Primary Graffiti: Five for Friday

Yay! I'm officially on Spring Break. Keeping this week short and sweet! I have a few hours of daylight to enjoy! ;-)

1. Reading Room Makeover! It's actually my closet but the kids enjoy their little space!!! Dots, Letters, and Canvas Pictures from Target. Curtains, Stools, and Table from IKEA. Book Bins from The Dollar Tree! I wish I'd thought to take pictures behind the curtains. I have themed boxes for each season storing all holiday fun. Two full shelves of book bins to rotate on the shelves in our room. AND as a looping teacher, I have many activities, centers, supplies needed for first and second grade. I might need a U-Haul to move out! HA!!

2. SHAMROCKS!!! Last Monday we planted our shamrock seeds. I decided to start them on St. Patrick's Day (actually the day after) to better align with the start of life cycles with a seed. The kids were overjoyed to see our little sprouts popping up!!! I ordered the Irish Dirt and Shamrock Seeds at Chinaberry. Link here.

3. Teacher Lists. Ohmiword! I signed up for Teacher Lists a few years ago and had a widget on my sidebar of the blog. I began blogging in 2009 with a classroom blog which morphed over time. During those years, widget helped drive donations with parent support. When my blog morphed so did the blog design. At some point the widget was removed unknowingly. So to my surprise, I was contacted by Teacher Lists the other day. I honestly forgotten about my wishlist UNTIL yesterday. So, to keep it short... I had three boxes of Wet Wipes donated to my classroom. Who doesn't love free!?! Thank you, Teacher Lists!!!!

4. Shoe Tying Club: I hadn't remembered how needy the little guys are in Kindergarten. I thought I was going to lose my gourd over being asked to tie shoes. Have you seen where those germ infested strings and what they cruise through? NO THANK YOU!!! At first, I tied. I tied and tied and tied. Then I told the kids about "MAGIC SHOE STRINGS". You know, the ones that tuck into the shoes. Why not, it's a fashion statement! After that, I bought a few resources to help encourage students to learn!

In one of the Scholastic Magazines, I bought this cute little book. Provided are steps and illustrations for several different ways to tie a shoe. I figured if they couldn't do one, maybe the could do another. The kids can take this book and practice as one of my early finisher activities.

I did purchase Shoe Tying Club Brag Tags but the icing on the cake was creating their shoe and tying their laces for our display on the cabinet doors above the water fountain. My students are reminded to practice tying shoes every time they get a drink of water. Great motivation! I used Alisha, The Bubbly Blonde's Steppin' Into a New Year unit. Everybody made their shoes. Once students can show me that they can tie their shoes and keep them tied for the day, they get to put a ribbon in their shoe. We then display the shoes proudly as Shoe Tying Club members!

5. SPRING BREAK!!!! I get to spend time with the Mr! Eat, Eat, Eat!! And SHOP!!! I have an obsession with all three!

This past week I really began exploring Polyvore. I'm hooked! Need interventions!! I cannot stay off the website or app. Then last night I figured out how to make outfits. You can actually link and purchase the items from real stores with great prices.

This one is Sweet as Sugar by Primary Graffiti... Everything is reasonable. Shirt-Target, Pants-Buckle, Watch-Fossil...etc!

Another set entitled Summer Lovin' by Primary Graffiti. The shirt is not as reasonable but everything else is... I cannot wait to make more sets!!! Keep up to date with my new Graffiti Swag Pinterest Board. And if you are interested, you can keep up with me at Polyvore.