Thanksgiving in July

This summer, a friend and I decided to tackle some holiday crafting because time always seems to slip away in November and December. Brilliant, right? Right!

I was inspired to make a cute little craft after seeing the adorable blocks my friend made for her husband for Father's Day. I packed my bags and went on a shopping spree in Hobby Lobby to find 4x4 blocks, scrapbook paper, and whatever else inspired me. Sadly, I was only able to find small wooden blocks opposed to the 4x4 size I was hunting for. After realizing the miniature blocks were my only option, I snatched them all up and headed towards the scrapbook paper. 

As I was searching in the scrapbook aisle, I decided to go with a autumn/turkey day theme and settled on the phrase "Give Thanks" to Mod Podge on my blocks. (Imagine me standing in the aisle thinking deeply about what phrase would fit on the ten blocks I picked up. It took some deep thinking.)

To start the project, I used my Cricut to cut out the 2x2 scrapbook paper squares. I glued paper on each block and put about two layers of Mod Podge on top. On the chevron side (as you can see below) I glued my turkey day phrase. As long as you don't look closely, the project looks very cute and crisp. If you begin to look closely, you'll notice I made boo-boos all over the place. Oops!

Next time I tackle another block project, I will paint the blocks before gluing on scrapbook paper. Instead of trying to cover each side in paper, I will rely on paint to make it look fancy. I spent ALL day waiting for these puppies to dry so I could continue working. I managed to get caught up on my DVR recordings though! 

Sending Love in a Box!

If you've been a follower of my blog for some time, you may know that I'm an aunt to the cutest and sweetest niece and nephew. Now, I don't live in the same town as them but I'm close enough to pop over for dinner or invite myself over for the weekend. That's something aunts do, right?

This year, I wanted to surprise BDE and Libby on Valentine's Day with a gift. My original plan was to ship a box full of goodies in the mail and have it arrive on Valentine's Day. Since I was making a trip home to celebrate my Dad's birthday, I decided to present the gift in person! (Sorry Post Office.. you'll get my business next time). I had intended on making BDE wait until Valentine's Day to open the present, but I quickly realized that would have been cruel and unnecessary punishment for a 3-year old.  I have so much to learn.  

Inside the box, I stuffed loads of candy (you're welcome, sista!), onesies and dresses for Libby, and Jake and the Neverland Pirate goodies. Did I mention my nephew is a pirate? Yes, he's a pirate. On top of the gifts, I cut out several hearts on my Cricut and dumped them in the box. 

BDE made sure to bypass the paper hearts and get to the stuff that mattered ... like tootsie rolls and skittles. I can't blame him, those are my favorite candies as well. :)

He dug through the box and found his Jake goodies, but I had to reel him back in to find Libby's gifts. After, of course, he stood inside the box. 

Even though I won't be able to spend Valentine's Day with my favorite little ones, at least I was able to shower them with love in the form of paper hearts, candy, and coloring books - all wrapped up in a box.

What Valentine's Day plans to you have in store?

That's a FACT!

How many days until Christmas break? Not that I'm counting down or anything...

Anyway! The past week or so, we have been focusing on Fact and Opinion. I wanted to find a super-duper-fantastic idea that would leave my kiddos begging for fact and opinion daily, but I came up short. Many google and pinterest searches came up inconclusive. So! I racked my brain and came up with an idea of my own. Shocker! I didn't know I was capable of this anymore.

I'm a big big BIG fan of anchor charts. I don't know what it is, but I love rallying the troops around the carpet and charting information on a piece of chart paper together. Maybe it's the second grade teacher in me. Anyway, I love it. My original plan was to create an anchor chart for fact and opinion, create our own definitions and write examples... blah blah.  (I say "blah blah" like its a bad thing, but I still highly enjoy that idea!)

I decided to give the anchor chart a little face lift. Paging Dr. Paul Nassif (RHOBH, anyone?)!

Using a bulletin board, I created a giant T-Chart with border and my cricut. One side labeled, "Fact" and the other "Opinion".

First, we ironed our own definitions of fact and opinion and wrote those on chart paper. Then, using sentence strips I modeled writing down an example of an opinion. My opinion statement was, "I believe the Grinch is the best Christmas movie, ever!" We discussed why this was my opinion and it couldn't be proven true. Then, I handed the sentence strips over to the kiddos and let them write! They were chomping at the bit to write down examples of facts and opinions. We were writing, stapling, writing examples, and stapling some more. It was super interactive and high energy in my classroom for the entire lesson!

Yes, 3x3=9

Eh, Football is okay!

Overall, it was a pretty fun lesson and now we have our stellar bulletin board to refer to. Anyone have any other great ideas for fact and opinion? Send them my way!

Have you seen my friend Ashley's delightful blog One Fine Day? If you haven't, you should head over because she's hosting her first giveaway! She's a talented blogger and if you aren't following her, you must start NOW!

Smitten & Swell

Oh! The Places We Will Go

The Teacher Wife Blog

True story: I was browsing the isles of Wal-Mart one afternoon when I saw a student reaching for milk on the top shelf. Not only was he reaching for milk, he was grunting and shouting, "ohhh C'MON!" I calmly walked up to him and asked, "Can I help you?" He looked at me and said, "HEEYYY! You're Ms. Furnell." I confirmed his statement and grabbed the milk. One of the perks of being taller. He said thank you and went on his merry way.

The next day, he showed up in my classroom with an apple and a big smile. He handed me the apple and said, "This is for helping me yesterday." 

It was a delicious apple!

After day two in my classroom, I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. After help from two incredible people... we had turned my mess into a bigger one, but we also got a lot completed. 

There's something I love about decorating my door. I'm not sure why I enjoy it so much, I just do. Maybe it's that "first year teacher itch" I've got... or maybe I'm slightly crazy. Strangely, I found the task of door decorating relaxing and a great way to get my mind off of things.

Today, we completed my door for the beginning of the year. 

But first, let's go through my history of 2nd grade doors. Drumroll pleeease...

Because of my affinity for Dr. Seuss, he was a constant theme for the year.

Then, Red Ribbon Week rolled around... so of course, I had to participate in the door decorating contest. 

As winter approached, I wanted to spice things up and bring the weather in a classroom a bit. So next we had...

Then, we LITERALLY had a blizzard. I'm not kidding. I'm sorry midwest folk. I never knew this door would be an omen for something horrible to come. Don't believe me? Remember being snowed in for 10 days?

Obviously, I had to get rid of this door A.S.A.P. I figured if my door had magical powers and could predict the weather... I should bring spring into the building.

Did it work? Of course not. I'm pretty sure it snowed at least 10 times more after this. Oh well! Can't say I didn't try.

Fast forward to the future. As in, right now! 

I just love Dr. Seuss and his whimsical way about life and those involved. I wanted to bring the doctor into my classroom this year as well. In 5th grade, the students travel to different rooms for math and social studies.  Big changes for the little-big ones! So then, the light bulb clicked on... 

Oh! The places we'll go this year... :)

After a great amount of help from Sharon and Susan, my door was completed. Both of them also fell in love with my Cricut and were pros at using it by 3:00.

It was a great day of productivity! I can't wait for day three.

Travel Bug!

Before my project, let's take a walk down memory lane.... (my favorite lane!)

I would give just about anything to be back in Europe right about NOW. Everything about being in London was fantastic. Three years later I am still mourning the country. Soon enough, I'll be back for a visit. Until then, here are some photos to reminisce with. 

for the HP fans out there. I didn't make it to Hogwarts. 

Cheeserolling. Totally normal sporting event. 

Gorgeous Ios, Greece

You get 'em, Grandma!

Final memory from being abroad: 

After leaving the Sistene Chapel, I asked my grandma, "What did think?"

She replied, "Eh.. I've seen better."

Needless to say after coming home from studying abroad I had many many maps. I was known for always asking directions (even though I had 5 maps in my purse). When I came home, I stuffed my maps, journals, and whatnot inside a tub that has been hiding in my closet since. 

I climbed into my closet and pulled out my tub of maps and memorabilia. As you can see below, I have many to choose from for my next project!

Thanks to my new love, Pinterest, I stumbled upon this product. I made my way to the link and realized that this heart/map craft was available to purchase. It was priced around 45 euros! That's luuudddaaa. I can make that home. So, I did. 

While catching up on the phone with Abby, I jetted over to Target and picked up a few white frames. 

Next, using my handy dandy Cricut I cut out a heart. This took several attempts to find the perfect size. Finally... I created my masterpiece!

You're looking at Italia!

Greece on the right, holla!

Paris! 

I was quite pleased the way my maps turned out. Plus, it was a great time for me to riffle through my London tub of memories. Hopefully mine will look shabby on my wall just like the for sale items!

Over and out!