Teacher Appreciation

Wow- Going from public school to private I knew would be quite different, but I don't think I have seen glaring differences (besides teaching the Bible) until this week. Instead of one day of teacher appreciation we have an entire week. I don't think I have ever felt more appreciated. It is ridiculous. My classroom looks like a florists shop. I have had Starbucks almost every day, I was given gooks for my classroom and even had a parent make dinner for me! Wow. Talk about being overwhelmed with blessings.

As many of you know... I am a fan of going green. So did I celebrate Earth Day? Why yes I did. At school we made recycled paper projects... and at home I chastized those who were joking "I threw my trash on the ground". Duty done. Now for the post. Late is better than never :)

So here is what we did:


You need newspaper and colored tissue paper. Give each child 1 page of the news paper and about a 6x6 piece of tissue. Have them rip up the pieces.




Put it in the blender, cover the paper with water and blend. Yum :)

Pour the pulp onto a screen and have the kids push the water out. This is actually a splatter screen for cooking.

The kids then push the pulp into cookie cutters. Yes I am using scholastic book orders to absorb the water. Hey there is no way I would be able to use all fo the book orders they send. They even send new book orders when you order books. Hello... I just ordered out of this catalog! Yet another way to be green.

This is how they turn out. Cute huh! then just let dry.

You could also do it flat like my partner did.


I think there are totally ways to do this as an adult to make recycled paper.

I will soon post what I do with my recycled craft... so stay tuned :)

Open House 2010

Theme: I CAN!!!

This is my first year teaching... and open house at a Christian School is a BIG deal! Well.... I think it went well. Granted... my room was no where near as cool and fun as my partner teacher's room. Oh well, I guess that is what happens when your partner has 33 years of teaching on you.

Here is our museum of modern art!

We cut the frames out of cardboard, let the kids glue pasta on, and then spray painted them in Gold. They really do look cool. This is something I will leave up for the rest of the year.

Bible Board

Kids stories are always so interesting!

We took a trip to Tanaka Farms (a fruit and veggie farm).

After our trip to Tanaka Farms we made smashberry jam. I had it out to sample at Open house and it was such a hit. I also had cut out paper strawberries for the families to add to a bar graph to say whither they liked it or not.

I would suggest that whenever you have students make something, ask them what they would like to title it! I had no idea what things were until I heard the titles... It also makes it more like an art show.

The names that they picked for their wood was amazing! Do you see the crane in the background? I would have never guessed. We put these together with wood glue and then the kids painted them.

I made the dress up center like Tanaka Farms. They could even dig for strawberries in the science table.

I love the hand hearts :)

home sick

I am home sick today. I went to work and then half way through the day I called a sub. It amazes me when I stop and take a look at my class. I am so blessed. I work at a christian school and when I told them this morning that I wasn't feeling well, they asked if they could pray for me. These are Kindergartners I am talking about here! It isn't the first time they have asked if they could pray for me, but it gets me every time.

getting started

I am a first year teacher in Kindergarten. This year I also started my first blog: The Crafty Tulip. While creating this blog, I have really felt the need to have an outlet for teaching ideas, frustrations, and laughs. I didn't want it to be on my craft blog... so here it is... my second blog. The more I thought about making this blog the more excited I got. Then I got a little sad, wishing I had started this at the beginning of the year to chronicle my first year as a teacher. But... I guess late is better than never. So here we go!