Tried It Tuesday (No Sew Curtains!)

My Tried It Tuesday today is an update on the no sew curtains I tried making last summer.
I know everyone is thinking about next school year (or, if you are not done yet like me, you will be thinking about next year soon) and working on projects over the summer.
Did my NO SEW curtains I tried making last summer actually last?!?

If you are new to Tried It Tuesday, read more about it here.

My Tried It:

Classroom No Sew Curtains
 So, I REALLY wanted (I mean, REALLY WANTED!) curtain valances for my classroom windows.  However, I knew that I would have to make them and I have virtually NO skills with the sewing machine.  If you know how to sew, you can stop reading now and go make your cute curtains:)  Haha!  I'm seriously jealous of people who don't cringe when the needle and thread get jammed in the machine.

I tried making curtains using only:

1. fabric
2. scissors
3. hot glue gun
4.  ruler
5. pen

Yep, that's right!!  I did a little researching and read about people making curtains with a
HOT GLUE GUN.
See this site that gave me inspiration!  YES!

I honestly didn't know if the curtains would hold up or just start falling apart.  Well, they have been hanging in the windows now for TEN MONTHS and they are not falling apart at the seems!  Wahoo!!!
I am a little surprised that my attempt at using hot glue and fabric has actually worked.  Now, that I have tried it, these are the directions I posted last summer (when I didn't know many of you and I had like 20 followers:).

Here is the back view of the four colors I made for the valances.

Here is a preview of the finished product hanging in my dining room.  

I cannot wait to get them up at school!

Here is a short tutorial of what I did to make the curtains (it may not be the right way, but it worked for me:)  

I used only one yard of each color so I kept the side edges just as they were and did not touch them.  My windows are each 37" wide and the fabric is only 44" wide but it will work and it cost half of what 2 yds. would!  So, all I had to do was finish the bottom and top edges.  I started with the bottom edge.  I cut the fabric and then measured 17" from the top and made dashes with my pen on the back of the fabric every couple inches.  This was my attempt at "leveling the fabric" since it didn't have a pattern to follow.

Next, I folded the fabric up to my marks and ironed along that seam to make the fabric the same length all the way across.

Next, I hot glued the bottom seam in place.  I only glued a few inches at a time to keep the glue from cooling too fast.  This is important to keep the bond strong!  It was difficult to take a picture quickly:

 Next, I worked on the top seam.  I wanted a little ruffle above the place where the rod goes.  I folded the fabric over about 4" and ironed the seam making sure it was level by checking to make sure the  measurement was equal from the top of the curtain to the bottom hem along the entire length of the fabric. 

 Then, I marked one inch from the seam along the length of the fabric for my first hot glue line.

I drew a nice line along my one inch marks and then marked 1.5" from the 1" line.  This will be the place for my skinny tension rod.  The spot above is for the ruffle at the top.  I drew another line along the 1.5" line mark.  Finally, I hot glued along each line (the top line first and only a couple inches at a time).

Voila!  I have a place for my curtain rod! 

I bought these skinny tension rods at WalMart for about $2 a piece.

Here they are hanging in my room at the beginning of the year.  I have the fourth valance on a tall glass block window to the right of these three windows. 

Don't forget to check out the amazing flash giveaway where EVERYONE WINS (TODAY only) by Melissa at Don't Let the Teacher Stay Up Late!!!  

Reminder of the schedule for Summer Tried It Tuesday:

Continue hosting WEEKLY FOR JUNE.
Host JULY ONLY ONCE on the 2nd Tuesday of the Month (July 9th)...

"TWOSDAY"...get it? :)
Go back to hosting WEEKLY IN AUGUST.

Five for Friday (peace, love, and kindness!)

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share some highlights of my week.  

Last week I posted about my student that won 2nd place in a flag essay contest for the county.  It was a pretty big deal since there were about 1,100 entries.  I videotaped the presentation of the award and the student reading his essay to the entire grade.  

I sent the video home so his parents could see it since I know I would have loved to see something like that if it was one of my children.

I received this beautiful note from the parent in return!  It just made my week.  I just appreciate it so much when a parent takes the time to send a little thank you note and recognizes how much I care.  It is so easy to get caught up in day to day busy schedules that we don't often take the time to show our appreciation (even though we may be thinking it!).  I think we need to remember that all the little things we do for our students doesn't go unnoticed and parents really do love it (even though we may not always get thank you's:). 

A special parent in our school whose family owns a local farm has come in to the school for the past three years to have every student in the elementary plant a seed.  The 4th grade planted butternut squash seeds.  Each grade had a different vegetable.  

There are about 60 fourth grade squash seeds total and we will plant the seeds that germinate the best in about a week in a garden bed on school grounds.  Over the summer, parents have volunteered to care for the beds and this fall they will bring samples of all the food grown to each classroom in the elementary.  It is a great lesson for the students to see how we can use our land to grow food locally and naturally!

My students began the "Smile File" activity as seen by the amazing Stephanie on 3rd Grade Thoughts here.  They just ate this up!!  I am so proud of how they are taking the time to write a thoughtful note to each classmate.  I will take all the notecards and place them in their "Smile Files" to hand out on the last day of school.  It has been a peaceful activity we do when we have 10-15 extra minutes.  They work quietly while I play music softly from iTunes:)

We were blessed to be able to go on an awesome field trip today to take a ride on the Erie Canal!  There were two locks we traveled through going both directions and here are the doors of one of the locks opening.

There is also a great museum at this location.  Here the students are using a model of the locks to really get a visual of how they work.

Finally, I had a rough week personally and could use some prayers for our family.  My husband's step-father and uncle (different sides of the family-not brothers) have both been diagnosed with cancer this week.  It has been quite a blow to our family and they are both only about 60 years old.  My husband's step-father has been given two months to live and the cancer has spread from his lungs to multiple organs.  My husband's uncle has a rare form of cancer that only affects 1% of cancer patients.  It is located between the pancreas and liver and is inoperable.  He is starting chemo on Monday to prolong his life by an estimate of up to two years.  We could really use some prayers and have been trying to find peace by turning to our Savior.  Our local community has been so supportive and our pastor met with us last night until well after 11p.m.  Thank you so much for any thoughts and prayers!

This post reminded me of the Peace, Hope, Love, and Kindness linky that I have wanted to participate in that is hosted by Jivey at Ideas by Jivey, Joanne at Head Over Heels for Teaching, and Amanda & Stacia at Collaboration Cuties.  I didn't think of it until after I was typing my Five for Friday (I hope it is okay that I am linking up double!).  

• The note from the parent was filled with kindness and love.  
• The students planting reminds me of hope for a future generation that will look after and take care of the land and the gifts it provides.  
• Watching my students work on the "Smile Files" with love and kindness just gave me a sense of peace.  
• I feel so blessed to be able to go on field trips like we went on today and it gives me peace knowing that the students learned something today that they would never have been able to learn in the classroom.  
• I shared with you a personal story of some tragic news my family received this week because I know my fellow teacher bloggers care.  The love and kindness that is shown by bloggers is so inspiring.  Perfect strangers can build connections that I never thought was possible.  So, thank you for filling me with a sense of peace, hope, love, and kindness tonight as I share my stories with you.

Tried It Tuesday (library checkout!)

Happy Tuesday!  I am super excited to share with you a new checkout system for my classroom library for today's Tried It Tuesday!

If you are new to Tried It Tuesday, read more about it here.

My Tried It:

Classroom Booksource! 

I don't know about you, but I am a little protective of my classroom library.  I love buying books from garage sales, ebay, getting donations from students, and ordering books from Scholastic with bonus points.  However, once I get the books, I can get really (I mean, REALLY) annoyed when a "popular book" goes missing!  It happened with the Hunger Games series this year.  I introduced the books to our library and wouldn't you know they were gone and one wasn't returned for over a month.  That was when I used the "honor system".  Yeah right.  We all have those students that the honor system doesn't work for.  They want the most coveted books from the library and then don't read them.  They end up lost at home or in some messy locker or desk.  Ugh!
Then, I started my library system inspired by this post at All Things Upper Elementary by The Peanut Gallery.

I now have two librarians and students must have one of the librarians mark their card when checking out books.  See the post here for more about my classroom jobs.  When students return books, they place it in the return basket with their index card and the librarians check off on the card that it is returned when they have time.

It really has been working great but I was on the lookout for a digital system where students didn't have to take their cards out of the index card box every time they return a book.  I also can't easily tell who has a particular book out without looking through the cards (this can be time consuming with having 40 students with access to my library!

My solution was to test out Classroom Booksource!  The students and I have been working like crazy to get about 600 books from my classroom library scanned into Classroom Booksource!

What is Classroom Booksource? It is a FREE web-based program that allows users to maintain and inventory books and ebooks in their classroom library!  

You can use it to scan titles from your library using the ISBN number (I use the iPad app but a smart phone would work too)!  

Student rosters can be imported easily or you can type in the name of your students by hand and it enables each student to be able to check out, read, and return books using a scanning system.  Here is a picture of a student scanning a book using the class iPad.

  

You can even run assessment reports on student and title activity (I haven't tried that yet).

When students want to check out a book, they select their name from the class list that the teacher set up and then scan the ISBN with the iPad or smart phone.  If there is no barcode, the name can be entered by typing in the title to search it.  Here is a snapshot of the student page on the computer to check in or return books.

On the computer, students can be prompted to type in their password to check out books or this option can be disabled. (I set the passwords myself to match their AR passwords).  

When using the iPad app, I noticed that students didn't get prompted for a password even if I had that option checked in my classroom settings.  Here is a picture of one of my students selecting his name to check out a book.

Teachers can select from a number of options on the "Classroom Settings" page.  

You can customize:

1.  The number of books allowed to be checked out at a time by each student.

2.  The length of the checkout period.

3.  Option of prompting student for rating, condition, or review of book when returning.

4.  Students can be emailed an overdue notice.

5.  The book's location, genre, and condition can be tracked.

6.  The user can be prompted when adding a duplicate ISBN.

I am looking forward to having the books already scanned for next year so we can get started with this system right away.  I know many of you are already out for the year and may be reorganizing your library over the summer.  Students LOVE to scan books into the library, so I would suggest trying to find some volunteers that can help you out over the summer or save the majority of the job for the new school year when you have eager helpers and early finishers:)  Having a job like this is a great motivator for students!  Students can also quickly scan books to "add them to the library" before checking them out if they are not in the library yet.

We haven't had the system in place that long yet and I am excited and anxious to see if it runs smoothly.  I am still going to have classroom librarians that will check in and out books and manage the iPad.  I am afraid that if I don't have the librarians keep order during check out and return time, the students will be arguing and throwing around not sharing the iPad in an appropriate way or stealing taking books without signing them out:)  Time will tell if this method is successful for my classroom.  I would love to hear your thoughts about the method you use or your experience with Classroom Booksource.

Many readers and bloggers wanted to continue the linky WEEKLY over the summer!  Yay!!  It wasn't unanimous though (about a 75/25 split).
 I have worked out a little compromise:

Continue hosting WEEKLY FOR JUNE.
Host JULY ONLY ONCE on the 2nd Tuesday of the Month (July 9th)...

"TWOSDAY"...get it? :)
Go back to hosting WEEKLY IN AUGUST.

So, update your blogging calendar!  I don't have one of those yet but I think I need to start one soon:)  Of course, as always, you can link up ANYTHING you have tried (NEW or OLD) and it can be classroom or home related!  I love reading about them all and have learned so much.  I will need the summer to sort through all the new pins:)  Thank you again for your bloggy love, whether it is by reading, commenting, or linking up!!

I am also sharing some bloggy love and linking up this post with Chelsea from Flip-Floppin' Through 3rd Grade's new linky, Take-Away Tuesday.

If your Tried-It Tuesday fits Chelsea's theme, link up to both parties!  I know I try to link up as much as I can with blogging friends.  No one wants to join a party alone:)

Her is a summary of Chelsea's linky:

Every week of June and July I will be hosting Take-away Tuesday.  The purpose for this link up is to share your great tips, activities, organization, or summer planning ideas for Back to School 2013.  If you are like me, summer break is GLORIOUS, but you are already planning, purchasing, and creating for the next school year.  What better way to get new inspiration from others, while sharing your tried and true methods for a successful start to a new school year.

Monday Made It and Must-Have! (Cupcakes, Book Clubs, and Monday night TV!!)

I am linking up today with two awesome Monday linkies!!  

First, the amazing Tara from 4th Grade Frolics is beginning her WEEKLY Monday Made-It series today for the summer!  I LOVE this linky and it kept me going all summer last year on my to-do list!  Although I am not on summer vacation yet and I blogged about many Made-Its here on May 13th, I have a couple Made Its to share:)

Home Made It:
I already posted about my 6 year-old daughter's diva birthday party 

(think nails done, face painting, and dancing!).  

All I had to do was bring the cake to the party!  So stress free:)

I decided to make cupcakes and found this awesome rainbow cupcake on Pinterest from CosmoCookie.

Since my daughter's favorite colors are pink and purple, I decided to go with those.

I followed the directions and bought a white cake mix (I do love to bake from scratch but who am I to argue when the directions say to stop overachieving and go with the box mix?).

I divided the cake batter and colored half of it pink (with just a touch of red food coloring) and the other half purple (half red and half blue food coloring).

I poured each color one at at time into the middle of the cupcake paper cups.  I layered it pink, purple, pink, purple.  Here is a picture of the first two layers.

Here they are baked:)  So pretty!

 My daughter had a fairy theme for her "diva" party and I bought fairy cupcake holders, toppers, invitations, thank-you notes, and gift bags from the 

Meri Meri Flower Fairies line.  

Isn't the pink and purple layered in the middle so fancy?

 I thought they turned out super cute and they were super easy and inexpensive!  The moms were also so impressed and asked all about how I made cupcakes this way:)

Classroom Made-It:

I made a couple handouts (that counts, right?) that I wanted to share with you to accompany the Book Clubs I am doing in my ELA class right now.  You can read more about their kick-off here.  I purchased Laura Candler's Classroom Book Clubs and am loving this amazing resource with step-by-step how to videos!  

We just started Book Clubs last week and were only able to meet two days due to Memorial Day, Science State Testing, and a Field Trip.  However, my students have finalized their calendars as groups for reading their books and when to complete their reading response assignments by June 11th.  I made these guidelines for groups to know what is expected on full meeting days and daily quick checks.  The written assignment directions are also provided.  

For the written assignments, I made a tic-tac-toe choice board (students LOVE choices!) of some of my favorite reading response activities from the amazing Rachel Lynette's Reading Response Worksheets for Grades 3-6.  Here is a picture collage of my Tic-Tac-Toe board and snapshots of Rachel's Reading Response worksheets.

Click here to download my Book Club modified directions and Tic-Tac-Toe Board in editable powerpoint (minus the cute border that needed to be removed due to copyright...but you can add your own cute border!).  The font doesn't show up right unless you have that downloaded on your computer too (I used Oh{Photo}Shoot for the title font).  We will be continuing Book Clubs this week and I am anxious to see how it works out!  I will update and share more soon:)

I would also like to share a Must-Have and link up with the wonderful Sabra from Teaching with a Touch of Twang.

I apologize for another personal link up here but since it is Monday, and my Must-Have just makes Mondays super special, I have to share my guilty pleasure of the Bachelorette/Bachelor.  Currently, it is the Bachelorette (with Des?) and I am THRILLED that Monday night TV over the summer will be so entertaining!  Seriously, I have watched every season of Bachelor/Bachelorette and will be super sad when it doesn't continue anymore (all good things come to an end eventually, right?).  

Barely anyone I work with watches this show (they look at me like I am crazy when I start trying to talk about it!).  I don't think they know what they are missing!  Haha!!  If you love this show, you have to check out Teeny Tiny Teacher's Talk About It Tuesday.
She is a huge fan and her reviews of the show are hilarious:)

Definitely a MUST-HAVE for me!  

Oh, I almost forgot to update you on the Tried It Tuesday survey for continuing over the summer!

I was actually surprised by how many readers and bloggers wanted to continue the linky WEEKLY over the summer!  Yay!!  It wasn't unanimous though (about a 75/25 split).  

So, I have worked out a little plan in my mind.  I would like to:

Continue hosting WEEKLY FOR JUNE (Yes, check back tomorrow for reading or linking up!)

Host JULY ONLY ONCE on the 2nd Tuesday of the Month (July 9th)...

"TWOSDAY"...get it? :)

Go back to hosting WEEKLY IN AUGUST.

Thank you all for your support and I think July will be a good break since just about everyone is off this month.  Of course, as always, you can link up ANYTHING you have tried (NEW or OLD) and it can be classroom or home related!  I love reading about them all and have learned so much.  I will need the summer to sort through all the new pins:)  Thank you again for your bloggy love, whether it is by reading, commenting, or linking up!!

Mentor Text (The Raft) and Currently!

Are you on summer vacation and already working hard looking for materials for next year?  I am not on summer vacation yet but Amanda and Stacia's awesome mentor text linky is so organized that I can go back anytime and keep adding texts to my must-read list!  I am really looking forward to some extra blog reading time during summer vacation (just 3 weeks away!).  Check out their linky this week.  Topic: Language Arts

The mentor text I am sharing today is one of the stories from our reading series, McMillan McGraw Hill's Treasures.  

Although I only use the reading series about once or twice every two months, there are some wonderful texts here accompanied by great resources for teaching certain skills.   One of my favorite stories from our textbook is The Raft.  It is nice to use the reading series when I find a great text to share because the students can each have a copy of the text in front of them when using the books.  The Common Core standards emphasize referring back to the text for SPECIFIC details.  This is making it difficult to not provide the class with individual copies of a text and still practice the types of questions students will be assessed on during "the TEST".   

From Amazon Reviews:

Imagine passing a summer drifting up and down a slow-moving river, watching as cranes, turtles, raccoons, otters, and ducks grow accustomed to your presence. Envision days spent poling the raft through lily pads and grasses, glimpsing foxes through the trees on shore. On hot, sticky nights, picture a tent set up on the raft, from which you have an unobstructed view of huge bucks drinking from the moonlit river. Nicky has no idea what he's getting into when his father drops him off for the summer at his grandmother's cottage in the woods. And he's not especially pleased at the prospect. "There's nobody to play with ... She doesn't even have a TV." But this "river rat" is not the normal kind of grandma. Without pushing, she quietly allows Nicky to discover for himself the wonders of river life. Gradually, Nicky's interest in drawing the wildlife he sees brings him closer to his artist grandmother, and to an inner peace that looks as though it will last for a lifetime.

Here is a link to a great slideshow of activities to accompany the novel.

I have made many of these computer investigation worksheets to accompany themes that we are exploring with texts.  Here is one where students can explore different types of animals and answer questions.  

Download this worksheet for students to investigate more animals using the National Geographic website.  I noticed that the margins are off in Dropbox but you should be able to edit the margins in Word once it is downloaded.  You can also edit the directions.  I have a website through Quia.com where I provide links to all my computer investigations.

Next, I am linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade.  I am probably like link up 128,492 but, hey, I am only a day late:)

Thinking my daughter's birthday party was a success!  Here she is getting her nails painted at a "Little Diva Day Spa!"  It was totally low stress for me and the girls had a blast!!

Wanting the next three weeks to be over with but also wanting to enjoy the last weeks with my students!  I love my class this year and will be sad to see them go:(

Needing to write up my lesson plan from my unannounced walkthrough observation on Thursday.  I also have to submit 24 artifacts for domains one and four of the Danielson rubric.  They are mostly done but I need to double check and add a few things.  I am procrastinating...

I did make these handy organizers to keep my binder organized if you want to check them out.  There is also a version for the TED rubric.

I look forward to having time later to catch up on what all of you are doing "Currently!"  

Have a great Sunday:)