Monday, January 7, 2013

Monday Made-It and My New Blog Design!

Well today was my first official day back to work after break, although it was just an in-service. Let me tell you- it was great to slowly ease into things and have time to work in our classrooms. I feel so much better about starting back tomorrow. I feel like it's the first day of school again- I have little butterflies in my stomach thinking about seeing my kiddos again! I'm going to miss my little man, but also glad to get back into the swing of things.

I'm excited to share several "Monday Made-Its" with you. A few weeks ago, I shared a post about the stools that I made my colleagues for their classroom. I decided to make one for myself and I just adore it. Here are a couple pics of my finished stool...




Seriously, these were so easy to make! I used leftover fabric from my classroom curtains and chair pockets so that everything is coordinating. I love it!

Okay- next up for "Monday Made It" is a project for home that I did over break. My son, Grady, who is 18 months old LOVES to color and draw. My sister-in-law built this adorable table for him on his 1st birthday and I've been dying to paint it and make it all "cutesy." I was inspired by the picture below on Pinterest:

love this!

Here are some pics of my little man's finished art area: (sorry for the picture quality!)




He is having so much fun coloring at this table! The chair pockets would be great for a classroom also. I love the bows at the top (can you tell I like bows?!) The curtain rod holds little pails with crayons, markers, etc. So fun! =)

Alright, last up is the Common Core Opinion Writing unit that I created over break. I am so pumped about teaching opinion writing to my students. When I first started searching for ideas, I found a lot of prompts such as "Pretend you are and ant. Write a letter trying to persuade someone not to step on you." I was struggling to find what I was looking for so I decided to make it myself! I started by thinking about times in life when we write opinion pieces. I came up with 8 different types of writing- speeches, editorials, letters, book recommendation letters, book reviews, movie reviews, advertisements, and campaign posters. I'm proud to say that the 8 writing activities included are all authentic writing opportunities for kids. If you'd like to learn more about the unit, just click {here}. You can also check out the unit by clicking on the pic below:


Hope you all have a great week!

9 comments:

  1. Erin! Your stool is absolutely amazing :) Thanks for sharing.

    Catherine
    The Brown Bag Teacher

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  2. WOW! Your stool looks so good! I want one. :) I'm impressed! I love that idea for your 18 month old. I need something like that too! I have a 3 year old who is really into drawing and painting lately. We have a small house and very little storage. I love this idea. I'm pinning both of these. :) You are so clever!
    Sarah
    Sarah's First Grade Snippets

    ReplyDelete
  3. Erin, I love your new blog design and blog name! Congrats on making the transition. Your stools are precious! Good luck with your kiddos tomorrow. I am sure it will be a great day.
    -Jaime
    Bright Concepts 4 Teachers

    ReplyDelete
  4. Holy Cow-how cute are you?! I love the buckets instead of just having a raggedy ole crayon tub. It looks so sheik and polished! Fantastic job!
    ~Christy
    Fluttering Through First Grade

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love the bow on the stool...great addition.

    Laurie
    Chickadee Jubilee

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  6. I love your stool!!! I was going to do one for this Monday Made It too and then lost the energy and inspiration...lol. Now I might be able to get it done for next month;) Thanks for linking up:)

    4th Grade Frolics

    ReplyDelete
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