Pinterest Love....Rain Gutter Bookshelves!

I saw this project on Pinterest awhile ago and thought...that looks to good to be true. I was quite skeptical of whether or not the rain gutters would support the books or if they'd hang. When I had a giant blank wall in the playroom to fill, I decided to give it a try. 

We bought plastic rain gutters from Home Depot. They offered to cut them into pieces for us...we said no. Do NOT say no...unless to have a handy hubby and a sharp saw!! 

Anyway, we sawed them into four pieces. I originally planned for three feet...so glad I went with four. 

Then we screwed them into the wall. We did four screws across for good measure. Just plain old screws, didn't use a fancy anchor or anything. 

This is our finished project...filled with books of all sizes (some quite heavy!!) And I must say, my two year pulls on it pretty hard, and it has yet to fall or snap. 

Total cost...$6.00!! 

Cheap Chair Covers...yes, they exist!

This Monday I wanted to share some classroom storage solutions that worked quite well last year...and they were cheap, too. I know what you're thinking- those chair covers can cost a small fortune. Here are two frugal solutions that I used last year: 

Jumbo Stretchy Book Covers 

My students used these as a place to keep their pencils and Indeoenendt reading books, they have boos boxes that are used for readers workshop and writers workshop materials. However, I like my kiddos to have their independent reading boos at their fingertips at all times. Have a spare minute? Read! These book covers were perfect chair covers. Tip: go as close to school starting as possible- that's when I snagged 'em for half price!

Home Depot Cloth Tool Belts 

Home Depot sells these little guys for less than a dollar. I tied them to the back of my teacher table chairs. I stored pencils, post-it's, and other materials the kiddos might need for small group instruction. 

Stop by for pics tomorrow!! 

Magical Burn Relief...or not??

Yesterday I had my girlfriends and kiddos over for a luncheon....everyone was playing happily while I cooked up some good old fashioned Mac n cheese. My little guy was hanging around my leg (we seem to be a bit attached after a summer home with Mommy). Cue blood curdling scream...he grabbed the stove. The tips of all his little fingers instantly blistered :( I've never heard him cry so hard...or for so long. I felt awful.

We called the doctor, who told us to just care for it at home and watch for blisters to pop. So we went about doing some online research for home remedies to get the stinging to stop. We tried aloe, toothpaste...even considered yellow mustard for a brief second. 

Turns out, the only thing that helped was some pain relief meds and a bowl of cool water for him to put his hand it. He fell asleep on my lap for a couple hours with his hand in the water, but woke up in a little less pain. (Not gonna lie..loved the cuddles on my lap all afternoon!!)  Another couple hours of putting it in the water every fifteen minutes or so, and he was back to normal. So if this happens to you...What seemed like something that was going to turn into a week of crying lasted a good three hours, the he settled. 

I'm happy to report this morning that he's good to go...until these blisters pop :( that'll be a whole new trauma to deal with!!! 

Children's Book of the Week

This week at the public Iibrary we came across a couple books that have my little guy giggling like mad. Pigs to the Rescue and Chickens to the Rescue, by John Hinnelman. The pictures are so fun, and we both love the predictable pages that come up every other page where he can participate too!  I'm hoping to come across the third book, Cows to the Rescue, soon!!

Here's a link to the Amazon page!

http://www.amazon.com/Pigs-Rescue-John-Himmelman/dp/0805086838

Happy reading!!!

It's Wednesday...What Are You Reading?

Next week I have a presentation to do in my district on RtI....what is it, what is Tier 2, and how can we make the most out of our intervention time that is scheduled into everyone's day? As I was prepping, I came across this fabulous professional resource. 

Not only does the author do a wonderful job of describing the differences in tiers, the book is also filled with ready to use intervention plans. My absolute favorite part of the book was the table of contents in the back, which is organized by what kids are struggling with. 

For example, one section says "When Students Zone Out During Reading," and listed below are two intervention lessons to try from the book (full week long lessons included!!):

Intervention #34 teaching students how to monitor their silent reading comprehension 

Intervention #35 coding text to improve comprehension 

Here's a link to amazon to check out it!!

http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Intervention-Strategies-Students-ebook/dp/B005ISU1WG/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1375276662&sr=8-5&keywords=Rti

Pinterest Love...Family Menu

So, I started 2013 off really ambitious...a Pinterest project a week...I think I even made a board called,"52 Weeks = 52 Organization Projects." Right about the time of parent teacher conferences, I started slacking! But, I still love myself a great project now and then! Here's a project I recently completed for my kitchen...

Materials: 

Magnetic metal slab from Hobby Lobby (used my 40% off coupon) 

Chalkboard paint

Wine corks (I've been saving these for a little bit!) 

What I Did 

Spray paint the metal slab with chalkboard paint...it needed a couple coats. Let dry. 

Glue wine corks around edge to match wine theme in kitchen. 

Used 3M strips for wall mounting. 

Hang and add what you wish...ours is used for a weekly menu, but it'd be great for grocery lists, reminders, cute quotes...

Easy, cheap, cute! 

Farmer's Market Saturday!

Summer Saturdays are Farmer's Market days for our family! I love picking up ingredients for fresh salsa! Here's my Chopped Farmers Market Salsa recipe :)

3 large ripe tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped (I squeeze my tomatoes like I'm juicing a lemon...works great! A few seeds won't hurt)

1 onion, finely chopped (need about 3 tbsp) *

1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 poblano pepper, seeded and finely chopped (optional)

2-3 cloves minced garlic *

1 tbsp chopped cilantro (or more, if you prefer stronger cilantro taste)

2-3 tbsp line juice

Salt and pepper to taste 

Chop it up, mix it up, let chill for 2-3 hours to soak up flavored. Makes 3 small jars. 

*a friend suggested running garlic/onions under hot water and draining before mixing in. 

And this is what you'll get...

 Yum!!! Enjoy :)

This week I stopped by a stand I had not visited before called One by One...check out this adorable headband I picked up! 

Her stuff is too cute for words...check out her website and head over to her Facebook page!!!

 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/lstaubin

 

https://www.facebook.com/OneByOneKaukauna?fref=pb&hc_location=profile_browser