Monday Made It (decorate journals FREEBIE!!)

I just got back from our weekend long reunion!  Think...cabin in the boonies, pond with paddle boat, bonfire, games, fishing, corn on the cob, hot dogs, games, pot luck, bingo, raffles, and more games!  It was a little challenging in the rain but we still had so much fun.  The kids don't mind playing in the rain:)  

Here are a few things on my to-do list that I accomplished this week.  I am linking up again with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics!!

One idea I love is having the students decorate the covers of their writing journals.  I saw this idea on the Love 4th Grade blog.  So, of course I had to decorate my own as an example for the students.  I cut out images that represent me in some way and added a couple pictures of my family.  Then, I mod podged the cover.

Above the cover is wet and below it dries nice and clear.  I love this stuff!!  I cannot believe I just discovered it a month ago!!

I made this handout describing the decorating notebooks process with a sample picture of mine.  I am planning on giving some time to look for pictures from magazines during class but will assign students to finish gathering materials from home.  This handout will be nice to have students take home to show their parents what they need to look for and serve as a helpful reminder for the students too.

Click Here to get your editable copy of the document below for FREE from my TPT store!

Next, I glittered a bunch of clothespins (using mod podge, of course, with a coat of mod podge on top).

Then, I saw this idea on pinterest (see here).  I hot glued flat head thumbtacks on one side of the thumbtacks.

I tried them out at school on a bulletin board with sample student papers that I just put together with my owl theme.  I cut the letters out with my Cricut (storybook cartridge).  

I wish I could fit more papers on the bulletin board and I am not too confident about how well the clothespins will hold up.  I like to have students help me with my student work board (they LOVE putting up their work) but I think they will be a little rough with the clothespins.  We'll see...

The last item I accomplished was getting a better organized with some labels for these messy bins:(  Aren't they awful?  Embarrassing...

So, I didn't make these labels (but I did tape them on...haha!).  I got them from the wonderful Stephanie at 3rd Grade Thoughts and her TPT store.  She was so awesome to work with and really helped me out with a question I had about adding my own labels for tangrams, hundred cubes, and flashcards (hey, I guess I DID make those...using her template:)

Much better... (they are on the counter because floors are not waxed yet:)

 I will leave you with a little picture of my little man helping Daddy mow the lawn on our HOT Saturday.  It happened to be mixed with my other pictures and makes me smile:)

Oh, and don't forget to checkout my 100 Follower Giveaway!! $25 Amazon giftcard!  Yahoo!  It ends 8/10.