Harvest Party

OK, life has been crazy busy lately. I don't think I've had a free weekend in 2 months! Then the marking period ended and we had parent conferences.  Even though it's been a couple weeks, I wanted to share something we did in my 5th grade classroom this fall.

We do a Harvest Party every year at our school (no Halloween activities, Fall and Harvest only, usually in mid November).  This year, I decided to do a simple craft I had found on Pinterest.

Thanks to Homeschool Creations for this easy project!

I had my fifth graders cut the vine using 1/4 of a piece of construction paper.  We talked about how to make it long by cutting a spiral and compared width to length as students finished.

Then we played Autumn Bingo using customized cards from DLTK.  The students got to use candy as their bingo markers.  When we had enough winners to start a new round, everyone got to eat a piece (or two pieces real quick while the teacher isn't looking!).

Snacks were kept simple.  Pumpkin, Apple, or Corn flavored items only.  We had popcorn, pumpkin muffins, apple cider, and some pumpkin spice cookies.  It was such an easy party to manage!  Almost no clean up.  Kids had fun.  Parents were happy that they weren't completely full of sugar.  Hmmm... maybe I can do this again for our Winter Party?

It's probably too late for you to use these specific ideas for a Harvest Party this year, but DLTK has lots of themed bingo cards (including Winter and Christmas) and those orange pumpkins could just as easily be turned into colorful ornaments or paper lanterns.  

Does your class have a party before your Winter Break?  Got any great ideas for me?

Monday Made It: Craftivities and Freebies!

It's Monday Made It time already?  How can that possibly be?

Thanks again to Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for hosting this linky party!  It's such motivation to get things done!  I catch myself trying to beat the clock to finish projects before midnight on Monday night.  :

If you haven't been there yet, her linky party is FULL of great ideas!!

This week, I had extra motivation to complete a few projects.  In addition to the Monday linky party, TPT is throwing a sale!  Everything in my store is marked down and if you use the code BTS14 you get an extra discount at checkout.  Lots of sellers are participating.  Go check your wishlist as well as all the new posts that went up this week!

I also had a deadline from my school to turn in a stack of postcards to send to my new 5th graders.  Just your luck, I put these in my TPT store for FREE!  They say 5th grade on them, but if you want a different saying, add it in the comments below.  I may be able to add a few other versions for my blog readers. :)  Yes, I REALLY want some blog comments!

I made 30 of these and delivered them to my school to be stamped and sent out this week!

The other project I finished today has been MONTHS in the making.  I have been working on this for a loooonnnnnggggggg time!  I even got my niece (6) and nephew (3) involved in helping me test them out. Check it out:

 Incentive chart Craftivities!!  No more boring incentive charts! These will have your students or children eager to show off their efforts!

1. Start with a background page. 

2. Choose what activities your students or children need to do in order earn a piece of the picture. (Read for 20 minutes, turn in their homework, do their chores, etc) 

3. When they complete the activity, they get to attach a piece to the picture. 

Pictures have no limit to the number of pieces you can attach! Put sprinkles on cupcakes, feathers on a turkey, or flowers in a vase. 

15 different incentive charts included! 
Color and blackline versions -- kids can color their own! 
All pieces included -- just print, cut, and glue!
Get extra crafty and use items like sequins, stickers, or feathers!



My niece (6) and nephew (3) had a great time making some of these craft projects with Auntie Heather!  Check out their versions!  (And the kids both wanted me to print them more!  My sister is getting a copy of the whole document so she can print as many as they want.)

I want to put one of the charts on TPT as a free sample.  Do you have a favorite?
Vote in the comments below.  The one with the most votes by next Monday will become a freebie!  :)

Vote for your favorite:  
Tree with leaves
Monster with eyeballs
Turkey with feathers
Pine tree with ornaments/lights
Snowy village with snowflakes
Cupcake with sprinkles
Cloud with rainbow stripes
Umbrella with raindrops
Vase with flowers
Picnic with ants
Dog with bones
Box with popcorn
Gumball machine with gum
Watermelon with seeds
Fishbowl with pebbles

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday Made It: Mini Chart Stand with PVC pipes

A little late in the evening to get this post up, but better late than never, right? :)

Thanks 4th Grade Frolics for the chance to show off my new PVC skills!

So, I saw this on Pinterest and thought it would be perfect for independent stations and anchor charts this year. I thought I'd follow the link and see how hard it would be to make one.  I'm crafty, but not handy.  My husband isn't handy either.  Neither of us has ever worked with PVC before.  I was thinking "I'll never be able to do this...  I bet I don't have the tools and that they cost a lot... I'll probably glue a pipe to my forehead or something..."  

Thanks to Falling Into First for sharing this great idea!  She's got great directions on her site for how to make this.  Of course, once I saw the low cost, easy-to-make chart stand, I started wondering about what other PVC items I could make for my classroom.  Is it going to be worth it to get a lot of PVC or am I just going to make a couple chart stands?

I dare you to type "PVC classroom" into the search engine of Pinterest.  I found some GREAT ideas.  Ok -- I'm willing to take the plunge.  I decided to start with the chart stand and see if it's as easy as they say it is...

Voila! My chart stand!

                                             

After viewing several projects, I saw this tool on someone's directions.  They said it would only cost about $10.  I got mine at Home Depot for $11.98.

(And am I the only one who looks at that picture and sees a bird?)

The tool makes cutting the PVC pipes so easy!  It's just like a scissors with a ratchet feature, so there wasn't much pressure needed to make it cut.  It really is that easy, folks!

Here's the basic process I went through:

Measure carefully

cut with this PVC tool

put the pieces together

Add decorative tape (lengthwise was easiest)


And it's done!



And interchangeable for landscape charts with just one more short pipe covered with tape:

Total cost:
Tool = $11.98
Pipe = $1.38
(and I have enough left to make another)
elbow connectors = $0.50 for two
"adapters" = $0.74 for two
corner "side outlet elbows" = $3.72 for 2

So, now that I own the tool, it will cost me $6.34 for any more chart stands that I make.  (Or less because I'll have leftover pipe.)

I'm not sure it's sturdy enough for me.  I might try a few other methods of making a more stable base.  I'll let you know if I find something better!  It actually took me longer to apply the tape than make the stand.  It's taking me longer to write this post than the entire process of building the project.

Anybody have any good PVC projects they've made?  Any great pins you've found?  Any suggestions for a better base?  I'd love to hear your comments in the space below!

Fun Friday: Corner bookmarks

My class needed some motivation last year to make sure they had all their work done and behaved well during the week.  After a schedule change in March, we had a 30 minute block at the end of the day on Friday that was too short for a lesson, but too long to not do something productive.  We called it “Finish Up Friday.” Students with everything finished were rewarded with a fun project related to our 5^th grade standards.  Click on the tag “Fun Fridays” to see other ideas you might want to try.

Corner Bookmarks 

We made some corner bookmarks as gifts to give our Kindergarten Reading Buddies.  My class had so much fun making them!  Students who had finished all their work were allowed to make extra bookmarks for themselves or to give to others as end-of-the-year gifts.  

Check out these links for design ideas:

Best Youtube video for DIY Corner Bookmarks

(watch out for some of the other ones -- I found several with inappropriate language!)

Check out Tally's Treasury for a tutorial on these cute little monsters

Or go to my Pinterest board for Crafts and Indoor Recess ideas:

Follow Clever Endeavors's board crafts and indoor recess activities on Pinterest.