Monday Made It...On Tuesday?

I am SO excited to be linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics

 

for my first Monday Made It! The only problem?

It is TUESDAY!

If you are following me, this may or may not be something you will need to get used to...I am REALLY new to this game...but I figure it is like I heard Magic Johnson say in an interview the other day,

"Your legacy is about how many lives you have touched and made better...

not by how much money you have or how famous you are." 

Or how quickly you can get your blog posts written!

(I know he wanted to say that part too, but they ran short on time in the interview!)



Ok, so did I tell you I had a TERRIFIC student teacher this year? Well I did! Her name was Miss Werwie and she did a FANTASTIC job with my firsties!

So to thank her, I wanted to make her something she could always look back on to not only remember all of us, but to also remember all the great things she did while she was with us. I had seen a great post Maria Manore from Kinder Kraze had done about making a Kindergarten Alphabet Book using Shutterfly
                                             
and I wanted to incorporate that idea into making a book for Miss Werwie. I made sure to take lots of pictures of her teaching throughout her student teaching, and I also made sure to include all the students in those pictures. I then went through the alphabet and came up with words that described her well. I wrote these on chart paper with marker and had each child take turns holding the words in different places in the school so that I could get their pictures.

Then came the fun part! I went to Shutterfly and created my book! I combined the describing words with all the pictures I had taken throughout her student teaching experience!

  

I used the custom path option. It was really very simply. Lots of options and very affordable.



My Made It #2 is one of my favorite things in my classroom! It is my graduate board! When you have been teaching first grade as long as I have, you start to accumulate lots of things...the best thing you start to accumulate is GRADUATES!!!! I have been building my graduate board for ten years now and I finally was able to fill it up! The class of 2016 will begin my new board! Eeek! I used a basic 24x36 poster frame.

which I covered with black scrapbooking paper. I then STALK my firsties at their graduation ceremony so that I can get my picture taken with them, and TA-DA.....

Not a day goes by that I don't look at my graduate board and give thanks for the blessing that is my life!

                                                    
My final Made It is by far my FAVORITE thing in my home! With two teenage sons, my husband and myself having schedules to keep track of, our calendar gets pretty full each month...and pretty messy! It is a focal point in our house, but I just couldn't stand how it looked!
BEFORE...

SO.... I took a trip to HOBBY LOBBY and bought myself a chalkboard with a wooden frame, (they have tons of different designs and types of chalkboards there...be prepared to walk up and down EVERY aisle... I know...you were going to anyway!) a white paint pen, and some fun chalkboard markers. 

Then I got to work measuring and marking (yardstick, pencil)
FINAL RESULT...

I used the paint pen (permanent) for the boxes and the heading (LET TODAY BE THE DAY) I used the Chalk Markers for the rest because they can be washed off each month. I added the basket for two reasons:

1. To hold markers so we are not constantly searching for them!

2. Because when I was measuring, my husband was "hovering" over my shoulder, which caused me

    to hurry to end the project, which caused me to miscalculate, which caused me to have to add a

    basket to try to cover up my measuring error!



I hope you enjoyed reading about my very first Monday Made It! Let me know what you think!