Schools Out!

Wow, I finally have time to breathe!  School is officially over, my room is packed up, and I’m looking forward to fun, 3-week vacation. School for the Monkeys is also officially over; they get to go once a week as part of paying a holding fee, which is heavenly.  It gives me a chance to have one day out of the week to clean the house.  The end of the year always has me stressed trying to get, papers graded, grades done, room cleaned up, cum files organized and reading assessments recorded in folders, plus think about what kind of gift to not only get for my kids but also my own kids’ teachers.  This year, my teaching partner, Amy, and I decided to make something for the kids that would cost us next to nothing and once we were finished, I decided to stay on the frugal side with the Monkeys’ teachers as well.  Amy had a great idea to make a special magnet for the kids to put in their lockers next year. (They will be big fifth graders and get to use lockers for the first time.)  She found a fun website, Tagxedo, where we could enter in words and it forms them into a word cloud.  We had the kids pass around notecards with their names on them and each child came up with a word or short phrase that described that person.  We chose a peace sign cloud because we have been talking a lot about getting along and peace topics this year.  We printed them on card stock, laminated them and added magnet strips to the back.  The kids loved them and couldn’t wait to bring them back next year for their lockers.  Unfortunately the last day was so crazy, I didn't get a picture of them.

  

These were so much fun that I decided to make one for each of my girls’ teachers.  The girls helped me come up with words and we framed the final product in colorful frames.  I also threw in a box of stationary note cards (I love having notecards around as a teacher!).  The frames were a hit!  I spent $4.99 on the frames and the cards were also $4.99.  So, total I spent $40.00.  Much better than what I have spent in the past.  This website will be used a lot this coming year!