That's a WRAP!

Now that our school year is half way over, I wanted to take a minute to catch up on some things we have done. I have had a lot of things going on personally this year, so I've had to put blogging on the back burner.

I have been trying to take pictures throughout the year of some of the projects we have done.

In August, we did some really fun apple paintings. I wanted something that would match my room and something I could leave up all year.

I let the kids free-hand their apples. I mounted them on polka dot wrapping paper. I am not sure why I have never thought of mounting things on wrapping paper! It makes such a cute festive border!

One of my favorite things I have made this year is this organization system on my door.

I bought the cork squares from Walmart. I think they were around $6.00 for a set of 4. I painted them black and added vinyl letters and dots. I hot glued a magnetic clip on them. It has worked great! The lunch menu changes every month and I use the others so much! I always have things I need to take to the office. If they land on my work table first- they usually get misplaced!!!

My other favorite thing is my afterschool transportation frames.

We have a color coded bus system. I always cut out buses out of construction paper and they barely last the whole year! I thought this would be super cute and durable! I used Photoshop to create a photo file of a bus with a polka dot background. I printed them in 5x7 at Walmart. I bought the black frames at Dollar Tree. I wrote the kids' names on their correct color bus. Since the glass makes them dry erase, I can use them year after year!

I think my other favorite artwork was the gumballs we made for the letter G. I drew this gumball machine and copied it. The students used the paint dappers to make the gumballs. I just took them down at Christmas. They were so cute and colorful!!!

Around Thanksgiving, we made turkeys and were going to write what we were thankful for. As a class, we talked about different things they might want to write- family, friends, etc...

One of my students handed me this....

I thought it was TOO funny! He is part of a large family and they are all HUGE Alabama fans. I love Kindergarten minds! :) The last pieces of artwork I wanted to share are Christmas items. I needed something cute for the hallway and one of my students had on a monogrammed elf feet shirt. I decided that would be SUPER cute for our decor and I LOVED the way they turned out!!! We got so many compliments!!! I used Christmas wrapping paper for the frame on these as well.

I did these cute "pinterest inspired" thumbprint Christmas lights last year, but this year I bought Dollar Tree frames to put them in. They were so festive!

You know that polka dot wrapping paper I used for the apples? Well... I needed a winter door idea and I still had part of a roll left. I came up with this...

I guess I need to come up with more ways to use wrapping paper! It has definitely made my life easier this year! Well, I guess that "wraps" things up!!! Hopefully I will be back soon!!!!

Christmas... In May

This is my first make-up post. :) I love Christmas artwork! As a grade level, we try to do the same "parent gift" for each class. We usually do something different every year, but I really hope we repeat this one next year. We ordered small (4 x 6) flat canvas from here They were only $0.46 since we ordered more than 36! The kids just stamped their hands on them with regular acrylic and then I turned them into reindeer and hot glued ribbon on the back.

Aren't they adorable??? We wrapped them in little bags.

I cut cardstock and let the kids do this thumbprint design on the front of the card.

Two things I am obsessed with: Pinterest and hand/thumbprint art. :) The kids did this cute thumbprint Christmas tree design on mini paper plates....

I tied a ribbon so they could hang them. A few weeks later, I found ceramic ornaments at Michael's for about $0.25 each. I let my daughter do the tree on the ornaments for her grandparents. They were soooo cute! Next year I am going to try to find the ceramic ones before the holidays so I can let my class make them also. This next one was probably my FAVORITE! I saw this on Pinterest and the Christmas lights turned out soooo cute!!!!

Here's another handprint idea. (I told you I was obsessed!!!) I did this larger canvas with my daughter- she was 2 at Christmas. I let her do some type of artwork for her grandparents and great grandparents and then I always make one to keep. Last year we did reindeer heads (with her hands as the antlers) on plates. This past Christmas we did small canvas and ornaments. This one was mine to keep:

Something I struggle with every year is a gift for my students. With all the other holiday expenses and the endless amount of money I pile into my classroom already, I don't want to spend a fortune. In the past, I have gone to the Dollar Tree for a puzzle or colorbook or something. I like to give them something that they can use though. This year, I found these water bottles (at Dollar Tree). I used my Cricut to cut out their names in vinyl. I added pawprints for boys- our mascot is a bulldog- and I did polka dots for the girls.

I did this all in about 2 hours or less and they were sooo cute! A lot of the students used them the rest of the year for their lunch boxes or snack drinks. I think I will repeat that idea as well!!!! :) The next two projects were actually for winter, not Christmas, but I am going to add them here. They both came from Pinterest. This one was a fun art project. I love penguins and it makes a great mini-unit.

We did these fun snowman and hung them in a row, so it actually looked like a long graph in the hallway.

Well- that was just a few bits and pieces of our Christmas/winter activities. I'm sorry that I am posting them in May! Ha!