2015 VBS - Journey Off The Map

Since I now seem to have the title of "Bulletin Board Queen", I was put to work at our church for our promotional bulletin board for VBS. This is what I created for our church.

*I used strips of butcher paper scrunched up to make the border (my FAVORITE borders).
*I had to track down a gas station that sells maps to cut out the letters. BTW- Finding maps is much harder than I thought! I think craft stores have scrapbook paper that look like maps, but I leave 45mins from the nearest craft store.
*That bottom left corner is a file folder full of registration forms.
*The leaves - I saw a template of the leaves here.  I did not have the right stuff downloaded on my computer so I eyeballed the leaf and made my own.

I also have a board on Pinterest with my VBS pins if you are interested in more of what I have found so far.

Bulletin Boards

I thought I'd show you 2 of my most recent bulletin boards:

This one was a compilation of about 3-4 different ideas on Pinterest that I mixed together. I was pleased with the final result. :) It was a great addition to the halls for Open House!

Tip: The red and orange flowers - I fan folded the pedals. Then the middle yellow and black circles I snipped the edges with scissors every few spaces (like you did when you were little to create green grass).

This next one I thew up in literally 3 minutes. I was SICK of the one I had of previously, but with only a few weeks of school left, I didn't want to put much effort into it.

Multiplication Word Search FREEBIE

To quickly fill up one of my 3rd grade math centers I made up this little multiplication word search. I thought I would share it here with you. Click here and it will take you to Dropbox where you can down load it for free.

The border used was from Paula Kim Studio.  

I hope this might give you a little something fun to fill your math centers.

Don't forget to swing by my TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers) or Teacher's Notebook store for a lot more goodies!!

Standardized Tests and Word Problems

Right now I am teaching a remedial math class for 3rd graders. With the big state standardized test around the corner, I was racking my brain trying to think of new and fun ideas to get them ready.

Years ago with my old 3rd grade math team we had put word problems around the room like a scavenger hunt. So I took this idea tried to expand on it.

I was given a resource of math problems that were similar to the test. BORING!! Both for the kids and me. I cut them apart, glue and laminated them, and made a worksheet to help them show their work and also cross out the wrong answer choices. This was on green so I gave it a "recycling/green" theme. I added a clock for the time problem. I also added the graph because I want them to write all over the graph to show their work. Ill tape the problems around the room and they can go find them and solve, or you can rotate them.

Then I became a little more creative (I use that word loosely) and involved the dicut machine. Since it is close to Easter and the bunny dicut was one of the largest. I glued the problem to the bunny. For the large problem, I used two. I also created a student response page (it is at school, not home for me to take a pic tonight, but it was really cute).

 

My final idea is an actual Easter egg hunt with word problems in the plastic eggs hidden around the classroom or outside if the weather permits. They can use notebook paper or teacher made response sheet and clipboards.

Facebook for news and free ideas

First: Thank you if you happen to be reading this.

Second: I apologize for not keeping up with the blog like I should. Facebook, Pinterest, Teachers Pay Teachers, and Teachers Notebook are filling up my time, along with my regular teaching job. (Websites can be great, but overwhelming). :)

I wanted to let you all know that I have been posting some great freebie links on my facebook page to share with everyone. Be sure to "like" my facebook page so you can get access to those right away.

Black History Month

For Black History Month, I have 2 great PowerPoints for sale. These make a great addition to your lessons.

Check out my Ruby Bridges ppt this one includes a video link of her in the White House with her famous painting.

I also have a ppt on George Washington Carver. This tells about his life and his work with peanuts and much more!

Don't forget I have a tab on the top of my blog with ALL my PowerPoints that I have made. You can check out my listing here.

Homemade Christmas Dishes

Each year I use my two boys' handprints or footprints to make myself Christmas dishes. I opted to do this once I had kids as a cute keepsake. Plus the penny pincher I am, never jumped in and bought a set of the cute pricey dishes.

This year I decided I had enough plates from previous years, a platter from last year, so this year I began bowls. Here is the finished product:

To see my previous post and pictures of my previous dishes click here.

Tip: I've seen all the pins on pinterest about using a regular sharpie and baking it on your dishes. DON'T!!! I did that last year with red for a red scallop on the edge of my plate. When I pulled it out and rinsed it off to dust it off, the red all ran off. Yes, I had baked it like the pins said. 
So instead, I found in the Walmart craft section, that Sharpie actually now makes pens for dishes. I don't remember the cost, but I think it was about $8 for a 4 pack. So far so good with those, and the ink is holding tight.

For the bowl, I painted the green with my new sharpie paint pens, and used the red paint on their fingertips and they dotted the red berries.

Now, my next trouble is figuring out what to do next year on the bowl. I need more bowls and I'm short on ideas. Also, at this point my kids' hands and feet are getting too big to make more plates. :)