Wednesday, July 25, 2012
The Lesson Cloud Dollar Days Sale
Announcing the first ever Back to School Dollar Days sale...with a &$75 Gift Certificate to Really Good Stuff to boot! This Sunday, July 29th and Monday, July 30th, join us on the Cloud for an amazing sale and giveaway! The Lesson Cloud authors have put together an amazing list of hundreds of items for just $1 or $2!! Stock up on all your Back to School needs for just $1 or $2 each. Plus, once you've stocked up, enter our $75 Gift Certificate Giveaway to Really Good Stuff!! Couldn't you use an extra $75 to start off the school year? Keep watching The Lesson Cloud blog, The Lesson Cloud Facebook page and The Lesson Cloud Twitter feeds for more! Also, I will be updating this post to include the link to all products on July 29th. Come back and check it out!
****Update**** Please click here to see the hundreds of items on sale Sunday the 29th
http://www.thelessoncloud.com/2012/07/its-here-dollar-days-sale-and-75-really.html
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Classroom Makeover
Maybe this should be called classroom ongoing makeover because it isn't done yet. I went in to school to work on it yesterday and the air conditioning has now been turned off for the summer! Now maybe some of you can get by on no air conditioning for an hour or two but in Phoenix it is just impossible! So needless to say, I stayed for 20 minutes and I was so sweaty I had to stop. I will have to revisit this post when I am completely finished with my room, which will hopefully be before meet the teacher night!
My main problem with my room is that it is purple. Actually the whole school was painted purple until last year when they finally painted it a color that won't fade so bad in the Arizona sun. The inside, however, is still purple. I was just sick of my color scheme from last year. I am not even going to show any pictures of it here! So let's start with purple:
This was the big mess I walked into at the beginning of summer. I promptly went home and Googled "What goes with purple?" Of course I got the complementary "yellow," but I didn't feel like doing yellow. Then I came upon a great site:
color scheme designer
The color scheme designer will tell you which kind of monochromatic hues look best, and what the complimentary colors are. It also gives you a triad and a four color combo that includes an accent color to the triad. It also gives an analog combination and an accented analog combo. This really made my day! Yellow is the complementary color to purple but there are many other unique colors to choose from. I ended up choosing a blue, a lime green, and purple. It doesn't sound good at all but it works with the black- purple thing I've got going on in there. The first thing I did was dump my bookcase and line the back of it with a limey green contact paper:
Let me tell you that contact paper is a pain! It looks pretty good now though. I then ripped down all my bulletin boards and replaced my word wall with this:
I got some great tips from a website called School Girl Style. Her post on how to decorate without upsetting the fire marshal can be found here:
http://www.schoolgirlstyle.com/2012/02/how-to-decorate-without-upsetting-the-fire-marshall/
It is really an excellent tutorial in using color without getting carried away by the cuteness of borders etc. and overdoing things. Here is my coordinating bulletin board on the other wall:
See how it's the same color scheme? It looks much better this way than having a million different patterns and colors in your room. The little poofy flowers were made by me with Martha Stewart's help! Here are the pictures of the other paper poofs I want to put up this week or next (whenever the air is back on!)
My kitty Pippen attacked these right after I took this picture! Let me know what you think so far. I am by no means finished. I will have to post the final look when I get it done:-).
My main problem with my room is that it is purple. Actually the whole school was painted purple until last year when they finally painted it a color that won't fade so bad in the Arizona sun. The inside, however, is still purple. I was just sick of my color scheme from last year. I am not even going to show any pictures of it here! So let's start with purple:
This was the big mess I walked into at the beginning of summer. I promptly went home and Googled "What goes with purple?" Of course I got the complementary "yellow," but I didn't feel like doing yellow. Then I came upon a great site:
color scheme designer
Let me tell you that contact paper is a pain! It looks pretty good now though. I then ripped down all my bulletin boards and replaced my word wall with this:
I got some great tips from a website called School Girl Style. Her post on how to decorate without upsetting the fire marshal can be found here:
http://www.schoolgirlstyle.com/2012/02/how-to-decorate-without-upsetting-the-fire-marshall/
It is really an excellent tutorial in using color without getting carried away by the cuteness of borders etc. and overdoing things. Here is my coordinating bulletin board on the other wall:
See how it's the same color scheme? It looks much better this way than having a million different patterns and colors in your room. The little poofy flowers were made by me with Martha Stewart's help! Here are the pictures of the other paper poofs I want to put up this week or next (whenever the air is back on!)
My kitty Pippen attacked these right after I took this picture! Let me know what you think so far. I am by no means finished. I will have to post the final look when I get it done:-).
Saturday, July 7, 2012
File Cabinet Nightmare!
My filing system was getting a bit out of hand! I knew at the end of last year I could stand it no longer. It was time to go through all of my lessons and redo the files! This is easier said than done, however. I have been a science teacher for 15 years. I had lessons for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. I basically had to go through every file and relabel every one *sigh*. I even color coded my files by unit: Green was ecology, red was astronomy, etc...
While I was completing this monumental task, I had the great idea of making new file labels to go with my units. I don't really know why I wanted to do this. No one will ever really see these but me. I might just leave my file cabinet drawer open when the principal walks in and casually pull some files out! Anyway, I am posting one of my labels here for the taking. Maybe you have a science unit that needs relabeling! All clip art was purchased through Digi-Web Studio.
Space Labels
While I was completing this monumental task, I had the great idea of making new file labels to go with my units. I don't really know why I wanted to do this. No one will ever really see these but me. I might just leave my file cabinet drawer open when the principal walks in and casually pull some files out! Anyway, I am posting one of my labels here for the taking. Maybe you have a science unit that needs relabeling! All clip art was purchased through Digi-Web Studio.
Space Labels
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
How to Survive a Road Trip!
Everyone is out of school for the summer and it's time to get out of town and go on a road trip! The destination may be wonderful, but sometimes getting there with kids can be a trial! I was surfing through Pinterest for ideas and discovered a wonderful post by "The Dating Divas." They have some incredibly cute stuff for road trips as well as some free printable games and labels. The post can be found here:
http://www.thedatingdivas.com/tara/the-road-trip-date/
Here is a picture of the state license plate game and some caramel corn I made for my kid's trip to San Diego. Please notice the very cute label!
The post at The Dating Divas has other great ideas to pass the time in the car that would work very well for kids. I am going to include my grandma's recipe for caramel corn here because it is to die for! My grandma used make it in Colorado and chipmunks used to climb her window screens to get it!
http://www.thedatingdivas.com/tara/the-road-trip-date/
Here is a picture of the state license plate game and some caramel corn I made for my kid's trip to San Diego. Please notice the very cute label!
The post at The Dating Divas has other great ideas to pass the time in the car that would work very well for kids. I am going to include my grandma's recipe for caramel corn here because it is to die for! My grandma used make it in Colorado and chipmunks used to climb her window screens to get it!
Caramel Corn
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick margarine
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp. butter flavoring
1/2 tsp. baking soda
Cook above for 2 minutes and pour over 6 quarts of popcorn in a paper grocery bag. I usually add some caramel and then shake the bag before adding more. Microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. Shake bag. Microwave for 1 minute. Shake bag. Repeat one more time. I let my caramel corn cool on a baking sheet before putting it in a container. Enjoy!
Saturday, June 23, 2012
The Lunar Phase Game
Well I am finally done with my Lunar Phase Game. I started working on this game because I will need something like it next year for my 7th graders. I don't know a better way of getting students to learn a concept than a game! Below is a preview. Students move around the board and have to name the lunar phase to keep moving forward. The cards are upside down because when assembling you fold them in half. My son and I played it together and it worked very well. He knew his phases, however, so it could be a longer game if you had students that didn't. Let me know what you think. I will definitely be using it during my astronomy unit!
To find this game in my store please click here:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Lunar-Phase-Game
Lunar Phase Game Preview
To find this game in my store please click here:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Lunar-Phase-Game
Lunar Phase Game Preview
Monday, June 18, 2012
The Organ Mountains, New Mexico
On a clear day, the Organ mountains can be seen from 100 miles away. They are a rugged spine of needles that rise nearly a mile above the Tularosa Basin on the east and the Rio Grande valley on the west. They are undoubtedly one of the most picturesque mountains in the southwest. The stark, bare spine of rock and the changing colors of these mountains makes them a favorite among artists, photographers and rock climbers alike. Here is a picture from my latest trip to southern New Mexico:
The Organ Mountains are part of a tilted fault block which stretches from El Paso, Texas northward to central New Mexico. These needles are the crown on this system which becomes less imposing northward. As you can see, in the winter they are just as beautiful covered in snow:
| Organ Mountains, June 2012 |
| Organ Mountains, December 2010 |
Labels:
my travels
Sunday, June 3, 2012
My Favorite Things
Raindrops on roses,
And whiskers on kittens,
Bright copper kettles,
And warm woolen mittens,
Brown paper packages,
Tied up with strings,
These are a few of my favorite things . . .
And whiskers on kittens,
Bright copper kettles,
And warm woolen mittens,
Brown paper packages,
Tied up with strings,
These are a few of my favorite things . . .
Especially the whiskers on kittens! Here is my fun list of some of my favorite things! This is a linky party that was created in about 20 minutes (graphic and all, no joke) by Sharing Kindergarten.
In education my favorite thing is:
teaching geology because it is just so cool!
Personally, right now I really like:
I haven't seen the HBO series, but I love the books!
Technically, I love:
We have a whopping three of these in our house! They are just outstanding! Link up at sharing kindergarten so we can read about your favorite things!
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