Zebra Pens Giveaway!

My favorite thing about back-to-school season is getting new school supplies. So I was thrilled when Shoplet.com (an online retailer for office supplies) contacted me and asked me to review a few items from their line of Zebra pens! I'm not going to lie: I had never heard about Zebra pens until a few weeks ago when I made arrangements to review the pens. If they are new to you as well, keep reading - I have some goodies to share!



 Z-Mulsion EX Ballpoint Pen
First up was the Z-Mulsion EX ballpoint pen. This pen felt GREAT in my hand. It wasn't heavy, but it had enough substance to hold onto. I sometimes use Bic Velocity pens and this had a very similar feel. It had the same great cushioning on the area where I grip the pen. I like my writing to make a bold statement and I loved that the Z-Mulsion EX series comes in a medium 1.0mm point size.

Here's some fun news too: You can get a FREE Z-Mulsion pen by visiting the Shoplet Blog. They are also giving away $300 in Shoplet gift cards. Everyone loves free school supplies!


Zebra F-301 Retractable Ballpoint Pen
I also tested out the Zebra F-301 Retractable Ballpoint Pen. This had a fine point (0.7 mm). This is a great pen, but not the pen for me. It is very thin and lightweight. It's a nice quality pen, but I think I spend too much time with kindergarteners and their bulky school supplies because it just didn't feel substantial in my hand.

Here's the really crazy thing though. My good friend Meggan is a nurse. A few weeks ago we were shopping at the local "Super-Center" and found ourselves in the school supply aisle (since it's my favorite aisle to visit in the fall). As we were browsing through the supplies, Meggan said, "I hope they have Zebra pens." I knew my pens were in the mail so I did a double take and asked her why. Apparently she LOVES this exact pen because it is super-fine. When she writes in patient charts, she sometimes has a lot to say and, according to Meggan, this pen is great for writing recording in all caps when you only have a tiny writing space available. It might not suit my writing style, but this must be a high-quality pen if it earns Meggan's stamp of approval.

It's a Zebra Pen Giveaway!
Are you ready to hear about that Giveaway? Here's the deal. Zebra sent me 11 different pens, mechanical pencils, and highlighters to try out. I had lots of fun trying all of them out and I am giving away the pen collection to one lucky blog follower! I even have a cute little zebra stuffed animal that was included with the samples.

All you have to do is follow Kinder-Craze via Google Friend Connect or Networked blogs. Then leave a comment on this post with your name and email (so I know how to contact you if you win!) I will choose 1 lucky winner at random to win the pen collection. You have until 5:00pm (Eastern Time) on Tuesday, September 4 to enter.

Best of luck to all of you!

1 Down...179 to go!

Well, I survived my first day of school. Actually, it was a pretty great day. Twelve students were present today and NOT A SINGLE TEAR WAS SHED. Actually, that's not completely true. I saw a few moms with glistening eyes (it's always worse for the moms), but I was so proud of my brave little kinders.

I have been working like a maniac for the past two weeks to get everything ready and perfect for them. And of course (since I'm Maria) setting up a normal classroom just wasn't enough. I have decided to enter the Schoolgirl Style Challenge. Which meant LOTS of work.

I'm pretty tight with the school custodian and he has been so incredibly helpful during the past two weeks. Especially during the past two days. The poor guy just couldn't escape my classroom. I've had him drilling holes into the ceiling, hanging banners, and God only knows what else. Last Friday I decided to spray paint some furniture and he was the one who got me all set up and ready to go. This morning I arrived at school around 6:50 and walked in to find him re-installing all the hardware on my newly painted sunshine yellow file cabinets. One of them was a real pain in the you-know where. It has 16 drawers and is such a beast. He worked on it for over an hour just so it would be ready for my kinder-friends this morning. I can't wait to share photos of my new and improved classroom, but you'll have to wait just a bit longer. I PROMISE they're coming.

In the meantime, check out this super-yummie treat I received as a back to school gift from one of my students. If only these were as healthy as actual apples....

Here's hoping for another tear-free day tomorrow!

Last Minute Classroom Projects

My Kindergarten students came to school last night to meet me, see the classroom, and bring their school supplies. It was a WONDERFUL evening and I am so thrilled to start teaching all of my new Kinder-friends.

As you can imagine, the past few days have been very busy as I scrambled around the classroom getting everything "just right" for my special visitors. I created a few fun items for the classroom that I am excited to share with you.

Magnetic Dry Erase Marker Box
I found this cute pink and white box in the Target Dollar Spot. The box is intended to be a desk item and has a built-in photo frame. It is very lightweight since it is made of cardboard. It also happens to be the perfect size for storing my dry erase markers and an eraser. I really wanted to find a magnetic storage solution for my dry erase markers and this little box was perfect. I added 3 strips of 1" magnetic tape to the back of the box and it is strong enough to hold securely to my classroom whiteboard. After adding a cute clip art image from KPM Doodles, my little storage box was ready to go.

I love how the marker box coordinates with my DIY Magnetic Flower Clips!

Level A Reading Materials Made from Recycled Classroom Materials

I recently replaced my classroom alphabet because the original alphabet was 7 years old and a few letters were beginning to fade. Inspiration struck once again and I decided to save the old alphabet cards and use them to create a book for the classroom library.

I begin Daily 5 instruction the second week of school and it is difficult to find Level A books that are VERY easy to read. This was the perfect opportunity! I designed a simple cover for the book and used a binding machine to create the book. I loved this idea so much, I also printed a copy of my Domino Number Cards to create another addition to the library.



You can download the book covers I created for free! Just click the desired image below to begin.

Welcome to Kindergarten Banner
The finishing touch to my classroom setup was this fun "Welcome to Miss Manore's Kindergarten" banner I created to display in the hallway outside my classroom. I just love the bright colors.

I created a FREE banner for you to download as well. You can download a welcome banner for your own classroom! The completed banner measures approximately 12"x 70". The pages print separately. Just trim, just glue or tape them together, laminate, then display in your classroom!

Click an image below to select a FREE banner to download. 

I hope your new school year is off to a wonderful start!

DIY Polka Dot Borders

Only 2 more days until my new students enter the classroom for the first time! I have been running around like a crazy person trying to set everything up and create a classroom environment that feels like a second home to us. Last week I turned my attention to bulletin boards. After seeing my Fancy Sterlite Drawers and Organized Sticker Box, you have probably discovered my love affair with bright colors and polka dots. Inspiration has struck once again and I am thrilled to share my newest DIY project for classroom decor with you - Polka Dot Borders!

I already know exactly what you're thinking: They sell a million borders at the store - why would you make your own?!? The short answer is simple.

Because I am Maria.

 The slightly more detailed answer is that I can never find borders that perfectly match my color scheme and feature polka dots so I decided to create the perfect bulletin board trimmers for myself.

All you need to complete the project are some scalloped bulletin board borders (use any that you have handy - flip them over and decorate the plain white side on the back) and those fabulous Do-A-Dot Art painters. I wanted a variety of colors, so I used two different color packs of dotters: the Rainbow  set, and the Brilliant set.

Seeing the finished product, it may seem as though I was incredibly tedious and pained myself to align the polka dots with perfect spaces between each one. I assure you it was not the case. The scalloped borders have hills and valleys in the design. If you follow the curves of the border, it is very simple to create four rows of staggered polka dots. Allow me to demonstrate:

Row 1

The top row of dots is very easy- just add a polka dot to the center of each "hill" created by the scallop.

Row 2

For the second row, place a dot just below each valley" created by the scallop.

Row 3

The next row looks complicated, but I promise it is not. Remember the first row I created in all the hills? I just add a new dot below every hill.

Row 4

For the final row, add a dot below the dots you created in Row 2. This one gets a little messy because it looks best if you only make half a dot and let the dotter come off the bottom edge of the border.  You will probably want a sheet of paper under your border to catch the excess.



I had some fun using experimenting with color to make fun variations of this project. Here are a few of my favorites:

 Red, blue, and dark green came from the Rainbow Art set, sunflower yellow and lime green are from the Brilliant pack.

 Animal prints are so popular right now, I love how this one reminds me of the spots on a giraffe. To create it, I simply smeared the sunflower yellow dotter on the border then added brown dots in a random arrangement to the border (both are included in the Brilliant pack).

 I love this one because it used ALL of my favorite bright colors. Purple (it's called purple but looks fuschia), blue, and orange came from the Rainbow Art pack. Teal, lime green, violet (purple in color), and sunflower yellow came from the Brilliant pack.

Several people asked me if it was tedious to create the borders. Seriously, you should have seen the Oh my gosh, Maria has officially lost her mind looks I received from the other teachers that examined my borders closely and asked if I created them. Honestly - it really wasn't that bad. I made enough polka dot borders to cover all of the bulletin boards in my classroom (and I have a LOT of bulletin board space) but I got pretty efficient and after a little practice, it only takes about a minute and a half to decorate one sheet of border. So, if you have some time to spare, I highly recommend it. My classroom boards are completely unique and colorful. When you add solid border behind your polka dots and use a contrasting color of paper to the background of your boards the finished result is quite stunning.

A great big THANK YOU goes out to my good friend Steve Thompson for taking the beautiful photos for this DIY project. He was extremely patient with all of my ambitious photo ideas and it was great to have both of my own hands free to creating a sample border for the tutorial photos.


Be sure to check back again soon to see my finished classroom (complete with polka dot borders!)

A Freebie for Classroom Organization

My first day of school is only 9 days away and I have been throwing myself into my classroom trying to get everything "just right." With my boards and decorations nearly finished, I started to focus on a few organizational details.

First up, labeling my daily bins for organizing all of my teaching materials. I recently acquired these great bins from Lakeshore and they are perfect for storing all of the books, worksheets, art supplies, and various teaching materials I will need throughout the week. I'm sure you use a similar system in your class for keeping organized.

I created a set of five cards for labeling the bins. They are 3x3" each and clearly display the initial for each weekday in a fun bold print. You can grab the set for FREE! Just click the image to the right  to start downloading.

Next up, labeling coat hooks. My classroom closet holds approximately 50 coat hooks for the class. Each child is assigned 2 hooks. The closet is divided into two parts: the left side is for backpacks and the right side is for jackets (and snow pants in the winter). Each child still receives two hooks, but their hooks are now separated. This new system is wonderful. If a child needs to access his backpack during the day, he no longer has to rifle through a million coats to get there (and knock 5 coats on the floor in the process). Likewise, when it's time for recess, students head quickly into the left side of the closet and grab jackets without dealing with the additional clutter of backpacks. It's amazing how one small change can make such a big difference in the classroom.

Kindergarteners need lots of visual clues at the beginning of the year, so I created two sets of calendar numbers to help my student remember which materials belong on each hook. My hooks to the left are labeled with a number and a picture of a backpack to remind students that their bags belong on this side of the closet. The coat hooks on the right side of the closet contain their number (I searched for cute jacket clip art but couldn't find an image that fit the look and feel of my classroom). Take a peek at my newly-labeled closet hooks:

Each set of numbers is available for purchase on Teachers Pay Teachers and Teachers Notebook. The numbers are 2.5"x2.5" and are perfect for your classroom calendar or labeling student hooks, lockers & bins.




 Backpack Calendar Numbers on Teachers Notebook
 Backpack Calendar Numbers on TpT








Bright & Simple Calendar Numbers on Teachers Notebook
Bright & Simple Calendar Numbers on TpT





More calendar number sets will be offered on TpT and Teaches Notebook soon, as well as the Kinder-Craze store. In the meantime, I have more organizing to do!

Prayer Assessment (& Freebie)

Tonight I have a great assessment resource for my friends that teach in Catholic schools (like me!) At my school, kindergarten students are assessed on their ability to recite common prayers. I created a very simple assessment sheet to help track each child's prayer knowledge throughout the year. I make one copy for each child's records and use a different colored pen/pencil to mark the sheet every time I do an assessment.

Here is what the form looks like midway into the school year:

I use a different colored pen or pencil every time I do an assessment - I record the date at the top of the form.

After recording the date, I fill out the form as if it were a simplified running record. I underline each word of the prayer that the student knows. I prompt as necessary when a student gets stuck, but any words I provide do not get underlined since they did not come from the student. The different colors are helpful for illustrating growth over time.

As you can see in the Our Father prayer in the above photo, this student finally mastered the prayer on the date I used the light blue pen.

Early in the year, I usually only test on the Our Father and Hail Mary. As the year progresses, I simply grab a new pen color, retest on a prayer that was not mastered previously, then expand my assessment to include the Angel of God and Grace Before Meals.

If you do prayer assessments in your classroom, you can download my prayer assessment. Just click the image below to download. 

What additional Religion skills/concepts do you assess in your own classroom?

DIY Book Cover Banner

Hello lovelies! I am so excited to share my newest DIY project for the classroom with all of you. My new batch of Kinders come to see me in 17 days and I have been very busy planning some fun updates to my classroom decor. This week I finally stepped out of the planning stages and began to DO some decorating. I made this beautiful banner to add a little color to the shelf-to-ceiling windows that run the length of my classroom.

The inspiration for this little project came from the adorable bunting that Tara at 4th Grade Frolics created for her classroom.

The Supplies...

 I had saved up a TON of dust jackets from my hardcover children's books. I wasn't saving them for anything special- I just didn't want to throw such pretty covers away and they cause too much hassle in my classroom when they fall off of the books my kinders are trying to read. Add some ribbon, a hot glue gun with plenty of fresh glue sticks, and some scissors and I was ready to go. (Access to a laminator was helpful as well.)

The Preparation...

Preparing for this project was very simple. I trimmed the flaps and back covers from all of the dust jackets so all that remained was the cute front cover. Then I took all of the covers, laminated them, and cut them out of the laminate. 

The Arrangement...

The final step before I began to construct the banner was arranging the order of each book cover. I laid each cover out in a line across the floor and planned their arrangement in the banner. My goal was to achieve balance: in color, in size, and in orientation.  Once all of the covers were in a line, I carefully moved them around to evenly disperse the colors displayed in each cover. I was also attentive to the fact that books are different sizes and I tried to keep the various sizes staggered throughout. The final detail I took note of during this stage was page orientation. Most of these covers were portrait (they went up and down), but a few were landscape (side to side). I was careful about keeping the landscape oriented covers evenly dispersed as well.

 

The construction...

Once I was ready to begin construction, I used hot glue to attach ribbon along the top edge of each book cover (leaving about 2" of ribbon between) each cover. After gluing the front, I turned the banner over, and glued another line of ribbon along the back of each cover (for added reinforcement). I also glued the two pieces of ribbon together in the space between each cover. When the gluing was complete, I tied brightly colored ribbon onto the ends of the banner, as well as a few spaces between the book covers to add a little decorative flair.

The Tutorial...

I created a video tutorial for you to guide you through the entire process of creating a book cover banner for my classroom. I'm also thrilled to finally have another opportunity to share with you while sitting in FRONT of the camera.

The Finished Product...

Here are a few more pictures of my finished book banner. I love having a bright splash of color hanging in my window, and the fact that it features beloved stories for children makes the banner even more wonderful!

Happy Crafting!

ABC Order Intro and FREEBIE

Like all of my teacher and blog friends, I cannot believe the end of summer is almost here and that back-to-school season is upon us once again. I have been teaching a summer enrichment class for the kinders at my school to keep them fresh for First Grade. One skill that I introduced in class this summer has been the concept of ABC order. This can be a BIG concept for six year olds to wrap their mind around but we started very small. And if you know anything about me, you will not be surprised to hear that I made the experience INTERACTIVE for my little learners.
 

I'm so excited to share these activities with you, I'm giving the my ABC Order set away as a FREEBIE! Click the cover image to download, and keep reading for some fun ideas to help you use the activity sheets in class.

Start with Individual Letters

When I was ready to introduce the concept and skill of ABC order, we started simple. The class gathered on the carpet and talked about the alphabet: which letters are at the beginning of the alphabet and which letters go way at the end of the alphabet. Then I wrote the alphabet across the whiteboard (nice and low so they could easily focus on it) and I added 3 magnetic letters to the whiteboard. I demonstrated how I use the alphabet as a reference to put letters in ABC order. Then the kids helped me put 3 new magnets in ABC order. Then we tried 4 magnets, then 5 magnets! When everyone was looking comfortable with the concept and the task at hand, it was time to let the students give it a try on their own.

To make the activity fun and motivating, we used foam letters. I have all kinds of foam letters in my classroom so we used 2 different styles of foam letters. This helped the students focus on each small group of letter separately (instead of feeling overwhelmed by the sight of 11 different letters).

To keep things running smoothly during class time, I prepared the letters for students to use before class. I placed enough of each type of foam letter in foam cups for students to complete the activity (being careful to avoid duplicates). When it was time to work, each student received a cup and was ready to go!


If the foam letters seem a little too ambitious for your busy classroom, no need to worry! I have included a set of cutting pages for each activity sheet in the ABC Order FREEBIE download. Here is an example: The actual pages are all blackline masters. I just added the pink lines to the picture file to make it easier for you see.

 

From Letters to Words

Once my students had success arranging individual letters in ABC order, they were ready for WORDS! For this activity, we used paper cutouts of words. This was a big step and I didn't want my students to get mixed up by all of the letters they saw in each word.  I also wanted to keep the activity engaging to them (and let's face it-cut & paste can get a little dull sometimes). To combat both of these issues, we used highlighters! Kinders & Firsties love using highlighters and they are excellent for drawing the eye to important details. 

I started this lesson by explaining that "big kids and grown-ups" put words (not just letters) in ABC order. Young children are always eager to learn big people skills and I knew I would have my kiddos hooked with  those 5 little words. 

I told the class that we just need to look at the first letter in each word when we place them in ABC order. I also explained that we would be using a special tool to help us focus on the first letter. Then I took out the highlighters. I wish you could have seen my students' eyes light up! They LOVE using highlighters. Using the highlighter, I demonstrated how to color just the first letter of each word. I also highlighted those same letters in the alphabet displayed above the gluing area on the worksheet and pointed out that the letters highlighted on the alphabet showed the order for gluing the words. When I asked "Easy, right?" everyone nodded enthusiastically, eager to get their hands on a highlighter and begin.

Thanks to the helpful highlighters, this activity was another success. Very few children needed assistance from me. As I floated around the classroom to observe everyone's progress, I was pleasantly surprised to see how easily students grabbed onto this activity and ran with it!

Avoid Confusion with Font Variety

The cutting pages for each ABC Order activity have been designed to minimize student confusion and frustration. Each set of letters/words to be alphabetized are connected on the page to provide a visual prompt for the items that belong together. A different font is used for each set on the page as an addition cue for cutting, arranging, and pasting.

 

 

Download the FREEBIE

ABC Order is a big skill for students to initially grasp, but with the right scaffolding and some fun learning tools, it is a concept that can be introduced at the end of Kindergarten, especially to those shining stars that are ready for an extra challenge. Don't forget to grab my ABC Order FREEBIE for some motivating and interactive activities to help you introduce the concept in your classroom!

Get Organized

Do you use foam letters in your classroom? Organize them to find the right letter in a hurry without having to dig. Teachers don't have a lot of free time to sit around sorting letters, but this is a great activity for a classroom volunteer.

Do you teach the skill of ABC Order? When do you introduce the concept?