Christmas Gifts For My Students!!

I was very productive over the much needed Thanksgiving Break! I needed an inexpensive gift for my students. I love giving personalized gifts so why not give a personalized gift to each student. I decided to make ornaments made out of their name. I have been dying to try cutting some other materials on my Silhouette machine so why not try craft foam! 

Amazon to the rescue! I ordered craft foam that had the adhesive backing on it thinking it would be easier. Ha! Nope! I knew that I was going to have to cut the name the right way and then flip the name horizontal so that both sides would be glittery and read their name. I also order the 2mm craft blade on Amazon to cut the foam. A trip to Hobby Lobby scored me the hooks and the little holiday themed charms I wanted to attach to the names. 

In the design studio, I used my name for my first attempt. When I went to send it to the machine all these little squiggly lines showed up on the mat! What?? After some googling and YouTube searching I found nothing but did learn that the kraft blade does not turn like the auto blade as only one side of the blade is used to cut. I finally figured out this is how the machine turns the blade so the sharp edge of the blade is cutting. So if you have never used the kraft blade before let me save you the worry when you see this.....

I cut my name forward and backwards, pulled the mat out and.......nope no cut! When I finally found a setting that worked (I still had to work at the name to pop it out as it still did not cut all the way thru the foam) I had both cuts and popped them out. I pulled the backing off and then attempted to attach the two names together. DISASTER! That adhesive is really sticky and I found the flexibility of the foam didn't really give me room for errors in matching them up correctly! 

So back to Amazon to order craft foam with no adhesive. Once I got that I was off and running. I found the perfect setting. When you choose craft foam, bump the force up to 27 and do 4 passes. This is what I found did the trick. I still had to pop out the name from the material but it was simple. 

Once I got all the names cut forward and backwards it was time to glue. I ended up running up to Hobby Lobby again to get craft glue because, of course, mine was dried out! I choose to try the clear gel tacky glue because you can't go wrong with clear glue! It worked great. I let them dry overnight.

The last thing to do was dress it up with a cute charm and a swirly hook. I loved how they came out! Hope the students love them too! 

 

Wonders 5th Grade Packets

 We use Wonders for our ELA curriculum. There is A LOT of stuff in this program. We use some of it and some of it we don't. I wanted to create a packet for my students that focuses on the parts of the curriculum that we do use.

We focus on the first story in each week. If time allows we try to fit in the second story. My district does not require any spelling requirements. So I took out the weekly spelling words. This cover is what we cover - essential question, genre, vocab words and strategy and a comprehension skill. Ever week for every unit has this cover page. 

The next two pages relate to the story we read. We will cover the essential question, the vocabulary and comprehension strategy, and the genre. 

The next two pages works with the vocabulary in the week. Students will have to use 3 words in their own sentence and then each week has a vocabulary practice sheet. 

The next part in this packet is the grammar practice. I have separated the grammar rules page and the practice page. Students will put their rules page in their writing binder as we complete them to help when they are writing. I also tie in a grammar interactive notebook page that correlates with the grammar rule we are learning.

The last page of this packet is the daily language page. As they learn the strategies they will use them to find the errors in the sentence. I also teach editing marks and require the students to mark up the sentence then rewrite it. This could be used as morning work too. 

Of course all units come with answer keys too! I know not all teachers use wonders so I have separated out the vocabulary, grammar, and daily language as stand alone products too. Head on over to the store to grab the bundle. If you would like to try before you buy Unit 1 Week 1 is free in my store. 

Teacher Toolbox Makeover

 How many things are you getting crossed off your summer to do list? This project has been on my list for a while now. Why do things that are certain colors cost more? Ugh! I wanted a black toolbox but it was more expensive so I bought the blue and have lived with the dull greyish blue color for too long. I finally painted it black. Super easy to do. I just grabbed a can of black spray paint, sanded it a bit, and then sprayed it up. I love how it turned out. It really makes my color labels pop now. I can't wait to get it back in my classroom and set it up. 

New Bulletin Boards....Well Not Really!

So I did a thing today. I went into school today to get a jump start on copies. Have you ever seen the copy room the week before school starts? It's crazy! Some of our classrooms had to have the tile replace - of course this was my room. So I had to pack everything up in my classroom at the end of the year! UGH! The good news is the floors got done so quickly we also got our rooms repainted. Yay! 

I went down to take a peek at my room and there they were........the ugly brown cork boards. I always cover them with black paper and I buy my own paper because let's face it, the school paper sucks! Anyways I have always wanted to paint them. A few Youtube videos later and a trip to Home Depot bam newly painted boards. I primed it first as the amazing lady at Home Depot told me if I didn't prime it the paint would flake off every time I pulled a staple out of it. Trimmed it out, rolled it out, and then stood back and smiled in my happy place! I can't wait to get them decorated!

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No Name!!!

 How stinking cute is this? Score at Hobby Lobby! I can't tell you how many times I have students (5th graders keep in mind) that still turn in their papers with no names on them. I cannot wait to use this in my classroom this year!

Math Vocabulary!!

 I have been so busy this summer getting back into my TPT business and have been creating, and creating, and creating! Just wanted to show you one product that I really wanted for my math centers this year. My district just adopted Into Math last year. Well, we all know what last year was like teaching in a pandemic let alone taking on a new curriculum! As I taught Into Math what I noticed the most was the lack of understanding of math vocabulary. Many of my student's test scores went down because they pick the wrong answer completely because they did not know what the question was asking and what the math vocabulary was in the problem. I'm really hoping we can return to centers this year as I will rotate these vocabulary cards into my centers. 

I think I will be sorting the cards by our units and what vocabulary is used in the unit. There are also some vocabulary cards I will use at the beginning of the year that should be known as they were introduced in previous grades. I also made all words and definitions to match the same color background to help with differentiating. Now there is more than one page of each color but it will help narrow down the choices. 

Click on the image below to grab your set of Math Vocabulary Cards at my store! 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Fortunate-In-Fifth-Grade?utm_source=https%3A%2F%2Ffortunateinfifthgrade.blogspot.com%2F&utm_campaign=Monitor%20Traffic