Spring Break!

Yay!  I'm on Spring Break ~ only it doesn't look too springy out.  Because we aren't going anywhere I have time to relax, catch up on projects, hang out with one of my three granddaughters (2 of them are in Disney World), and generally do as I wish.

I do wish, that the weather is a little better.  OK, I wish it was A LOT better.  At least not snowy...

What's going on?  We didn't have a flake of snow in December when we would have appreciated it!

Here is a little color for this dreary weather.  One day these two little cuties got out the tub of buttons to sort.  I didn't even realize that they were rainbow colors!  They did this on their own!  I emailed this picture to our art teacher.  She was very happy to see that they arranged them in correct rainbow order!  (I'm not sure if the picture in the background served as inspiration...)

Last week my Kinders enjoyed playing this St. Patrick's Day themed game.  It includes an Easter version of all the game boards ~ and is only $1.00!  Click HERE to buy.

Cabin Fever followed by Spring Fever left some of my little darlings a bit out of sort.  We created Positive Posies to help us to remember happy thoughts.  First, we brainstormed a list of feel-good ideas.  The kids chose bright paper, traced & cut out pieces, and then decorated their creations with positive messages.  Everyone was left feeling pretty happy with these colorful flowers!

The postcards are back!  This is what we have so far.  Last year I offered a giveaway to readers who sent me postcards.  If you would like to win any product from my TpT store, please send me a postcard from your state (or country).  On the back, clearly print your email address and the name of my product that you would like to win.  I will select a winner on April 4, 2015.  Good luck & THANKS! See info below to enter.

Happy Mother's Day!

I want to wish all of you a very Happy Mother's Day!  As a mother myself, I know the joy of seeing the delight of a child presenting a carefully handcrafted gift.  It has been so much fun these past few days helping my Kinders to write letters to their moms and to make gifts and cards.  The gifts turned out so cute!  **Spoiler Alert** If you are the mother of one of my students, please don't go any further!  :)

Card making.

Everyone designed a special card for his/her mother.

Flowers!  The theme for this year is Flowers for Mom.

The finished cards.  They are as individual and unique as the children who made them.  They were given free rein with the scrap box, and I think the cards turned out pretty special!

Gift bags. 

Ta da!  I think there will be some pretty happy moms on Sunday (or most likely tomorrow afternoon - the kids cannot wait to give Mom her gift!).  Using some simple materials, we created flower pot photo holders.  Most of the materials came from Michaels (teachers get a discount everyday!):  small terra cotta pots decorated with foam stick on flowers, skinny craft stick stems and wooden flowers that were decorated with crayon, and moss.  The sticks are stuck into packing foam that I had saved from a recent mail order purchase. 

Here's a close-up of one of the flower pots (that lil 'cutie' is me in second grade!)

 Teeny clothes pins make wonderful photo clips!  I have an eighth grade student helper (my corporation is very small - all grades are in one building) who comes into my room two mornings a week.  She glued all of the little clips onto the sticks, and stuck the foam into the pots.  I cut the foam at home last night, making a huge mess in my kitchen.  Even after vacuuming extensively, there are still bits of foam clinging to things.  But, these cute little flower pots were certainly worth the mess.  Now, I'm not sure if our custodian, Miss Sandy, will agree that the mess was worth it!

http://kindercraze.blogspot.com/2012/04/its-mothers-day-linky-party.html

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