A New Use for Old Christmas Cards

Christmas is over.  Now comes dreaded winter.  I don't mind the cold weather in December.  I do mind it January through March.  It's just no fun.  I still look forward to snow days, but after 12+ last year, even snow days got tiresome.

How many of you still receive Christmas cards?  We got a few this year.  Mostly, our friends send photo cards.  It's fun to see the pictures each year, and I usually keep them in a magnetic photo album.  So what do I do with the "old fashioned" cards?  Some of them are so pretty, I hate to just throw them away...one of my hoarding tendencies (I'm working on it, ok?).  So I don't throw them away, I repurpose them!  How many times do you have students come to you asking for a bookmark?  That's right, I cut up those old greeting cards into bookmarks for my students.  A pretty and practical use for the old Christmas cards!

Word Work Freebie!

After re-launching the Daily 5 and word work last week, I realized I needed to come up with more word work activities for my students to do.  They don't get that many choices in a week, but I want to make sure I keep things fresh for them.  Today I came up with a Valentine's Day Prefix-Suffix-Root match game.  I'm posting it for sale on my Teacher's Notebook shop, but I wanted to offer part of it up as a freebie to my faithful followers!  

click image to download freebie

In the freebie, there are 12 broken hearts, six prefixes & roots and six suffixes & roots and a sheet for students to record their answers.    The teacher (or a volunteer if you're one of the lucky ones!) would cut apart the broken hearts and the students are to match the prefix or suffix to the correct root word.  If you like the freebie, please consider making my shop one of your "favorites"!  

The full version, which is only $2.50, offers 48 broken hearts, 24 prefixes & roots and 24 suffixes & roots.  

Enjoy!

Internet Permission Form-Freebie!

I am always concerned with the Internet permission forms my district sends out because I worry that the parents don't look at them and just sign them.  It is very important to me that my students' privacy is protected and that parents understand that their child will be pictured on my class website with their permission.  Visit my brand new Teacher's Notebook store to download this freebie!  

Gaining Inspiration

I am nowhere near as creative as some of the fabulous bloggers I follow.  They have the cutest ideas, lessons, and classrooms.  This is one of the reasons I don't have a Teachers Pay Teachers store.  Another reason is because I steal most of my ideas.  I have no problem admitting it.  

Do these look familiar to you?

I thought so.  If you're like me, you get about two dozen a week.  These three I got today.  What I do with them is a secret, though.  My bloggy friends can keep a secret, right?  Before throwing them in the trash, I pull out the pages of the things I like and then do my best to recreate them.  

Let's face it, we're teachers.  We're not racking in the big bucks here.  And I don't get any money from the school for use in my classroom, so I have to be resourceful.  I don't take the ideas then try to sell them as my own, so there's nothing wrong with it, right?  Also, how many times do we buy something because it looks like something we want or need, but then it turns out we can only use parts of it?  When you recreate things, you fit them to your needs.  

Those chair pockets you see on the front of that Really Good Stuff catalog?  I've seen those in countless classroom pictures-all homemade.  If I could channel myself back into my very successful 7th grade home-ec days, those would be on all the chairs in my classroom, too.  There are other really cute ideas for posters and bulletin boards in these magazines.  

So, before you throw away your next round of catalogs, look and see if there's anything in there you can *ahem* adjust to fit your needs!

Linky Party & Freebie Alert!

I got inspired this week and decided to actually do something for school besides read books! In honor of my inspiration, I'm offering this freebie.  A back-to-school activity-Top 10 Things to Know About Me!  

Download it here!

Because I'm trying to get to 100 followers by the end of the month for a super-cool giveaway, I thought it also might be fun to host a linky party!  I'm sure this has been done before, but I haven't seen it in a while--so how about a Top 10 Things To Know About You?    

If you download the freebie, please join the fun of the linky party and make sure you link back to my blog and grab my button!  (Trust me-you'll really like this 100 follower giveaway I have planned!)  

Barnes and Noble Awesomeness!

I visited my local Barnes & Noble last night to pick up a copy of The Book Whisperer.  I had it on reserve at the library forever and someone must really be enjoying the book because it has not come available yet.  

Did you know B&N has a "Pick up In Store" option?  If you check their website, you can see if your local store has the book that you want, and if they have it in stock, they will have the book waiting for you at the register within 60 minutes.  Hello, timesaver!  

Of course, I chose this option, thinking I would run in and run out, but I had to take the toddler exploring.  No problems here, though, I love the children's section!  I loved seeing him looking at the books and recognizing the ones we read at night "Choo Choo" (The Little Engine that Could) and "Night Night Dino" (How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?)  He then picked out a dinosaur pop up book that we had to take home with us...how could I resist his little "Iwantit"  Yes, that's how he says it.  All one word.  So cute.  

With the Dino pop-up book in hand, we headed to the registers.  Sure enough, they had my book up there waiting for me.  The cashier then asks me if my son is part of the Kid's Club.  Um...what Kid's Club?  Why didn't I know about a Kid's Club?!  Her first words:  "It's free."  Always nice.  You also get a $5 reward for every $100 you spend.  That's not difficult.  A free cupcake on the kid's birthday.  Maybe he will share with Mama.  And, more coupons in the monthly newsletter.  Who doesn't love coupons?  Especially those for books?!  Of course, we signed up.  The Kid's Club goes up to age 12, so you can encourage your students to join as well!