Monday Made It! and a freebie

This will be the first time I am doing a Monday made it. If you are interested in this linky party click {HERE} to go to 4th grade Frolics. I am always making things, I just am too tired to post about it. However, It's Monday and I've had my coffee so here goes!
My Co-worker Kim used to be a decorator in Life before she was a teacher. She convinced me it was not hard to make pillows for my classroom. She came with me to the store and helped my pick out my first sewing machine!  She gave me some instructions and ideas for putting the pillows together.  And here we go...
 

 Here is a shot of the bottom of my sewing machine and the edge of the pillow. I sewed on velcro (loop and sew, not sticky) to the edges and made a flap, so the covers could be taken off and washed.

 Here are 2 of the pillows, I used square foam inserts that I found at Walmart. I am not going to tell you I did this very professionally. I laid the fabric out on the floor and laid the pillow on top. I left space on either side for the seam. As you can see above the blue polka dot is slightly big. I went back after and made it smaller.
You lay the fabric nice side to nice side. (so when you are sewing you will see the back side of the fabric) I sewed three sides then flipped it right side out. That is when I sewed on the velcro. I used straight pins to hold it in place. The edge over laps, one over the other.

Teacher Apron

 I have desperately wanted a teacher apron for a while now. I scoured ETSY to see if I could somehow manage to make one.
Again, I didn't really measure, except to hold the fabric up to me. (ahh, bad idea) First I sewed 3 sides of the chevron fabric and turned it right side out. I did the same on polka-dot pocket. Then I ironed the fabric so it would be flat and you could see the seems and edges are crisp and neat. I folded and ironed down the top of the fabric, then sewed and closed the seem. Next, I pinned dow the pocket and sewed around the sides and bottom. AFter I sewed down to create 3 separate pockets. Finally, I made the straps. I fold the fabric over on itself and sewed the end and all the way down 1 seem. I then had to very carefully pull it out to see the fabric correctly. Lastly I attached these to the back of the apron, sewing a good 1 1/2 inches of the strap to the apron. Now I have an apron to protect me form glue and who knows what else, and it can hold, expo markers, post=its and whatever else I may need :0)



 

Here is my daughter's room before. She just turned 11 and has had this room since she was 2. She asked for a blue room. Originally, there was a floral wall paper border going around the entire room, and she had a Garden theme. Alas, she is getting older and wanted some new decor.

 While she still has some purging to do, I think the transformation is astounding. Her room seems much larger using 1 color on the wall. Her white furniture really pops against the soothing blue color.

 As you can see the baskets in the tower and bookshelf need changing out. After this picture was taken I found blue baskets at target to replace the pink and polka dots. The basket liners will have to wait for another day.

Last but not least is a little freebie. I am making all these pillows, so when My kiddos are doing Daily 5 they can have a comfy spot to sit in the room. Here is the pacing guide I have used the last few years. I have taken the 2 sisters launch and typed it up in a user-friendly format for lesson plans and teaching. You can download the Daily 5 Pacing Guide in my store on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Daily 5-2nd Edition Book Talk

I'm linking up with the ladies from Freebielicious to talk about the new 2nd Edition of the Daily 5. I'm kind of behind the game a little, because I got my book a little late. I had no idea that a 2nd edition was out, but I couldn't be more glad that it is. I have been doing Daily 5 in my classroom since 2011. I started halfway through the school year, when I had first discovered their book. I even have a page here on my blog talking about how I got started.  Since then, the Daily 5 has evolved in my classroom from year to year. In the book, Chapters 1 and 2 the 2 sisters talk about the foundations for their book and research. They also, talk about how they have made some changes to their structure, in that as the year progresses and students become more and more independent, they have less rounds of Daily 5--because the children can stay at their Daily 5 of choice longer.
I found that the same thing occurred in my own class. I teach 1st grade so stamina is a completely foreign concept to most of my students when they enter my classroom.  And let me tell you something, it's hard!  But, I've found that if you have the stamina as the teacher to stick with the 10 steps to Independence, your class will be successful. When I read about muscle memory in the 1st book, my thought was "Did I just hear angels singing?"  "Why had no one ever told me to do this before?" The sisters reiterate these step in the 2nd Edition, it is the foundation of making the Daily 5 successful in your classroom.  I know some people, who just want to rush through the process and get it started. But I found patience is a virtue. And the training truly pays off. 

As I read the rest of the 2nd Edition, I will talk about how it differs, or how it can work in your classroom.

Here's a little freebie for you--Some Daily 5 signs that I use in my classroom as anchor charts.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1QNV2NyRAucR0didk9samstd0U/edit?usp=sharing

Classroom Design and Linky Party

Finally, My classroom Design Pictures are ready to share! Link up your designs HERE Classroom-design-and-bulletin-board Linky Party

My Owl and Polka Dot Themed Clip Chart-You can find it Here.

Entrance to classroom: Going to Print the Pictures I took today of the kids and put them next to their owl. My Daily 5 Signs--I've also included computers as we are a very technological school. If you would like these, I can email them to you for free---I'm still trying to figure how to get them on google docs. You can get them here on TpT.

This hangs over my reading table.

My team colors are hanging with their corresponding Owl.  The bags on the desk are My First Day Survival Kit. Check out my sliding doors to the pod, we are able to open or close them as we need.

My CAFE Board--I found these signs and Letters for Free. She did not put her blog page on the document. Sorry :( Her name is Amy from The Resource Room

My Word Wall. My word wall has been "interactive" since I started teaching First grade 6 years ago.  I use ribbons and velcro dots. Students are able to go up to the word wall and take down a word as needed and replace it when finished.  This also makes it easy when playing word wall games such as "What is the missing Word?" In addition if I have to change classrooms, the ribbons can be removed and re-hung.  I won't need to re-do all the velcro dots.  This is a new set of ribbons, as I changed my "theme" this year.  My last set of ribbons lasted 5 years! Someone-Robin--Emailed me about how I do this. Robin I'm sorry I didn't reply--you are a no-reply blogger so I could not respond directly. Basically I measured and cut the ribbon to equal lengths. I stapled it to my wall. As I add words I adhere a velcro dot to the ribbon and the wordwall card. I wouldn't tell you to do it all at once, as my county word list is different, which is why I added dots as I went along. I was able to get a wheel of 75 dots at staples for about $8.00.

Close-up.  The letters and WORD WALL sign can be found here.

A view from my desk.  The bulletin board to the left, will be where I display student work.

I hope you can link up your rooms soon :)
Happy decorating,