Volunteer Gifts

I have 12 terrific moms who volunteer regularly so I wanted to do something a little more personalized this year for a thank you gift. I am pretty happy about how these turned out...

The letter is the initial of their first name.

 How did I make them? The nice people from Silhouette America sent me a Cameo. Oh my word, I love this machine! I found it very easy to set up and use. It looks like a printer but it actually is your own personal fancy cutting tool! For this project I used vinyl but this machine can also cut paper, cardstock, and fabric! I have a future post planned to show you how it can cut printed materials.

For my first project I bought the Silhouette Vinyl Starter Kit. It had a sampling of vinyl colors I liked and some tools that were helpful. I especially like the short instructional DVD since I am a visual learner!

Also on Amazon, I found a 12-pack of acrylic tumblers. I recently saw some at the Dollar Tree which would be more economical but these are better quality.

I then used the included Silhouette software to make my design.

You can use any fonts you have installed on your computer and the circle is a basic shape available on the left side under ellipse. A $10 gift card to the online shop comes with your Cameo so you can go shop for additional images. The site also gives away a FREE shape of the week! Need a new blog to follow? There is also a Silhouette blog featuring project ideas.

Next, I loaded the vinyl into the Cameo. You do not need the cutting mat for vinyl. Different media might require the mat or a change of blade size but both are easy to do.

The vinyl is already adhesive so after it is cut you smooth transfer paper (think clear contact paper) over it so you are able to lift and position your design without touching the sticky back. I found it helpful to cut the circles apart while on the transfer paper so I didn't accidentally rub and get an extra neighboring circle attached.

I found cute ribbon and bags at Micheals to complete the look. I added a half sheet of tissue paper to each cup which looks cute in person but the letters disappear in this picture. I first tried green tissue but it was the wrong green and I didn't have black. If I had known I was going to end up using pink tissue I probably would have made the letters black instead of pink. Of course this imperfection is driving me a little crazy but I am going to let it go. Any minute now...really.

I am off to go complete report cards which go home with the kids on our last day, Thursday!!!!!

I have been so crazy busy I have not been in blogland but I heard Erica Bohrer gave my Me on the Map project a shout out so thanks girl! That means a lot coming from someone as talented as yourself!

Would you like to share what you do to say thank you to your volunteers? Link up below if you'd like.

Sparkle

Happy Mother's Day!!! My boys made me my favorite fresh fruit crepes and hash browns. Yummmm!!!! They bought me jewelry and Yankee Candles that I love. But best of all they wouldn't let me do any chores! I snuck out to start the laundry and they insisted on folding and putting it away. My hubbie is making a yummy dinner too so I have been spoiled all day.

Today I thought I would blog about the game SPARKLE. Have you played it? My students beg to play and it takes no prep!
1. Students sit in a circle.
2. I say a spelling word, let's use AWAY as an example.
3. I point to the first student and they say the first letter, A. I then point to the next student and they say W. Third student says A and fourth student says Y. The fifth student is out and we all yell SPARKLE!  (I have my students go back to their desk so it is clear who is out.)
4. If a student says the wrong letter, they are out and play continues on to the next player.
5. Play continues with the next spelling words around the circle until everyone is eliminated leaving the winner!
6. Not only a great review before the spelling test but practices listening skills as well.

Off to go enjoy the last of my leisure time!

Teacher Appreciation SALE

I love Teacher Appreciation Week! Our school PTA is awesome and we get breakfast tomorrow, homemade cards from the kids on Tuesday, each student brings a flower on Wednesday and Friday they provide lunch! With 2 field trips and a big outdoor assembly this is going to be a CRAZY week!

 

Even with all of that though, I am going to find time to head over to Teachers Pay Teachers to shop! My shop will be 20% off on Tuesday and Wednesday if you want to visit. Here are some of my best sellers:

 I also have a ton of math games and book club packets! Hope you find something you like at a great price during the sale! Don't forget to enter the Promo code TAD13 to get the extra 10% off in addition to the 20% I'm offering.  I appreciate all of you!

A Student Funny

We made these adorable pirates from Abby's Learning /ar/  with Pirate Mark unit this week.

 Does anyone else think they look like they are doing the robot?

This pirate looks like she just got back from the beauty salon!

  I added hair templates to the pattern and overheard some students discussing which direction to glue the boys hair; pointy side up or down? I laughed out loud when the answer was, "Down in his face like her son." Not sure which son they were thinking of but either would be true.

Both my boys walk over to my classroom at the end of the day and my students have a serious case of hero worship. It is adorable to watch!

Speaking of watching, I need to get off this computer and head to the baseball field for 3 games today!!! Gotta love those double-headers!

Making an Editable File

Have you ever wanted to make something editable but your product included clip art that needed to be protected? I had this problem with my Common Core Assessment Checklists and I finally figured out a way to do it. I thought I'd share in case it helped anyone else out.

 My original file was already saved as a pdf so it was secured. To make it editable, I needed to get the PDF into PowerPoint but I could not see how to export or import it. Finally I realized that if I opened the PDF with Preview, then clicked View as thumbnails, I was able to drag each page into a new PowerPoint slide. Then I simply made a text box with sample names. Now my customers can simply edit the names for their class and copy and paste onto each page before printing!

If you already own this packet, you can go download the editable version for FREE! You do need to have PowerPoint. If you are not used to PowerPoint DO NOT BE SCARED. It is just as easy to print the PowerPoint slide as it is a PDF. 

If you don't have a tool for tracking your CCSS assessment data, come take a look (click on the picture.) I also have packs for K, 2 & 3 made. Grades 4 & 5 are on my To Do list.

I hope my quick tutorial may be of help to someone else who has wanted to make an editable product.

Happy Thursday!