Dying Pocket Charts Black

Read directions carefully!

So this week one of my coworkers called me “creative” which is probably true for the most part, but truth be told I PINTEREST A LOT. So the summer began and I decided to get some projects done.

My first Pinterest project was what I thought would be a quick and simple project that would make my “invisible classroom” ( I call it this because I am currently displaced and have no idea what or where I will be teaching next year) look absolutely AWESOME.  This project was to dye pocket charts black.

I looked on so many blogs and I think it was a lie. Every single one of them, seriously. So let me go through the steps of what happens when a somewhat crafty person dyes a pocket chart black.

It all began with an idea. I was looking through the Scholastic Bonus Catalog and thought that I should try this pin I found. Dye pocket charts black. I mean I hate primary colors ( yes, the elementary teacher HATES her room in primary colors). So many bloggers of have done this right? 

Beautiful new pocket charts. These look amazing to dye BLACK! They will make my room look so perfect no matter what grade I teach.

Great my pocket charts came in and summer is this week. I must begin the projects. I do not know what grade I am teaching right now so I can get things that are basic completed.  I went to Wally World and grabbed the dye. I don't need to read instructions because I am an amazing teacher and I automatically know everything. 

Get home. Read more blogs before I begin this project at 8 at night. Realize I should not do this in a white tub, washer ( husband banned me when he saw black dye), and should just do it. So I get my canning pot I use for the garden. I fill it up and begin to boil. Put the dye in and then the chart. I don't need anything else right? WRONG

I read the directions later to realize I needed to add vinegar. Well I only read the directions once I noticed nothing was even happening. So I didn't measure and dumped a ton of vinegar. I figured more is better. HAHA I let it sit overnight ( everyone seemed to have a miracle occur when they let it sit overnight). 

Well the miracle fairy skipped my house. I woke to find that nothing happened. Including me remembering to put on gloves. So I didn't drain ANYTHING and began again. I started the boil, put another container of dye ( maybe I needed more). and well why not more vinegar. 

Took a nap. Heard sizzling. Cleaned up black dye without gloves again. WHEN WILL I LEARN the only thing dying black right now is my hands. Set the pot in the grass. OH CRAP THE GRASS! This is a whole different post about my husbands love of the grass haha. Well now there is a perfect burnt circle in grass. 

The precious grass. I guess it's better than a bathtub. Right?!

Left overnight again hoping for the fairy to come again. I should have left her cookies because she didn't. I forgot gloves AGAIN and rinsed everything out to find

THEY LOOK AWFUL AND ARE NOT BLACK! 

My hands are black and but the charts. The plastic is now fogged over and well cooking them make the plastic look funny.

Well I cannot even straighten the charts back out. 

My question is what did I do wrong? Has anyone really dyed the charts black?

Oh and the husband was correct when he walked into the kitchen the first time and said “ You can’t dye that material B.”

Any suggestions?

Love,

Miss Stetson  

Back to Reality...

 

The vacation is coming to an end for many of us. It’s time to set our alarm, lay out our clothes, pack our lunches, grab our bags, and start working again. I know as teachers many of our friends have a million comments about our 2 week vacation ( or summer vacation at that) but  I know in my life I needed it.

Before the holiday I was beginning to have that burnt out feeling. We have all been there at some point, too many unfinished projects, too many things on the to do list for school and home, and not enough time in the day. I felt like I could go to bed as soon as I got home from work. I could not do that before the holiday because, well I had to many other things to do.

Fast forward 2 weeks later. I miss my class and am itching to get back into my routine of working. Granted this past week I have spent 8+ hours a day almost working on the computer. I have been updating, creating, and cleaning out so many things using technology. It has been so rewarding to finally have time to focus on my classroom in a way that I usually dream of focusing, but find there is not enough hours in my day.

Beau the Golden was so annoyed with me being home over the holiday. He groaned anytime I would move while he was sleeping. I am sure he will be very happy next week as his routine gets back to normal. He was such a fantastic helper however. He just sat patiently with his head on my lap while I worked. Occasionally he would however drop a toy in my lap to pay attention to him. I have some very funny photos to share with the students.

You see Beau is my dog. I have had Beau since he was 10 weeks old. In a previous blog I talked about how he brought much happiness to me when I moved across the United States away from my friends and family. I always share the silly antics of Beau because not every student has the privilege of having a dog. We often do writing prompts with his many expressions. The stories the kids come up with are great. I did it once just to see and well it snowballed from there. This Christmas I did not only receive gifts from my students, but so did Beau. None of my students have actually met him in person. They have seen him in the yard as the bus goes by, but he is a little hyper so I would not want him to accidently scratch anyone. We are working on manners right now. He is learning. =).

This school year is different than the 2 I have taught previously. This year I am in a new grade level and I am planning a wedding. Sounds stressful enough? Well, I have many of the same kiddos from when I taught 2^nd grade last year, so that means many of the holiday activities I have that are not grade specific ( like my fancy ornaments) are out the window because they already did the activity. This vacation I began following many new blogs and found some really great activities and ideas that I will be implementing into my classroom. I cannot wait to share with the teacher community and with my students.

Thanks you for your support as always,

Miss Stetson

New Technology = Happiness

These last few weeks have gone by so quickly that I have almost forgotten to just breath. Tonight as I sit here and reflect back on what this school year will bring I am so pleased, overwhelmed, and yet satisfied with my new school year.

Once again I am the new girl in a new grade. I am happy I am not the new girl in a new school though. This has been fantastic, mainly because they know my weird antics in a way. I believe they are starting to see them little by little.  I am truly blessed to have a wonderful team I am working with this year. I say that because I quickly discovered with the upcoming 3^rd graders that 3^rd grade is much different.

Over the passed 3 weeks I decided to finally break down and purchase a new computer. I am now officially part of the Mac World! I would never purchase another laptop again. I am so happy with everything on here. I know I have so much more to learn. It has made downloading fonts, backgrounds, and clipart so much easier. Plus I get to watch football with my “soon to be husband” on the weekends.

I finally finished my addresses for my “Save the Dates”. April 18^th is quickly approaching! I was so prepared at the beginning and hit the ground running. Than bam I hit a wall and stopped.  I wanted to get so much accomplished this summer for the wedding and well FAILED miserably at doing anything. This weekend my goal is to have the “Save the Dates” in the mail.

Two things I have discovered recently that have been amazing tools in helping me plan my day at school and plan my wedding have been.

www.planbook.com

www.plannerpad.com

Plan book was a great!  How many times have you written down plans and then had to rearrange, reprint, and rewrite what you did not get to that day. Plan Book was introduced to me this week by another teacher I work with, and I could not be more excited!  You can actually set your day and bump your lessons if you do not get to something. It will shift everything by one! This is great! I have been searching for a new lesson format for awhile. I could not find anything I was really satisfied with. This I AM! I am out this week for a dreaded dentist appointment and MAN OH MAN my sub plans were a breeze! Thanks Rebecca! You’re the greatest for showing me this! 12$ a year is it, but isn’t that what some of us spend on a paper one to scribble in and a little embarrassed if anyone saw it? Try the 30 free trial!

Okay! I am going back to making some addition and subtraction centers for the week on my quick computer I love!

Love,

 Miss Stetson

First Week Fun!

Wow! What a great first week back to school! This week was a great start back to what is to come this school year. I was so proud of how all my students got right back into the groove of things.

In New England we had a pretty cool summer this summer, except on the first week of school. This week we finally hit 90 degrees and boy was it hot! The kids did great and did not seem to mind the warmer weather. This year we are all starting to see the leaves beginning to change. We won’t complain about warm days because we only have 3 months of this weather.  

During our first week of school we practiced our routines, procedures, and really focused on what 3^rd grade will look like this school year. I did not “loop” per say, however I did move up with the grade. Last year I taught 2^nd and this year I am in 3^rd. It has been great having students already know each other and myself. They are settling right in.

I was searching over the summer some rules that were simple and to a minimum. Together as a class we made a t- chart comparing the teacher’s job and the student’s job in the classroom. From there we created our rules. I found a great source on TPT that had an acronym for the rules. I said they were easy to “LEARN” and we went from there.

        L- Listen and follow directions carefully

        E- Enter and Exit the room prepared

        A- Always do your best

        R- Respect others and yourself

        N- No Excuses!

I have 2 keywords I want to focus on this year in 3^rd grade. Those 2 words are RESPECT and RESPONSIBILITY. These rules I believe cover both of those key words and will be our theme for the year.

One way I will be focusing on RESPONSIBILITY this year is by having the students turn in their work into the “Reflection Bins” that was posted on a previous blog. This week we practiced using the bins and the students took to them quickly. They enjoy underlining there name. I believe the students will better understand each basket throughout the year.

I will also be giving the students an opportunity to earn a homework pass. Each night 3^rd grades in my district are asked to read for 20 minutes nightly. They will keep a log and will turn it in daily. They will also be asked to have 30 minutes (10 minutes per grade level not including reading) of math, science, or social studies nightly. They will turn this in as well. If the entire class turns in their homework they will earn a letter in the word HOMEWORK. Once the word is completely spelled out each student will receive a homework pass that is good for one assignment. They must staple the pass to the assignment they are turning in.

To encourage my students to show respect for themselves and others I will have them fill a jar with marbles. The dollar tree does sale 50 marbles for $1.00. Trust me I looked everywhere and that is the only place I seemed to find them.  They will earn a marble to place in the jar and once the jar is filled to a line we will earn free choice on Go Noodle. If you have not discovered Go Noodle log into the website www.gonoodle.com and look around. It is a great tool. We explored the site in my classroom on Friday and I look forward to using them as brain breaks, in morning meetings, and as a reward.

We had so many fun activities this week and I will be posting lots of pictures and links in the coming week. Thanks for taking time to read my blog and have a great beginning of the school year. 

Love, 

Miss Stetson

Vinyl in the Classroom

9 DAYS UNTIL SCHOOL STARTS! 

The countdown has officially begun. I am now in a mad rush to finish many little's before the school year begins. I need to label folders, clean my piles, make copies, and look over what I will be doing in the near future in my curriculum. Today, I decided to not go to my room and do what I enjoy most, yet rarely make time to do. That is to make something with my Cricut. 

I have owned my machine for 6 years now. When I received it as a gift from my family I thought I would use it more often in my classroom.  Little things like this is calming and almost therapeutic. So, with stress rising to the quickly approaching school year, I need some relaxing moments. 

I made 2 things that will help my students and myself be a little more organized. This took me about an hour to complete. Took me about an hour to clean up the mess I made in my office. Beau the Golden wanted to help. 

The font used for both projects was a free font I found on TPT. The name of the font is Melonheadz. If you enjoyed the font click on this link ---> Melonheadz Font

Box Top Jar

I had a 6 jar display that I have lost 2 of the jars. This happens when the moving truck monster eats random things. I could never find the other two jars and they have been sitting in my "craft room" for two years. Today I decided I needed a fancy BOX TOP jar. Like most schools we collect box tops. I usually throw them in a bag, loose the bag, and have random box tops laying in my desk. This year I am going to encourage and acknowledge in my newsletter anyone donating BOX TOPS. I am hoping this will encourage parents to send them in. I used gold vinyl because it made me think of money. Box Tops = Money. 

The 2nd project I completed was the 10 drawer unit. I made the letters 2 in tall and they seemed to fit just right. I had a few letters that got deformed while cutting because Beau the Golden was curious. I fixed them, but I still do notice the abnormality. 

This here was my pride and joy project for the day. This is a nice compact way to store supplies. The students do not keep scissors or glue in their desk because we do switch classes for reading and I would run out quicker. This is a great way for the community supplies to be stored away and pulled out when needed I am looking forward to seeing this in my classroom tomorrow. 

Thanks so much, 

Miss Stetson

Reflective Bins

   Last school year I found myself getting overwhelmed by grading my students work. If you are a teacher you understand the hassle of trying to balance lesson planning, assessments, and grading papers. Well, I admit I have not mastered the art of not having a stack of papers as tall as I am to grade. So this year I was looking for a solution to at least making it to the papers of the students who need my help. I saw on Pinterest different ideas about how to turn in work. So naturally I created one myself after seeing many examples. 

The purpose of the bin is to encourage the students to reflect on the activity. Many times there is a student who does not wish to raise his/her hand or finds themselves wanting to ask but nervous to ask. I am hoping by dividing the bins into 3 categories this may help ease some stress around peers. 

 I will use them for the students to turn in everyday activities. I have thought about having them underline there name in a marker in the coordinating color. Attached to the document from TPT is an example letter that I will send home to the parents explaining the coloring in the corner or the underlined name. I believe this will help the student to communicate with myself and the parents about the confidence level of academics. 

Please use the link below to view my TPT store. 

Reflective Bin on Teacher Pay Teacher

I look forward to trying this in my classroom. Please leave any comments below if you have used this style of turning in work and how it worked in your classroom. 

Thanks for reading. 

Miss Stetson