Bulletin Board Make Over {Teacher Appreciation Week}

I have to preface this post.  I had the whole thing typed up and when I published it, it disappeared.  I had spent hours on it, twice, and I lost everything but my first paragraph and picture.  I was so frustrated I couldn't work on it. It was put off to work on later.  I guess now is later.  It may or may not be as long/detailed as before. 

For Teacher Appreciation week I saw some cute door make-overs over at Skip to My Lou.  I thought that it would be fun to do for my kids' teachers.  I decided to use their bulletin boards and make them over.
I loved the Recipe for Success idea and I had to use that one.   

This picture doesn't do it justice, it turned out much cuter than I can show you.  My plan was to buy a red and white checked table cloth, but I forgot to hit the party store to see if I could find one.  I did have red and white wrapping paper so I used that instead.  The title was cut out with a die cut machine (or cricut or silhouette would do the same thing):

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If I had to do it again I would have put plain paper behind it so that it would be easier to read.  I then put on the recipe.

The top says Mrs. Yawberg has the recipe for success!  The recipe says: Take 11 boys and 16 girls. Sprinkle liberally with laughter and enthusiasm.  Marinate with creativity, knowledge and love.  Mix gently in a classroom.  Let simmer for 9 1/2 months.  This recipe make 27 students well prepared for Middle School.
I asked the students to write their own recipes of what make Mrs. Yawberg a successful teacher.  I photo copied their recipes and put them on the board:

 

I stapled paper plates, plastic cups, and utensils wrapped in napkins around the board. 
The original recipes I put in here:

 

To make the holder I purchased a 4x6 photo holder from Micheals.  I mod podged paper onto the front.  I attached a coordinating ribbon with a tape runner.  I left a little gap to attach the bow. The bow on there is actually a barrette that I made.  I liked how it looked on it plus if she wanted to stack it she could remove the bow and have more room (or she could even use it in her daughter's hair).  I also put the year down in the corner.
To go along with the board I had the kids sign an apron.

I wrapped it all together with another teacher gift for the week:

 

The tag says 'We have to Ad-MITT, you are a great teacher!  Thanks for all you do!'  It was tied onto an oven mitt filled with cooking utensils and the apron wrapped around it.

We were going to get all the kids' pictures taken in an apron and chef's hat, but I didn't have the opportunity to go in there to do that.  I wanted to put their pictures on the board next to their recipes.  It would have been so cute and added so much more to it.

The other board we decorated (for our second grade teacher) we used the M&M theme.  I have used this years ago, but it is pretty popular now.  I found a cute poem to go with it.  
Here is the board:

The center of the boards says:

To make the boarder I cut out large circles (as large as I could get on 12x12 paper) in the color of m&m's.  I put part of the poem in each circle:

In between the large poem m&m's I put small ones.  In the center are m&m's that say 'Ms. Millson is magnificent because' and 'Ms. Millson is Marvelous because'.  The kids in her class each filled two of these out and then we hung them up:

For her treat we made her a bucket of M&M's complete with the poem. I found a clear paint can bucket and filled it with m&m's.  I tied ribbon along the side in the colors of the m&m's.

 I also slid in a copy of the poem.

Both teachers loved their boards!  It was a great end of school year board too.  I think there may have even been a few tears.

 To download the Ad-Mitt tag click here. 

Download the M&M's used on the boarder here

Download writing M&M's and more boarder m&ms here

Download M&M's to write on here

Download the poem for the board here (in M&M's)

Download the poem for the board here (as I used)

Download the M&M poem here (as seen in the can)

If you choose to download, please become a follower first (on the right).  I'm happy to share my creations with my followers.  If you would like to leave a comment too that would totally make my day!

I Belong to a Family & I Love My Brothers and Sisters (Primary Manual 1, Lessons 23 & 24)

Sunbeam Lesson 23 - I Belong to a Family
Sunbeam Lesson 24 - I Love my Brothers and Sisters

First take a look at this post.

If I had to do it all again I would spread the chain out through all three lessons in which you talk about family.  Print out the chains (from the link above) and divide them between the three lessons - Lessons 23, 24, 25.  

For lesson 23 color the self link and parents link.
For lesson 24 color the brother & sister links.
For lesson 25 color the extended family links.

It took a lot of time to try and draw bodies on all the links and put them together (plan on teaching them how to draw stick figures the first lesson).  This will cut down on the coloring time and on the day of the last lesson you could have the chains linked together already minus the ones they will make that day.

Lesson 24: I Love My Brothers and Sisters.
We did the chains (above) and read a story about Moses.  They did a lot of talking about their brothers and sisters.  We talked about how to be kind to our siblings and how much we love them.  The kids then got to take a treat home to each sibling and a little note. A Kiss seems the perfect gift for a sister or brother.

I decided to make treats with a chocolate kiss on top.

Back to School Teacher Gifts

The school year has began and the best way to start it is with a gift for the teacher.  This year I have two in middle school (13 teachers) one in elementary (1 teacher, 7 specialists).  The count is getting much higher. 
I had planned on giving these during open house to the elementary teacher & specialists, but I began work this week and didn't have time (and I found the idea the day before open house):

We made them for the first day of school instead.  I printed the the tags from here.  They had two per sheet and I chose to print them on an 8x11 page four times (8 tags) so each sheet is a little smaller than 2x3.  
Using bakers twine I tied three kit kats to the tag.  These we gave to the elementary specialists.  I didn't take a picture, but for the teacher I put one bag of (opened a bag of snack size) kit kats and three containers of Keurig coffee into some tissue paper.  I tied the top with red and white bakers twine and attached a tag.  We then slid the tissue into a red and white gift bag.
I had one bag of kit kats left.  We tied two kit kats to a tag and gave them to the elementary and middle school office staff and bus driver.  
For the middle school teachers I wanted to give them something useful.  I'm not sure if you know this or not (I didn't until I worked at the school), but Magic Erasers make EXCELLENT erasers for dry erase boards.  I picked some up along with some Expo Markers while they were on sale this summer.  I printed some tags and brought out the bakers twine.  Using coordinating colors I tied on the tags.
I used two different sayings for the tags:

The original idea for the 'spell' tag here

The other tag:

This tag used to say: You have been the write teacher for me!  For the original idea check out here (plus you can download the past tense there).

Each teacher was given one (I even had an extra one for the elementary teacher).  They now have a marker and an eraser to use in class that they don't have to spend their own funds on.  It may not be huge, but they will appreciate it.

Download the WRITE tags here.

Download the SPELL tags here.

If you choose to download, please become a follower first (on the right).  I'm happy to share my creations with my followers.  If you would like to leave a comment too that would totally make my day!

Monthly School Idea: Sidewalk Chalk

Sorry for the delay.  There are so many posts I need to do still, and Surprisingly (not really) they are mainly teacher/school gifts.  I guess I have a soft spot in my heart for teachers.  

I recommend giving this gift when it is warm.  It could be in the fall or in the spring.  Since our schools don't start until September and we did the recess bag first, we saved this one for the spring. 
I bought a large box of sidewalk chalk and made some tags.  I attached the tag with lots of bright ribbon.  It pulled all the colors of the tag and the chalk together.  There are two to choose from:

Use your 3 inch circle punch for these.

You could use the top one and attach it to other teacher supplies: pens, markers, expo's, sharpies, etc. 

If you choose to download, please become a follower first (on the right).  I'm happy to share my creations with my followers.  If you would like to leave a comment too that would totally make my day!

Download the tags HERE