Customize Your Own Tervis Tumbler

Happy Monday everyone!  I’m back with more monster ideas for Monday Made It!  Actually, I’m cheating.  I’m not actually making this one – I’m letting the professionals handle that.  I’m just designing.

Let me back up a little.  I recently discovered that I drink more water if I use my Tervis tumbler.  Not only does it keep my water cold all day but having a straw helps.  I don’t know why, but it does. 

I might be pushing this classroom theme a bit far, but I decided I needed a Tervis tumbler with monsters on it.  I know there are people who can add vinyl designs to the outside but then the tumbler needs to be hand washed.  That’s not my style.  I did some searching on the Tervis website and discovered I could create my own design.  The design is put between the two layers of the cup which is crucial for me.  I don’t hand wash anything.  I created several designs and now I can’t decide which one to order.  Please help!!  I have it narrowed down to these two:

   

Is choice 2 too busy?  Is choice 1 too plain?  Please help me decide!  BTW, the graphics for these cutie monsters comes from Prettygrafik Designs.

Which Tervis tumbler should I buy?

If you want to try your hand at customizing your own Tervis tumbler, go to http://www.tervis.com/customizer-ldg.  It’s super easy.  Here’s a glimpse at the customizer.



I missed my 1 year blogiversary but I’ve been thinking about having a late giveaway.  If I can work out the details, I think it would be fun to give someone the chance to customize their own Tervis tumbler.  Whatchya think?  Do you want to give it a try?  Would you customize a tumbler with your…

class theme?
class colors? 
school mascot?
dog’s picture? 
grandmother’s picture?
The possibilities are limitless.

4 comments Classroom Decor, classroom theme, fun, Monday Made It

Humor Me

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Please excuse the random html code at the top.  I'm claiming my blog through bloglovin so I can see what all the hype is about.

Since I'm being random anyway, here are some of my favorite humor pins from Pinterest.  Have a great Wednesday!

Source: psychologytoday.com via Deirdre on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Deirdre on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Deirdre on Pinterest

Source: data.whicdn.com via Deirdre on Pinterest

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Monster Fun

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone has gotten 2013 off to a great start.  The last 2 weeks have been cRaZy for me.  My whole family got wiped out with the flu all at the same time.  Then once I thought we were all finally healthy, my eardrum ruptured and I ended up with an ear infection and a sinus infection.  I’m still alive and kicking so life is good!

Today I did a really fun project with some of our 3rd graders.  We made puzzle piece monsters. I found the idea on Pinterest (of course!) but it comes from Danielle’s Place.

These monsters were so simple to make.  I gave each kid two puzzle pieces, some googly eyes, and some marabou.  I happened to have some left over blank puzzles that the kids use to create their own puzzles.  The pieces were white on both sides which was great! 

I originally wanted the kids to paint their puzzle pieces but I was worried that it would take too long for the paint to dry.  Instead, they used their markers which worked really well.

The kids were able to choose whether their monsters had magnets put on the back or shirt pins.  The boys had a ball playing with their monsters while they were waiting for the others to finish up.

This project is a definite keeper.  I plan on doing it again next year.

Leave a Comment crafts, fun

Zeus on the Loose

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and is enjoying their time off!  We actually had a white Christmas this year which is extremely rare in Texas. 

I came across a neat little game for addition practice that I thought some of you math teachers would be interested in.  I wasn’t familiar with it until my daughter received it from Santa in her stocking this year.  My family has already played this game a zillion times this week so I know it’s a keeper.

Zeus on the Loose is recommended for kids 8 and up.  The object of the game is to be the person holding Zeus when the total on Mt. Olympus reaches 100.  Players take turns adding cards to Mt. Olympus.  As each card is placed on the pile, the person who plays the card must mentally add the value of their card to the value of the pile and announce the sum. The primary math skill needed for this game is addition, but it also includes: subtraction, rounding, and multiples of 10.  Even though there is plenty of math involved, this game’s primary focus is strategic thinking.  You have to play your cards right in order to steal Zues from your opponents and be the one holding him when Mt. Olympus reaches 100.  For a more detailed description of the game, download the instructions from Gamewright’s website.

This would make an excellent math center or a great rainy day indoor recess game.  I’m going to buy a set to add to my classroom.  Since I know some of my 3rd graders will have difficulty with the mental computation, I’m going to allow them to use a 100s board as a reference.

Has anyone else played this or other Gamewright games before?  Zeus on the Loose is my 1st Gamewright game but I’ve read great reviews about their other games.  I’m definitely going to be getting more!

I hope you’re having a relaxing and peaceful winter break!

1 comment addition, fun, math

Halloween Decorating Ideas

I love the people I work with!  Our hallway is separated from the main part of the campus so we’ve become our own little family.  We can certainly have a good time together and we feed off one another.  The last couple of days we’ve experienced a door decorating frenzy. 

It all started off with Liz.  She found this adorable door on Pinterest.

Source: blog.passion-for-parties.com via Deirdre on Pinterest

This is how Liz’s version turned out.  I love the polka-dot bow tie! Too cute!


I got so excited about her door that I decided to do my own.  Here’s my Pinspiration followed by my own creation.

Source: itswrittenonthewalls.blogspot.com via Deirdre on Pinterest

I do NOT get along with butcher paper!  There’s always a struggle and I end up on the losing side every time.  Brenda caught the decorating bug as she was helping me with my butcher paper battle.  Her door is adorable.  The monster’s tongue is actually sticking out but it didn’t show up too well in the picture.

At this point, the creative juices are flowing and all I can do is think about all the possibilities.  It was really hard to focus on what I was supposed to be doing.  Robin was sitting on the fence about whether or not she should join in the fun. Then Brenda and I covered her door with paper without consulting with her first.  It was a bold move but we knew she would forgive us.  Robin created the face herself but she was sure to show us how she felt about us!

I came up with another idea that I just couldn’t pass up, so I decorated Diane’s door as well.  I knew she would be a good sport about it.

Anybody who knows me would understand that this is completely uncharacteristic of me.  I don’t really enjoy creating bulletin boards and I can usually be heard grumbling whenever it’s decorating time.  I had so much with this that I have sketched ideas for the rest of the school year.  These doors were quick and easy which suits me perfectly.
We do have 2 more people decorating doors who didn’t quite get finished so I may have a follow up post next week.
Have a great weekend!

2 comments Classroom Decor, fun

Turn Trash Into Treasure

Turn trash into treasure??  Really?! No, but you can turn trash into a fun craft and it's cheap!

Do you remember Shrinky Dinks from the good ole days?  You can still find them in some places but they can be too expensive to buy for a whole class.  I have a cheaper alternative that will have you dumpster diving like a pro.

All you need are some permanent markers, an oven (in my case, a toaster oven), and some #6 plastic with this symbol on it:

I have a good source for this plastic.  The cafeteria at my school uses it for salad containers. I enjoy eating salads but I eat them more often because I need the plastic so my kiddos can make their own Shrinky Dinks.   I've been known to dig through the trash to get more (embarassing, I know).

All you need to do is draw on small pieces of plastic with a permanent marker and cut around the design.  If you plan to turn your Shrinky Dink into a charm for a necklace or bracelet, you'll need to punch a hole in it with a regular paper hole punch.  To shrink the plastic, put it in an oven preheated to about 275-300 degrees.  It only takes a couple of minutes for the plastic to shrink so don't wander off.  During the shrinking process it will curl up and look like it is ruined but then it lays down flat again.

For Mother's Day my class made their mothers a Shrinky Dink key chain.  I gave them some clip art heart samples for them to trace.  Once the plastic shrunk I added a jump ring and some key chain hardware that I found at Walmart.  I think they turned out really cute.

Before you go, let me share some other news...
My friends at Second Grade Smartypants are having a huge 100 follower giveaway.  Yay! If you haven't already, please drop by and check it out.

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Rounding Cheer

Rounding numbers is one of those things we struggle with every year.  Sigh.  One of my wonderful partners-in-crime, Diane Chevalier, went the extra mile and performed a cheer for the entire 3rd grade.  She even made her own cheerleading uniform and wore it all day at school. It was tough to get the little boogers all stuffed into one room sardine style but they had a BLAST!

Please excuse the video quality.  I did this with my little point-and-shoot camera.

I found the original cheer in Mailbox a gazillion years ago and we (my teaching buddies and I) changed up the words a bit to suit us.  Here are the words if you're interested:

Estimate, About, Round.
Estimate, About, Round.
Find your number,
Look next door.
4 or less,
Let it rest.
5 or more raise the score!

I teach the kids that "find your number" means to underline the place they are rounding to.  They draw an arrow to the digit to the right of the underlined number on "look next door". 

This cheer provides a great opportunity for the kids to get up and move around during math class.  We spend a lot of time doing this cheer because I want the process to stick with them.  Of course, we teach the underlying concepts before we get to the rote practice.

Do you have any math chants that you do?

2 comments fun, math, rounding

Faux Fish Sticks

 As an encouragement to get everyone to do their reading homework, we have a celebration on Fridays.  My compadres and I each pick a different activity to host in our classrooms.  The kids who reach their goals get to sign up for the activity they like best. Any activity having to do with food fills up fast.  I got this cute idea from Family Fun.  Click on the picture below to find more faux food recipes.

I'll be the first to admit that cooking is not my forte.  I told the kids how bad I am at cooking and that we were going to use MY recipe which might be different than their parents' recipe.  I never let on that these weren't typical fish sticks even though it was quite obvious that they weren't.  The kids had a blast and played right along with me.

 This a picture of the fish sticks that one of my kiddos made. 

Here's Family Fun's recipe:

Ingredients

• Cornflakes
• Sugar wafer cookies
• Peanut butter

• Green taffy candy (we used green apple AirHeads)
• Seedless strawberry jam

Instructions

1. For the fish sticks, place a couple of handfuls of cornflakes in a ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Cover 2 sugar wafer cookies with peanut butter, then toss them in the cornflake crumbs to coat.
   
2. For the peas, tear off and roll small pieces of the taffy candy into balls. If the taffy is too stiff to work with, microwave it for about 6 seconds.
   
3. For the ketchup, use a fork to stir a few teaspoons of the jam until it's smooth. 

I'm always looking for new ways to get the kids excited about learning.  What do you do that gets the kiddos motivated? 

4 comments fun, incentives