Teacher Gifts & Back to School

The back to school craziness has finally caught up to me - and I have neglected my blog.  BUT today I shall let you know all about my co-worker back to school gifts, and few quick little planning clips I made on spur of the moment, and my plan for the new year.  School starts tomorrow for us - and I haven't thought about school all weekend.  My mother and father-in-law have been in town this weekend and while the men have been doing "home projects" like putting up tons of shelves in the garage and hanging up our bedroom lights, my mother-in-law and I have been shopping and reading outside because it has been gorgeous.

Today I finally went up to school to finish up my plans for the week and then came home to get my house in order. The husband is at a Fantasy Football draft so I'm busy reading blogs, WRITING blogs, and doing some creating. :)

I work with some of the best teachers in the district.  Not only is my school second to none but I work with 4 of the best first grade teachers.  They are so caring for our students and really seeking to make their year great.  They give up so much of their time that I wanted to start our year off with a little gift that we all got to "share" in a sense.  I saw Farley over at Oh Boy Fourth Grade post a picture of the teacher gifts she gives her sons teacher and decided I needed to make them for my team. So I grabbed some chalkboard paint, white paint pens (a fat tip and a small tip) and a wooden letter for each of my coworkers.


I spray painted them them, let them dry, and then wrote their last names on them along with a "Mrs" or "Miss" I then added some little colored ribbon to hang from a door.  The cool thing about this gift is it literally only cost me around 1.50 a person - it was really cheap and when you go to Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon on your phone or when they are 50% off, you really save big.  The only thing that was over $5.00 was the chalkboard paint but it got me 9 letters.  I made not only some for my team but for our instructional coach, a 3rd grade teacher, another first grade teacher at a different school, and our former Literacy In Action surgery that I will miss dearly. We all decided to hang them from our small windows in our classroom with a command hook and it looks so cool walking down the hallway and seeing the same "thing" as you look in the windows.  I also added some cute little candy containers with their names on them filled with their little candy because lets be honest - every teacher needs some candy that first week right?

The Twix and Reeses were a little hard to get into these milk cartons but it looked too cute to give up.  The stickers are Chalkboard Vinyl Stickers from Hobby Lobby and the Milk Cartons are from the same place.  I went to Hobby Lobby multiple times a week this summer to get inspiration - crafting is my "release" and a really fun thing for me to do.
I then just decorated some bags that came in a pack of 10 filled with different color tissue paper and a "quote" that really was singled for each person. Let me just say that my coworkers and friends LOVED them.  Such a simple gesture that they all adored. It's never too late to give your coworkers some small token of appreciation to let them know how much you like working with them and what a difference they make in your work day!

While my hubs and I were running around town a few weekends ago I got the quick thinking idea to make some clothespin clips to make my planning and organization way better and more time efficient - because, as teachers we don't have time in the day to sort through papers all the time. I just picked up some clothespins from the dollar store, used the wash tape I already had, and then laminated some clothespin bubbles I made.

I just put some wash tape on the clothespins and then hot glued the laminated pieces of paper onto the clothespins. I've already used them getting ready for the first week and they have been so easy.  I just simply write with a Vis-a-Vis or dry erase marker on the bubble the number of copies that I need.  I made different versions - some are for laminating, some or for copying/cutting, etc.  I was going to do a little "beginning of the year" blog post, but after reading what I read last year, I figured it still sums up my ideas perfectly.  You can read that blog over here - it's full of my hopes and dreams for the beginning of the year. At the bottom if says "Here's to 2014-2015" but I"ll just change that to 2015-2016.

"Although my alarm will come too soon, my coffee won't be in my cup soon enough, my butterflies will be going crazy, my heart is full of love for the kiddos that I haven't yet "fully" met.  My heart is full because Jesus has given me such a passion - my heart is full because this is going to be a great year."