Fact and Opinion Journal Jot

NEW! Fact and Opinion Journal Jot on Teachers Pay Teachers! We are just finishing our ELA Unit 5: American Contributions activities which are part of the Common Core Standards. Our students studied Famous Americans such as: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, The Wright Brothers, Amelia Earhart, Neil Armstrong, and Sally Ride to name a few. With this Journal Jot, the students participate in activities where they must write facts about these people. Moreover, students must also state their opinions on given topics, supply reasons to support their opinions, and add closure to end their opinion writing. Here are some pictures of activities on display! Students had to choose a Famous American and complete a quilt square for "Our Famous American Quilt." We lined the wall with a "Future Presidents" display! What fun! Look at some of the writing taking place! Here is an example of an opinion booklet with the topic, "Would you rather live in a log cabin or live in a mansion? First Grade is so much fun! ~Teacher Tava

Date Night Jar

Ever need some assistance in deciding what to do for a date night? Well, this is such a cute and easy idea! The Date Night Jar! I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased a glass jar, adhesive "R" letter, paints, foam brush, and wooden sticks. I chose to color the sticks to match the color scheme in our bedroom: blue, green, brown, and orange. I painted nine sticks of each color. I added a metal scrapbooking embellishment ring, "love," and decorative ribbons. I wrote ideas for different types of date nights on the sticks: Brown: Vacation ideas that need time for planning; I thought it might be fun to draw one of these brown sticks out on New Year's Day and plan this main vacation for the year. Orange: Some expense required for date Green: Minimal expense needed for date Blue: No money required for date This would be a fun gift for a new bride or Mom-to-be, too! The best part is that you and your significant other can write the dates that interest you! Date night will never be a dilemma again! What are some of your favorite date night places to go/ things to do?

Mom's 60th St. Patrick's Day Birthday!

My mom was born on this special day, and she is by far the luckiest person I know! We took her out for an afternoon movie to see "The Great and Powerful Oz." We ordered food in, had cake, and shamrock shakes! She said "60" isn't so bad after all. Here are pictures of the place settings/ table decor-all for Mom which I bought for her! This dish set is so cute and looks great with gold and green linens. I found gold napkin rings, which I wrapped with ribbons, bottle cap scrapbook embellishments, and St. Patrick's Day stickers. Of course the Birthday Girl gets a special place setting, with dinner gift box to open. Then onto the cake. I am not an expert at cakes, but am slowly teaching myself. I used two boxes of white cake and 1 box of yellow cake to make 6 cakes, each layer colored. Baked the cakes, stacked them in rainbow order (I combined the Indigo and purple to only have 6 layers-easier for me :) I dirty-iced the layers with homeade buttercream frosting. Next, I covered the cake in green fondant. I then used the leftover fondant pieces to cut out shamrock shapes, and used the remainder of the buttercream frosting to add other details to the cake. It was very delicious! Of course, the inside when cut is the real surprise! How pretty! Hope you had an enjoyable St. Patrick's Day 2013, too!

TPT SALE!

Glass Decor and So Much More!

There are so many options for decorating and designing with glass. Here are a few ideas that I have tried out. Table Centerpiece: Glass decorative pieces with dome-shaped tops are always fun to find. Here are some different ways that I like to use them. Winter centerpieces: I added some fake fluffy white snow and cute little light-up snowmen. How simple! These look great turned on or off. These were a big hit at my parent's 40th Wedding Anniversary party. I enjoy changing these out for the different holidays. Easter is just around the corner, so I have already started setting the table. I added some Easter grass and decorative eggs inside the glass centerpieces. I attended a scrapbooking event a couple of weekends ago and won two glass dome toppers. These are so cute for displaying some mini albums in a craft room or around the house! Glass Block: Firefighter "Hero" Theme-I used mod podge to adhere some scrapbook paper to the back of the glass block. Glass adhesive was used to attach the decorative metal pieces onto the front of the block. Top it off with some ribbon and it is complete! The glass block decor looks great with the lights plugged in or unplugged. I also made one for my brother. The adhesive outline of the state looks neat on the front of the block. Jewelry: These lil glass jewelry pieces make great gifts! Add embellishments like mini jewels with special glass adhesive. What fun! I would love to see some of your creations! Leave a comment and direct me to your blog. Let's keep the sharing going! :)