Apples Apples Everywhere!!

First let me say, I LOVE FALL!! Everything about fall! I love the leaves changing colors, apple cider, hay rides, corn mazes,  ALL things pumpkin, Halloween, Thanksgiving, the crisp weather, the cozy sweaters and boots...You get the idea :)  

Even though fall has not officially begun aaannnnd it is still 90's outside, I could not wait to kick off the season with some fun, apple themed activities! 

All week long we read a ton of apple themed books. Here are a few that you can find on amazon:
   

I also found "The Story of the Apple Star" here and read it to my kids. It is so cute! My kids could not believe their eyes when we cut open one of our apples and found that there was really a star inside!

Then we read this little rhyme I found here whole group and circled the rhyming words. In small group, each kid got their own version of the poem and highlighted our HFWs we are working on this week: is, a. Then, they got to use our halved apples to make their own apple stamp. 

During science, we discussed the different parts of an apple as we dissected our own apple.

Then, using our 5 senses we explored 3 different types of apples and discussed how they felt, looked, and smelled the same and different.

Next, we listened to see if there were any differences in the CrUnCh when we bit into the apples to do our taste test. :)

Finally, we voted on which apple we liked best. Obviously we are still working on name writing, but we are getting there! 

In math this week we have been working on patterns so of course, we had to use our special star apples to make apple print patterned headbands!

During "Science Friday" we made applesauce in the crockpot.

This is one of my FAVORITE things to do each year because the kids LOVE it and my classroom smells AMAZING! Oh yeah, and it's educational...

Next week we will be having even more apple fun (Johnny Appleseed's birthday is Friday!) and my kids will be working on these cute little apple themed workstations! 

Fill in the missing letter

Word wall vocabulary cards (also used in a separate workstation to practice syllabication) 

Match Johnny to the apple that has his beginning sound

Spell the CVC word on the apples

And apple themed rhyming puzzles

You can find these activities and several more by clicking the picture below. In celebration of old Johnny's b-day, it is even on sale this week! :)

Made it Monday and SALE SALE SALE!!

I am so excited to be participating in Teachers Pay Teachers big sale over the next two days! Both as a seller and a buyer ;) 

Hopefully I sell SOMETHING to soften the blow of my full shopping cart! Ha! 

I just added a few simple little things to my store that I made for my classroom and I am really excited about!

And it is Monday so of course I am linking up with Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics for 

My first two "made its" are already in my Teachers Pay Teachers store (and on sale - woohoo!) and I cannot wait to get into my classroom and put them up today! 

First up is my chevron brights days of the week and months of the year.

I am loving these for lots of reasons! For one, I cannot get enough of these adorable little icons for each month! I mean, how stinkin' cute is that penguin?!? 

Besides looking cute, the different colored borders and icons help give visual learners something they can relate to each day of the week and month of the year.

Auditory and Kinesthetic learners have no fear... there is something for you too!! I also included links to 5 different days of the week songs as well as 5 months of the year songs. That way you can not only find which one is a good fit for your class, but you also have a variety and can change it up mid year to breath new life into your calendar routine! 

These next little cutties will go on my calendar as well. Calendar time is a big deal in my room, I will have to write a post about what all we do during calendar later!

These chevron apples can be used many different ways:

Pages 3 – 14 have apples with numbers 1 – 184 which should be enough to help you count every day of the school year! (If you need additional numbers please feel free to e-mail me.)

•All odd numbers are on blue apples and all even numbers are on green apples.

•These are designed to help students recognize patterns, identify odd and even numbers, and practice counting by 2’s!

•

Pages 15 – 17 have apples counting by 5’s from 5 to 180

• The circle behind the numbers are purple so they are easily identified when counting by 5’s

•These apples can be used instead of the 5’s and 10’s on pages 3 – 14.

•

Pages 17 – 18 have apples counting by 10’s  from 10 to 180

•The circle behind the numbers are purple so they are easily identified when counting by 5’s.

•There is a pink background  behind each apple to help students easily identify the 10’s.

•These apples can be used instead of the 10’s on pages 3 – 14.

Here is an example of how I plan on using them in my room:

This ways, students can easily distinguish odd and even numbers or when counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's!

My final made it for the week is a clothespin redo.

I try to send all of the things that have kids' names on them home with them at the end of the year. Somehow, these little clips didn't make it home and because I am a hoarder teacher I could not just throw them away! :)

So I took my clothespin, some cardboard letter circles that I found in with my old scrap-booking stuff, and a few coats of paint and....

Voila! Letter clips for workstations!

Easy peasy! :)

Be sure to go check back with 4th Grade Frolics to see her fabulous made its, along with many other teachers! 

Dallas trip and Monday Made It

This past weekend was SO. MUCH. FUN! 

My mother in law got married on Friday so the Hubs and I went up to Dallas for the ceremony and to spend some QT with family! 

Here is my handsome husband and I killing some time before the ceremony:

I just love this goofy man!

A quick pic of the happy couple saying their nuptials

And the Mr. and I with his sisters and brother in law

This group is a good time, let me tell you! :) 

It is always so great seeing family and I wish we could go up there more! Although, we ate out a LOT. Seriously, amazing food! I am talking so full you can barely walk out of the restaurant amazing food!! So maybe it is a good things we only make it up there a few times a year ;) 

 As you can see, the trip took a toll on my boys. This is them on the ride home, ha! 

Ok ok now enough about my weekend. It is time for (drum roll please) another addition of 

4th Grade Frolics is so awesome for hosting this every week! I just love getting ideas from so many creative teachers and seeing what everyone has been crafting over the week!! 

So my 1st made it is more of an "assisted made it" if you will. ;) If you have never seen my blog before, first, Welcome!! Second, as of my last "Made it Monday" this is what my blog looked like...

Veerrrrrrrry different right? The old one was simple. Kinda boring. Nothing special. 

I was so over it!

Luckily for me, I just so happen to follow this amazing teacher, blog designer, and all around great person Lindsey on Instagram! After I saw some of her work and checked out her amazing prices, I just knew I had to strike while the iron was hot!

If you are thinking about starting a blog or you have one and it needs a major facelift (like mine) you should go check out Lindsey at Blog Designs with the Teacher in Mind. I cannot say enough about how great working with her was! She is THE most affordable designer I found, every single blog design of hers looks different because they are based on exactly what the customer wants. Plus, she respond back to e-mails crazy fast which, being extremely eager about the whole blog makeover, I really appreciated! 

I am telling you, go check her out! Then come back and thank me when you are as in love with your new blog as I am with mine ;) 

Now this I made alllllllll by myself :) 

About 2 weeks ago I got these Plain Jane clipboards (that I wrote about in my Dollar Store Treasures post) and knew I wanted to decorate them! I reserved a few to glam up for my brand new team this year, but I wanted to share the one I made for myself!

*Disclaimer: I am not a planner, a measurer, or a perfectionist. When I make things, I kinda just "go for it". So, if you find yourself being slightly anal retentive when working on projects, my way of going about this may make you cringe! You have been warned ;) 

First, I picked through some papers from my old scrap booking days and found a couple I wanted to use. 

Next, I traced the outer edge of the clip board onto the scrap book paper and cut it out. I then laid the top paper under the clip and drew how wide a cut out I needed to make. Next, I took a piece of scrap paper to "measure" how deep of a cut I need to make for the clip. This is what I ended up with for the top paper: 

Because I knew my paper would not fit perfectly around the clip or outer edges, I painted the top portion and edges of my clip board.

Once the paint was dry, I went to town with some Mod Podge! (love that stuff!) Mine dries clear with a  little bit of a glossy finish but you could use the matte finish too. 

I laid the scrapbook paper down and starting from the middle, I smoothed the paper out to avoid wrinkles and bubbles. I always use some type of plastic card (in this case, a Staples gift card) to flatten it and it works just fine! 

I repeated the same process for the back and added an extra strip of scrapbook paper in the middle on both sides. Then, I put my name to the back and a cute little white, burlap "bow" over the clip on the front. Voila! 

I just love the way it came out! I can't wait to make a few more!

My last made it is about a little Meet the Teacher (yes already!) prep work.

When I pinned this adorable idea for Meet the Teacher from First Grade with a cherry on top I knew that I wanted to use it this year for meet the teacher! 

My sweet sweet husband cut out all of the tags and I tied them on to 21 little bubble bottles. Now from past experience, I know good and well that I will probably only have about 10 families (at the very most) show up for meet the teacher... but a girl can hope right! 

I also whipped up these little apples for my Meet the Teacher "Giving Tree" 

I did a couple of each item juuuuuuuuust incase I have lots of parents who want to make donations!

I still cannot believe it is almost August! I am hoping to get into my classroom this week so that I can get started and try to ease into the school year this year!