

 

I had them printed at Staples and laminated at the classroom store for durability. They are all ready to go!

 

 

 

 

I figured that I might as well make new cubby numbers while I was at it, so I put these together.

 

 

 

 

Ever since I discovered the glow effect in Publisher, I can't seem to stop using it! I think that the white glow really makes the numbers pop!

 

 

Now for my favorite made-it this week, my magnetic letter labels!

 

I found these magnetic letters in the dollar spot at Target last week and had to have them! I have a set of bigger letters at school, but they don't fit in any kind of storage box with compartments that I can find, so they are all mixed up in a plastic box. I have always wanted a more organized system for magnetic letters and now I have done it!

 

Ta-da!

 

 

 I am so pleased with these labels! It took a long time to make the, get them all cut out, then get them taped into the compartments, but I was so determined to have labeled letters that I didn't even care!

 

Here is the most exciting part of this whole project, I didn't just make one box... I made three! Woohoo!

 

 

It may be a bit odd to be this excited about storage, but I just can't help it! The magnetic letter part of my word work center is going to be so much more efficient this year!

 

 

I may have gone slightly overboard in labeling the outside of the boxes, but I wasn't sure which way they would fit on the shelf, so I labeled two sides and the tops.

 

 

Maggie thinks they look pretty good!

 

That's it for this week, I'm off to enjoy my (nearly finished) lanai with Maggie.

 

Thanks for stopping by!