I had a few Etsy orders that needed to get done over Spring Break last week and I was in the groove so I decided to make a few new signs. You know that feeling when you're so motivated you don't want to stop and lose all that momentum? Well, that's where I was at so I knew it was now or never.
My old co-worker turned real-estate agent had given James and I this metal ampersand she made for our wedding (almost 4 years back) and I had been wanting to incorporate it into a pallet sign for months. I love the way that metal and wood look together and knew the rustic-ness of the ampersand would go perfectly with a blank sign I had previously made.
Now came the hard part- choosing the perfect quote. Obviously it had to have the word "and" in it and it was going up on my wall in the kitchen so I wanted it to be more about food, drinks, etc. rather than love and life and all those ooey-gooey kind of quotes. I had been searching for weeks when I came across two final contestants: "Life is what happens between coffee and wine" and "The best part of my day is coffee and you." Since my husband and I are both avid coffee drinkers (to the point where if there was rehab- we may need to attend) these two quotes were perfect. I sat on it for another couple of days- I told you it was a long process- and finally chose my quote.
I chose various sizes and fonts, stenciled it on, painted it white (thought about other colors but went back to trusty old white since it never disappoints) and merely hot glued the ampersand on. I couldn't be happier with the outcome. I'm so glad I waited and took the time to find all of the right elements to make this beautiful new piece for our home!
With Spring around the corner and all the department store stocking their shelves with eggs, what better time to do some hands on math? These little plastic gems have been a life saver for me this week as it's the week before our Spring Break vacation. If you are a teacher- you know what I'm talking about. I am a special education teacher for fourth and fifth graders and I work with a fourth grade who has Downs Syndrome. So, when I was thinking of ways to incorporate these eggs into my pull out groups, I had to think of activities ranging from first grade level up to fifth. I looked through the Texas standards and came up with these ideas... enjoy!
I had this awesome container that I purchased last year from the Dollar Tree that is working out great to hold the eggs and keep them separated. I may need to go back and purchase another one since the students are enjoying them so much! When I want the kids to try to match them I take them apart and put them in another little plastic container so they aren't rolling all over the table.
I wanted my fifth graders to practice ordering fractions with unlike denominators so I created some random fraction eggs and had the kids place them in order using an old egg container. It works perfectly for the number line concept and makes it easy to re-arrange them.
I hope that these ideas have inspired you to purchase some eggs and give your students the chance to have some fun while learning! *Side note: I bought two different style eggs. The smaller bags of 12 were $0.89 from Target and the larger bag of 48 was $2.98 from Wal-Mart. The downside of the cheaper ones from Wal-Mart is that they are very flimsy and harder to actually "snap" together. The Target ones are much more durable. Oh, and all I used to write on them was a colored Sharpie marker. It's so easy you just have to try it out!
