Teacher Tip Tuesday: Magnet Board

Well thank goodness I have today (Memorial Day) off because now I have a chance to type the next “teacher tip” post! As a classroom teacher, I am always on the lookout for clever, cute and functional ideas to make learning fun. Let’s face it, gone are the days of sitting at a desk and completing a worksheet and I couldn’t be any happier. I love to see my kiddos engaged in an educational activity and laughing at the same time! The “magnet board” is one of those stations that they beg for and to tell you the truth, I am tempted to put one (smaller of course) on the wall of my home office, to hold papers I need.

The board itself was bought at Walmart. It is actually an oil drip pan, but hey it works great as a magnet board as well. These boards can be found in the automotive section.

I used Command Brand Strips by3M to adhere the board to the side of my large rolling coat closet. Ok, Ok, so my husband used Command Strips to hang the board, but I supervised! (wink, wink) I have also seen people turn it long ways and adhere it to the back of a teacher’s desk or low bookshelf.

The alphabet letters are stored in a container that I purchased at our local hardware store. It was purchased so long ago that I can’t remember if I got it at Home Depot or Lowes, but I know I have seen similar ones at both stores.

I made the words “magnet” and “board” out of card stock and laminated them so they would last. I then used double sided tape to hang them across the board itself.

There are so many uses for a board like this. Do you know all of those adorable centers that you have purchased from Teachers Pay Teachers? Well, all you have to do is stick a magnet on the back of them and you have yourself a great center. The possibilities are endless. If you have a great suggestion, let us know. We would enjoy hearing your ideas. 

Teacher Tip Tuesday

Welcome to “Teacher Tip Tuesday” at Our Amore Blog!

One of my passions in life, besides my family, is education! I am an elementary school teacher and could not imagine any other job. Seriously y'all, I simply love my job. Of course there are days when I feel a little… umm STRESSED, but that’s usually because I bring that on myself! I tend to be a perfectionist and I like my days well planned out. I also like organization and for lack of better words, I am a “NEAT FREAK!”

This past week, my oldest child Angelica, graduated from Longwood University with honors. I could not be any prouder of how my sweet little girl has grown into this beautiful young lady. She too is going to be an elementary school teacher. This fall she will begin her first teaching job here in Stafford County. GULP! I honestly do not know where time has gone. I feel like it was just yesterday that she was starting kindergarten.

We thought it would be fun to post cute classroom ideas and things that “work” in our classrooms. Please remember we are HUGE Pinterest fans and most of our ideas start with things we have seen on this incredible site. However, we like to add our own little “twist” to things and enjoy letting our creative side come out. Our goal is to post a “tip” every Tuesday, but let’s face it, there will be some days that life will get in the way and we might need to post a day or two later.

We have decided to start with what I call my “Camper of the Week” bulletin board. This board is very special to me because my mother helped me plan it just weeks before she passed away. It’s the first thing people see when they enter my classroom and each morning as I walk in and flip on the lights, my heart smiles thinking of my incredible mom! I hope you enjoy it and that it brings inspiration for you to create a board of your own!

The “Camper of the Week” is my student of the week. It is where I highlight all the favorites of one student. Students can bring in photos of themselves as well. However, I have removed them from these pictures. Students love sharing what they like and it is a great way to find something in common between classmates.

I like to use fabric as a background on my bulletin boards. Paper does work, but fabric tends to look neater and it doesn’t wrinkle as much. The fabric on this board is flannel because I could not find this print in cotton. I was hesitant to use flannel, but I am very pleased with how well it has held up and how it has resisted fading. I purchased it at Joann Fabric.  NOTE: There is no need to wash fabric before using, but I usually iron it to get out the fold lines.

For the trim, I used two types of solid borders. One is corrugated and one is flat. They can be found here on Amazon. The ribbon trim was purchased at the Dollar Tree.  The yellow frames are wood frames that I purchased at Michaels and painted myself. I tied small pieces of ribbon around the frames just to add a little something and glued the wooden apple and tree to add dimension. I then stapled the fabric behind the frames several times before I hot glued the frames to the board. This prevented the frames from pulling forward. The wood disks are pieces of real tree branches that my sweet father cut. I painted the black circles to give them a chalk board look and used a white paint pen to look like chalk to write, “Camper of the Week.” My husband drilled holes in them and I strung them on a piece of jute. I used the extra wood disks to make push tacks by simply gluing a thumb tack to the back of each wood piece. 

Choo Choo Mekai is Two!

Birthday parties for children are always so magical. However, they can be bittersweet because that means your baby is growing up. My “baby” turns 19 in September and is just finishing up his first year in college. Please tell me where time went. I feel like it was just yesterday we were having his 2^nd birthday party and now he is all grown up. Oh how I long for those days when he would sit on my lap and watch Thomas the Train. Sigh…

Well now I get to celebrate this little one’s birthday instead. This train themed party could not have been any cuter. My niece is talented. No, make that incredibly talented. Not only is she an amazing photographer, but she is also a fabulous graphic design artist who works for Minute Man Press. 

Check out all of the adorable ideas below. 

Isn’t this idea sweet? My niece took a snapshot of all of Mekai’s favorites and other facts about him then created this fun display. 

“Two Two” Mekai is Two! These themed napkins were purchased on Amazon.

“Baggage Claim” This is where guests dropped off Mekai’s gifts and also picked up a thank- you treat bag. “Chugga Chugga Thank Choo” These themed conductor hats and Thomas the Train whistles were purchased on Amazon as well. 

Mekai’s mom, Lindsey, made this train out of cardboard boxes. 

The “Water Tower” and “Diesel Fuel” area were where guests picked up drinks. 

A simple Chick-fil-A tray was turned into a plate of “Coal.” 

These peppers where hollowed out to form “Produce Carts” that sat on a real plastic track. The wheels are made out of cucumber slices and held on by toothpicks. 

The traffic lights are pretzel rods dipped in chocolate and topped with M&M candies. 

The cupcakes were purchased at Wegman’s and my niece made the cupcake toppers. Similar toppers can be purchased off of Amazon here!

I think these two pictures speak for themselves. Mekai has to be one of the most precious babies I have ever seen! Carley designed the shirt, but similar ones can be purchased off of Amazon here!

Children are made great readers in the laps of their parents. Can you tell I am a teacher? I just love books and Scholastic has some great books. 

A Totally Awesome Gift!

About this time last year one of my colleagues told me that she was moving. Her husband was getting transferred to North Carolina. She contemplated letting him go by himself and commuting back and forth to see him on the weekends, but after doing that a few times she quickly realized by his side is where she was meant to be. I was crushed. Who would make me laugh each day? Who would listen to me when I needed to vent? Who would always be there with a Bai drink and homemade Chicken Gnocchi soup? Who would eat Lay’s potato chips with me at 8 AM? (Don’t judge)  Who would sit with me at recess? All these questions and more were running through my mind. Don’t get me wrong the other teachers on my team are fabulous and equally as special to me, but Pam understood me like nobody else. She had also become a dear friend and someone I knew I would stay in touch with forever.

Fast forward to August 24^th and the start of a new school year. My principal said I would be mentoring the “new girl” on the team. Well let me tell you y’all it just took me 2 minutes to realize Adrienne was something special. She is one of those people who always has a smile on her face and something positive to say. We instantly hit it off and I knew the year was going to be fine.

Adrienne recently gave me this thank you gift for being her mentor. It was just so darn cute and clever that I just had to share it with you. Let’s just say it made my heart smile. She started with the tote bag, which she left by my classroom door, and then throughout the day she had her students bring me a surprise and place it in the tote. I just love the play on words and Target is one of my favorite stores. Oh Adrienne, you know me so well!

This gift could easily be adapted to fit any occasion. Have any of you ever received or given a similar gift? If so, I would love for you to share it with us below!

A Little Bit of Sweet and a Little Bit of Salty

Several years back my friend Terry and I would go to Slippery Rock, PA twice a year to scrapbook. We would scrapbook the entire weekend from about noon on Friday to about noon on Sunday. Yes, we would have 48 hours of uninterrupted time… no children, no husbands, just a room filled with happy women scrapbooking. Terry and her sister Chris were the masterminds behind these fun weekends. We stayed at various church camps in facilities set up similar to a college dorm. During these weekends we scrapbooked our family memories, made new friends, sang out of tune to various CDs and we snacked. Oh my did we snack. My favorite snack was the kettle corn that Chris would make. This yummy popcorn was the perfect combination of sweet and salty. I found myself eating way too much of this tasty treat but seriously y’all, I tried to limit myself to just two scoops… but I think you know THAT-DID-NOT-HAPPEN!  Finally, last Christmas at Terry’s annual cookie exchange, I asked for this recipe. Much to my surprise it was very easy to make, but it did require a “Whirley Pop” popper. However, it was worth making and I can just about guarantee your taste buds would agree. I made it for our family bingo night and it was a hit. What is so wonderful is this treat can be made to match any given holiday or theme. For example, I made a batch of red and a batch of pink since the theme was Valentine’s Day.

P.S. Soak your popper in warm water after you use it because trust me or shall I say trust my husband (bless his sweet soul for cleaning it for me… wink wink) it is not fun to clean with hard sugar stuck to the sides!

Ingredients :

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (I used Trader Joe’s sunflower seed oil)

1/2 cup of  white cane sugar

1/2 cup of popcorn (white corn works best…I purchased my popcorn in bulk at a local Amish market)

Food coloring (6 – 8 drops)

Sea salt (I used all natural sea salt by Alessi purchased at Target)

Note: Instead of using cane sugar and food coloring, I used colored sugar (1/2 cup) purchased at the local Amish market. 

Put oil, sugar, food coloring and popcorn in bottom of popper. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until you hear it start to pop. Continue to stir until it is too hard to stir and popping has stopped.

Dump onto a clean counter or cookie sheet.

Sprinkle with sea salt while it is still hot.

Let cool and enjoy. 

B-I-N-G-O

Several years back my family (husband, children, brother, sisters, their spouses, nephews, nieces, parents and a few close family friends) started getting together for game night…I guess I should have said my BIG family started getting together! We would gather at my parent’s home for an evening of food and fun and to play Bingo. After a year of using self-printed cards and any random tokens to mark our cards my sister Cindy ordered us “professional cards.” Don’t get me wrong there was nothing wrong with the self-printed cards, but more times than not we would be laughing so hard that inevitably someone would knock the table and well you can imagine what would happened to the tokens that were already placed on the cards. Now, we use cards that only require a quick flick. My father, “Pop”, would provide cash prizes and we would all pitch in and bring enough food and snacks to feed an army. Yes, these game nights were something we looked forward to and they were guaranteed to make all that attended laugh. The memories that my children have of these evenings are priceless. When my mother passed away we thought that we would never be able to have another game night. My father and her simply adored having the entire family together. My mom loved playing games and let’s just say she was a tad bit competitive (wink wink). Then one day back in January, my niece suggested we have a game night with the pretense of celebrating all of the February birthdays in our family. I was immediately on board and offered to host the evening. Since game night was in February, I went with a Valentine’s theme. The evening was a blast and like usual we had a ton of food and drinks. The only thing missing was our dear Nanny, but we know she was looking down from heaven and I am pretty sure I heard her yell “BINGO!”

A frame bought at Dollar Tree, a free printable found on Pinterest by: “The Cutest Blog on the Block” , and some colorful scrap ribbon.

Candle holders and tea lights bought at Dollar Tree and conversation hearts found at any local grocery store.

Misc. glass jars, looking glass spray and ribbon bought at Michaels (our awesome local craft store), licorice sticks, forks and flowers. I love to spray paint empty glass jars. There are so many uses for them and it’s an inexpensive way to decorate.

Votive holders bought at World Market, after Christmas for 90% off, make for cute candy holders. Think outside the box when you see a great deal. I also purchased this adorable mixing bowl at World Market and it made a great chip bowl.

More photos of our incredible night…