100th Day and Valentine's Gifts

Friday was the 100th day of school for us. The students were greeted with this at the door of the classroom.

Zero the Hero was there to wish them a "Happy 100th Day of School!"  Please ignore the big magnet that is attached to his head and keeping him on the board!

We asked our students to dress like they were 100 years old.  They were precious!  These are our twins, Brayden and Carson.  Their name tags said they were residents of the "Lazy Days Retirement Home" and the "Sunny Beach Retirement Home".  They are too stinking cute!

We had our special 100th Day Trail Mix snack. Some of the students said they couldn't eat 100 snacks!  But, they ate it all!

We danced for 100 seconds, read 100th Day books, drew pictures of ourselves as 100 year olds, and drew and wrote about what we would do with $100.  It was a fun but exhausting day!

Now, unto what I have been making for our students for Valentine's Day...  Last year, I read posts from teachers who made heart shaped crayons from old crayons for their students and I have wanted to try it ever since.  I started looking for heart shaped muffin tins right after Christmas.  I found this heart shaped "Whoopie Pie Pan" at Michael's last Sunday.

This pan works amazingly well!  It is non-stick and once the melted crayons have cooled they come right out without any trouble at all.  And, so it was time to peel those crayons!

I filled the molds with the crayons.  

This is how they look when they come out of the oven.  The back side of them are not near as pretty as once they are out of the pan and flipped over.

 

And since we live in Alabama and we are HUGE Crimson Tide fans, I had to make one like the one below! ROLL TIDE!!

I loved making all the heart shaped crayons and became a little obsessed with it because they are so COOL! And then, I was in Target yesterday innocently strolling through the Valentine's section and I spied this incredible little cookie pan!  Of course the first thing I thought was, "Wow! Those would be awesome crayons because the shape is so "crayon like"!"  It was only $6.99 and I had plenty of crayons left at home so in my cart it went!!

And this is what they look like when I went through the whole process again (even peeling more crayons and cutting my fingers twice because I used a box cutter to slice the paper this time).  

So, each of our students will be getting a heart shaped crayon AND one like the ones above.  

If you want to make these and have a metal non-stick pan, all you have to do is heat the crayon pieces in a 200 degree oven until all crayons are fully melted which takes about 20 minutes in my oven and then let them cool completely in the pan before trying to get them out.  =)

New Year's Goals Set by Kindergarteners

I think this little fellow's parents have discussed what a resolution is with him.  If you can't read his speech bubble, it says, "My New Year's goal is get ready for school faster."  And, just to set the record straight, he doesn't really have black teeth.

Miss B said her New Year's goal is "to do something for my teacher".  Now, shouldn't everyone's New Year's goal be just that!  God love her!

This sweet little guy wants to "give presents to everybody".  He made me smile with this one!  Precious!

Isn't it awesome that "to be a fashionista" is on the top of this little star's list?  Her leggings and tu-tu made it look as though she was working hard on just that today.  =)

RUN, Don't walk!!

I have seen a few posts about using these little gems in stations.  And, we all know it will be February before we know it.  I went to my local Dollar Tree last week looking for these.  Well, they had cleared out all the Christmas stuff and were working on stocking the shelves with Valentine's items.  I found the box that these were in but since they had not been unpacked and placed on the shelf, I did not ask if I could buy them.  I decided to go back a couple of days later.  I went back on Friday and they were still not unpacked.  So, this time I asked the nice workers if I could buy something that wasn't on the shelves yet.  They said sure and even opened the box for me.  There were packs of these plastic heart shaped boxes with writing on them on top of the stack but as I dug down in the box, I found the plain ones.  They come 10 to a package for only $1!!  I bought 8 packages (remember I co-teach and we have 40 students).  These will go FAST!  Hope you get some if you are interested.  I haven't been to the Target Dollar Spot yet.  Can't wait to go there!
The teachers in my county go back to work tomorrow and I am ready!  I will miss taking my time drinking my coffee in the mornings and the time I have been able to spend with my family and dog but I need structure and a schedule!  I have been using  some  A LOT of this down time to combine all the awesome downloads I have gotten from all of your into folders.  I have been copying all those folders onto a flash drive so I will be able to always have them with me. Well, I will be trying to find a flash drive today big enough to hold all of them.  I will also be making a run to the teacher store to buy some new desk name tags and hopefully these will make it for the second semester.  Enjoy your day everyone!!