Mind Sparks

In the spirit of Thursday...how about a little #TBT #throwbackthursday?

The no-sew curtains took me a couple hours and cost me around $40-50 bucks.  Not too bad! :)

Here is the before, and a glimpse at why I needed to do something!




And here is the after! Goodbye junk and see ya later ugly desk cords.

Much better, right?


Are you interested in making these cuties yourself?  Just follow the steps below!


Step 1: Measure the area you want to cover up.

• I always add a few inches in length and width.  It is much easier to cut off extra, than to start from scratch because it was too short.

Step 2: Purchase your fabric and ribbon.

• Prior to purchasing fabric I did a quick inventory of what I had at home and then created a color scheme based around existing items.  At home, I already had some black fabric scraps and yellow....so I made my theme yellow, purple and black. Then I went to JoAnn's Fabrics (teachers can get a 10% discount there without a coupon) and hit up their clearance fabric section.  I purchased about 10 yards and only spent about 30 bucks.  I looked for fabric that had all different patterns and textures---as long as it was in my color scheme

Almost every teacher wants to buy a Christmas gift for each one of their students--but with classes of 30+ kids......it just gets too darn expensive!  If you are middle school, high school, or "specials" teacher then you have 100+ kids.....and buying a gift for that many kids is just INSANE!

If you are looking for something cheap (and cute) check out what I made for my kiddos.


Are they not cute?  I mean look at their cheery faces and cute little red noses!!

With a little assembly time and about 10 bucks, you can make these Rudolph suckers for your whole class.

You will need:

• green construction paper (1 sheet of paper per reindeer)
• tootsie pops (red and 1 per reindeer) 
• $2.25 a bag at WalMart with 10 suckers in each bag
• black sharpie
• scissors 
• scotch tape
• Reindeer pattern

Then, fold the reindeer in half and put a strong crease at the bottom (the chin of the reindeer).

After that, open up the reindeer and place the sucker inside.

The sucker straw will poke through the tiny little hole at the bottom of the reindeer (if you look at the picture above--its the tiny hole between the two big holes).

Fold the reindeer with the sucker inside.


Next, use little pieces of scotch tape to to secure the sucker.  I placed the scotch tape on the "cheeks"of the reindeer and on some of the antlers.

Finally, write a message on the back and draw on Rudolph's face!


And.....voila!  A cute, cheep and festive Christmas gift for you kiddos!

I had a problem the other day.......

You see..... I had an entire wall in my classroom that was completely blank! An empty, cream painted sheet rock wall.....void of color, encouraging words, posters, pictures and basically anything education related.  GASP!

Then I stumbled upon this image on Pinterest.......



And I was inspired....

And I thought....that looks easy....I can do that!

So I created this.........

Thank you Creative Art Teacher for the adorable doodle arrows!

Excuse my poor photography skills....in fact I had an up close picture of the wall....but it was REALLY terrible, so I will spare the damage to your eyes. Take my word for it!

Anyway, moving on.....

The wall was super simple to do!  All you need is:

• construction paper
• hot glue
• hot glue gun
• clothespins
• lamination machine 

First, I laminated construction paper, and  then laid the paper out in the pattern I wanted on the wall.  Next, I hot glued the papers up in the pattern I laid out.  Then.....for my last step, I hot glued clothespins above the construction paper.

See....Easy Peasy!

Now my problem is solved (goodbye blank wall)......AND... I have a great way to display student work!

Check out other Monday Made It's over at 4th Grade Frolic's blog! :)

• Keep track of each students’ mastery  progress for every  Common Core ELA skill.  CC standards are broken into sections (Literature, Informational, Writing, and Speaking & listening.)  for easy organization.
• This convenient checklist allows you to assess students as often as you like
• After assessing students informally or formally—you can simply note the date in the checklist, use a color code system or notate with check marks.
• The checklist is perfect to share with parents during Parent Teacher Conferences or building principals during evaluations.
• This is a great way to keep track of students  progress throughout the year!

• CC standards are broken into sections (Literature, Informational, Writing, and Speaking & listening.)  for easy organization.
• The planning pages list each standard  with an area to record dates when the standard was taught,  what resources were used and what unit or lesson the standard was taught in.
• Planning pages are  perfect for reflection at PLC or grade level meetings.
• Planning pages are ideal for future planning (at the end of the school year--you have an entire year planned of when, where and what resources you used to teach mastery of CCSS)
• These organization pages are ideal for reflecting, and keeping you on track for teaching all CCSS!!
• The planning pages are wonderful to share with principals during evaluations.

• Are looking at the CCSS overwhelming?? The Mini CCSS flipbook  is simply a concise “teacher friendly” version of the CCSS.
• All ELA CCSS are included--but the standards are condensed down to manageable language that teachers can understand!!
• Flipbooks are prefect to slip in your backpack, purse or teacher tote to take home or to meetings.
• You can even laminate flipbooks and share with parents or students!!
• Perfect for teachers on the go!