I Am Lucky Because...

I saw many St. Patrick's Day crafts on Pinterest that involved kids stating reasons why they were lucky.    Building upon that idea and combining it with this 3-d blossum idea, I created a St. Patrick's Day 3-leaf clover activity:

Preparation:

Before beginning the actual project, we asked students to brainstorm at least 6 reason why they are lucky. Then, students were handed a sheet of green construction paper with 6 heart templates already copied onto it.  Students were instructed to take their ideas and transfer each one onto a different heart.  Once all hearts were written on, students cut them out.

Assembly:

Each heart needs to be folded in half so that the writing is on the inside.  Lay out two of the folded hearts next to each other along the fold to create one of the leafs.  Repeat this step for the four remaining folded hearts to create the last two leafs.  I had students lay out all their pieces before gluing.  It is important to stress to students that only one side of the folded heart will need glue because the other side will be popping off of the page.  

I chose black construction for the students to glue their clover on, but any color construction paper can be used for the background.  Students used leftover green construction paper to create their own stem.  I also had them use a white crayon/colored pencil to write the title "I'm Lucky Because:" along the top or bottom (wherever it would fit best).  

I did this last year, so I do not have any student samples to show, but I'm working on a template for the hearts to share soon.

Rainbow Treats

The school where I work recently held a Parent Expo.  They wanted to give away something to the families who took applications to enroll in our school.  Since it was St. Patrick's Day weekend, they also wanted something to fit the holiday.  It made me think of these rainbow treats I recently came across on Pinterest.  There were many variations of the treats, so I decided to pull aspects from each that I liked to create my own.

First, you will need the following materials:

I chose to use multicolor Twizzlers because it would be much easier and cheaper than buying Skittles and separating them by colors.  In addition, I utilized the Twizzlers by cutting them in half.  I was able to make 12 rainbows per bag of Twizzlers.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Drop 2 rolos in the pretzel bag.
2. Pick out 5 colors for the rainbow.  Line them up, and drop in carefully.  There will always be one color Twizzler not chosen since only 5 can fit in the bag.  I made sure to follow ROY G BIV of course!
3. Then top it off with some marshmallows.  I chose to add 7 for each one because I felt that amount looked the best.

For the topper, I wanted to personalize it for the event.  So I create one with our school's logo and the logo for the Expo.

 

On the back, I wanted to add a quote that had something to do with children, families, and education.  I found the perfect one from non other than Dolly Parton!

They were such a big hit and I really enjoyed making them :)

Washington's Birthday

Whenever a fun craft is needed, Pinterest is our go to!  For George Washington's birthday, I searched the site and found a cute craft that required only a few materials...

 ... to turn into these!

First, I prepared the materials to make assembly easier for students.  I created a hat template (click here for free download) and copied it onto blue construction paper, cut the coffee filters in half, and pre-cut the yellow and blue construction paper for the shirt.

I didn't want them to turn out too "cookie cutterish" so I gave students a blank sheet of white paper and had them draw a circle for the head.  Then, a picture of George Washington was shown to the class so students would have a reference when drawing his facial features.  Don't forget the red rosey cheeks!

After students cut out the head, the rest of the pieces were passed out.  Students cut out the hat, folded their coffee filter in half, and created fringe on each end of the strip of yellow construction paper (I modeled how to do so).  Lastly, students glued all their pieces onto black construction paper.  They turned out so well I wish I could show you each and every one!!!

To extend the activity, the class read a one page biography on George Washington available from SuperTeacherWorksheets -if you are a member.  After reading it as a class, students were asked to create a bubble map of at least 10 facts from the text.  Then, students took their ideas from the bubble map and turned them into sentences to form a paragraph about George Washington.  Their papers were taped to the bottom of their portraits and we displayed them in the class.

College Ready Crayons

One day while pinning, I came across this fabulous idea titled From Crayons To College.  The teachers I work with also liked the idea, but wanted to tweak it so students could be more personal with their college readiness goals.  I created a crayon template (for free download at the end of this post) that allowed space for writing and gave students the sentence starter To be ready for college, I will...

They ended up turning out really cute!  Here are some of the final products:

We decided to display these within the room instead of on a bulletin board.  The crayons were hung traveling in curves across our wall starting "from crayons" and going "to college."  I wish I had a better picture to show, but since it spanned from one side of the room to the other it was hard to capture it all in one shot!

Click here for the free crayon template!

Fact Family Butterfly

To help students with their fact families, we made Fact Family Butterflies!  

 For this project we used addition and subtraction fact families, but multiplication and division fact families would work just as well! To begin, all you need is colored construction paper and the butterfly body template.  

 Click here for the body template!

First, write the numbers of the fact family on the lines provided on the butterfly's body.  Then cut out the body.

Next, trace your hand four times on the construction paper.  Then cut them out.

**Make sure that when students trace their hands, their fingers are NOT spread apart.  Keeping the fingers close together creates a better sized area for writing the fact family number sentences.**  

Dedicate each wing to a single fact family equation using the numbers on the body.  Once all four equations have been written on the wings, glue the butterfly together!

A Little Side Project

After the mural frenzy that occurred at my work, the assistant principal saw what I could do and asked if I would be interested in painting a mural in her daughter's room.  Her family would be going on vacation for two weeks and she wanted me to complete it during that time so it would be a surprise for her daughter when they returned.  She explained to me that her daughter wanted a beach themed mural and gave me a few ideas as to what she would like.  

 

When I first saw the wall where she wanted the mural, I was a bit intimated.  There were two windows taking up most of the wall space and blue paint was sponged along the bottom half of the wall.  But once I planned it out and began, it started to come along...

 For the background, I used paint with primer in it so it would completely cover the sponged blue paint.  Paint samples used for accents and everything else since they were a sufficient amount of paint.

Besides the pink sign still needing the words Surf's Up painted on it, the mural turned out better than expected and the girl loved it!

Murals, Murals, and More Murals

The principal at the school where I work decided the addition would benefit from more murals to help cover the bare white walls.  It became a community project where parents and staff came together over the weekend to paint murals that were drawn ahead of time.  Using a bunch of donated paint and a couple of Sharpie markers, here are a few of the murals I hand drew and helped the volunteers paint:

Our library is located in our technology lab so painting a computer reading a book was a perfect fit!

Our school abides by a RESPECT motto (Responsible, Engaged in Learning, Successful, Peaceful, Enthusiastic, Committed to Quality, Team Player) so I created the Chica Chica Boom Boom tree with the words from the motto falling from it.  It is probably my favorite piece out of the bunch!