Monday Made It (ABC book and flash freebie!)

Happy Monday!!  This is one holiday where I am thankful that I am not going back to a five day work week on Monday after the festivities are over (Christmas/New Years is enough of a struggle!). 

We went camping over the weekend and it is such a let down on Sundays watching everyone pack up.  The kids wanted to stay and even our little dog didn't want to get in the van!  

During the summer, Sundays are happy nights and Mondays are made sweeter with the linky party that I fell in love with when I started blogging a year ago!

Check out Monday Made It with the talented and so creative, Tara, from 4th Grade Frolics. :)

I really like to have many things to show you for a Monday Made It, but today I have just one.

I went into work last week for one day and finally finished making one item on my to-do list:

Our last gift from our wonderful pen pals in Indianapolis, IN and their teacher, Jill, was an "ABC book" of Indiana!  

Here are some pictures of the amazing book her class made and sent us.  As you can see, the students incorporated the shape of their letter into their illustration.  So clever!!

COVER

B is for Bass

 C is for Corn

 O is for Ohio River

 L is for Lenape

I thought that this was such a fabulous idea that I decided to make one in return!  

We will be pen pals next year too and since they start back in August (we start back in September), she can share the ABC book with the new class.

I love the cover Jill had a student design and this was our last project in the final days of school.  About half my class (12 students) volunteered to make a cover and then we were going to vote on a winner.  Guess what?  Not one of the students made a cover and now they were on summer vacation!  

So, I made this one digitally because I cannot draw to save my life.

We focused on "Western New York" because when many people hear "New York", they often think of New York City.  We are about eight hours from NYC and couldn't be more opposite!  

I teach in a small, rural district in Western New York. 

For the ABC book, each student was assigned a letter.  I used the same letter that corresponded to their letter assigned to them in ELA.  In homeroom, everyone is assigned a number but since we switch groups for ELA by ability, that class has a letter assigned to them for easy organization.

I have 23 students in ELA, so three students volunteered to make an extra page.

One night for homework, the students were assigned to think of an idea for something that represents Western New York beginning with their letter.

Boy, am I glad I didn't give them their paper and have them go for it without making them share their idea first!

Here were some of the ideas that I had to nix:

• R for Rock N Roll!  ummm...
• P for People!  yep, we have people here:)
• K for King George!  I think "Can't You Make Them Behave King George" made quite the impression.
• J for jump!  Who or what is the jump referring to?

After we brainstormed some more appropriate responses for some of the letters, the students used the paper I gave them with a preprinted letter and they designed their page for homework.  I typed the blurb about each picture and then printed them.  If I had more time with my class, I would have brought them to the computer lab to type their own description, but we ran out of time before school was out.  Then, I cut the blurbs into strips and taped them to each page.  Finally, I copied each page of the book in color on our school copier and bound the book with an spiral binding machine.

Here are some of my favorites:

G is for Grace Bedell.  As an eleven-year old girl, Grace sent a letter to Abraham Lincoln, urging him to grow a beard to improve his appearance.  Within a month, he grew a full beard and later met Grace in Westfield, New York.  There is a statue in Westfield depicting this event in history.

I is for Iroquois.  The Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) are a league of several nations and tribes of Native Americans that stretched from Western New York to the Hudson River.  Today, the Iroquois live primarily in New York, Ontario, and Quebec.

M is for Maple. With its unique climate, soil and forests, New York State is naturally perfect for producing maple syrup.  New York state is the second largest producer of maple syrup in the United States (after Vermont).

X is for eXcelsior.  A banner below the State Seal of New York shows the New York State motto, Excelsior, which is Latin for “Ever Upward”.

W is for Welch’s. Thomas Bramwell Welch was the inventor of the pasteurization process to prevent the fermentation of grape juice.  The oldest structure associated with the Welch’s grape juice company is located in Westfield, New York.

For today only, in honor of my Birthday/Blogiversary Giveaway, the ABC Book Starting Template will be a FLASH FREEBIE.  It will end at midnight EST tonight.  Get yours for only $2 if this is a project that you would like to do with your class in the future.  All the letters are made and ready for printing to be passed out to students.  I also included my letter descriptions, ready for you to edit, and the above example pictures in the file.

Don't forget to go on a scavenger hunt for an amazing giveaway organized by Erin at I'm Lovin Lit!  EVERYONE WINS!!  You can choose any of the scavenger hunts to complete and win the prizes!  Head over to check it out!

If you haven't entered my giveaway yet for a $50 Winner's Choice Giftcard to TPT or Amazon, there is still time!  Thank you!!  Cheers:)

See you back tomorrow for the only Tried It Tuesday of July 

(linky will stay open the rest of the month!).  

Now, go back and check out all the other Monday Made Its!  

How will you be inspired today?