Colorful Endings

I am sad to say that my first part of student teaching is over on Tuesday. I wanted to give the class and students something special and fun. Since Dr. Suess's birthday is coming up I bought the class two new Dr. Suess books that are not super common. The first is called: Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! The second book is called: I can read with my eyes shut! For each of the kids I decided to make crayons from older, broken crayons. I peeled the crayons, then placed them in a silicon mold. The crayons bake at 250 degrees for about ten minutes. Place the silicon mold on a cookie sheet with foil on top! Let the crayons sit in the mold until they have cooled. I made enough crayons for my students to each have six. I tried to give each bag a variety of colors. The crayons can have a variety of colors in each one or be a solid color block. I put them in a sandwich baggie with a little note. It would also be great to add large coloring pages without much detail. This is because there are typically not fine points on the silicon mold, so more basic shapes are easier to color! To make this a more educational gift, you could have the students pick one crayon and color with it for a few minutes. Then have to student name the crayon. They can then write a journal entry about why they named it that, how they discovered the color, where they discovered the color, what it colors, etc. This is a fun journal because the students can make it their own and really use their imaginations! 

Old Crayons 

Broken and fit into the silicon mold

The crayons after they have cooled in their molds

Birthday Treats

My 22nd birthday is on Monday. All the students bring in cupcakes or cookies to pass out during lunch. I'm typically not a big fan of giving kids candy or cakes during school. Also, since our country is obsessed with food on sticks: cake pops, pie pops, marshmallow pops, suckers, etc. (I know you have been tempted to have some of these tasty treats!)  I decided to make chocolate dipped pretzels to balance the sweet with some salty and make it easy for the kids to hold onto. I topped the pretzels with colored sugars, milk chocolate, and sprinkles. Even though it is not a super healthy treat, I figured it could be worse. ;) For a healthier option chop up raisins and nuts! I decided to give each student two different kinds. I wrapped the pretzels in saran wrap and tied with a ribbon of my favorite color: pink! I also made my own birthday "madlib." This is a fun way for the students to celebrate a birthday and since my second graders just learned about subject pronouns I snuck in some educational practice! 

White chocolate pretzels with colored sugar and sprinkles

White chocolate pretzels with chopped up milk chocolate. 

The finished product! 

Front Side

Back Side

Valentine's Part 2

So, I'm stealing an idea from my friend Taylor! She made these super cute valentines that would be really easy to make and give out to the kids. Just make a printout on the computer, two would fit per page! Print out on red or pink paper then tape on a Kool-aid mix and crazy straw! They also make Kool-aid packets for water bottles which would be good for little kids! I'm really loving the non-candy ideas that are coming out for kids! Super cute! Thanks for the idea Taylor! 

Valentine's Day

My first blog is dedicated to Valentine's Day and what I did with my class while I was student teaching. Below is a printout that I gave each of my kiddos. Since I am at a Christian school it is encouraged, but this would also be good in a Sunday school class too! We also did a craft with hands that open up that say "I love you THIS MUCH!" This is a craft that the kids get to give someone else. Since they are tracing their hands, they wrote their name and the date so that whoever they gave it to can save it and have a fun memory of when they were in the second grade. I try not to give out candy to the kids, so this year I gave each of the students a Valentine's pencil that had their name labeled on it and sharpened! (The pencil sharpener does not work very well in our classroom!) I tied a heart that said "You're just write for me!"  No matter what you decide to do for Valentine's Day, so your students lots of love!