Made it Monday (on Tuesday): Cookie Sheet Calendar

I know it is Tuesday,  but yesterday I left home at 8am and got home after 11pm and then had late late date night with the Hubby, so I never got the chance to post my Made It Monday.

This week, since my room is all robot theme, I made a new cookie sheet calendar. I love these, and think they are so cute. 

You need a cookie sheet, any size, a few different scrapbook papers that go together, mod podge, paintbrush, strong magnets (I like the neodymium super strong small magnets), cement glue (E6000 or something like that), ribbon, glass beads with a flat bottom, ruler, scissors and decorations like stickers, clip art, or cut outs.

First, determine how wide your cookie sheet is and how far up you want your calendar part to go. Divide the width by 7 and the height by 5. This is the size of each day rectangle. You will need 35. I used the medium cookie sheet from WalMart and so my rectangles were 2" x 1.25" each. I used 2 different papers for the calendar, gears and black glitter. Brush the mod podge on the cookie sheet and attach the rectangles. I would start fro the bottom corner and work up.

Then make day labels and month labels for the computer or draw them. I wrote the days and printed the months.

Mod podge the days above the calendar part and add a place on the top where the months can be attached. Next add embellishments like stickers or other themed things. I printed out the clip art the calendar matched and added them all over.

Laminate the months. Either attach magnets to the backs of each or make magnets to attach each t o the front. I was low on magnets, so I just made 2 matching magnets by clipping the thin wings off 2 brads and gluing magnets.

To make the dates, print off small numbers spaced apart so you can cut them out (I also printed off holiday pics for some, too). Don't forget a 25/31 and a 24/30 for those few months they are needed! Now mod podge those to the flat side of the glass beads. You will be able to see the number through the rounded side. Now use the E6000 glue to attach the magnets to the beads. The magnet goes on the paper side. Put glue on the magnet and on the bead and stick together. These need to dry for about a day.

The last part is to add a ribbon to the top so you can hang your calendar on your wall. Use the E6000 glue again, and attach both ends of the ribbon to the back side of the calendar. Now all your extra magnets and days go on the back while it is on the wall, out of view, and conveniently kept for next month. If you just made 2 magnets to hold the months and didn't put magnets on each month, add a library pocket to the back to hold them :)

Hope you like it and find it easy to make!

Monday Made It - Door Sign

I am joining the Monday Made It Linky from 4th Grade Frolics today. Click on the picture below to join!

Every teacher needs a cute sign above their door in the hallway. I don't know how many of our sweet kids check above the door to make sure they are in the right place before entering EVERY day. Since I changed from safari to robots, I had to change my door sign to match, too.

This was pretty easy and quick(ish) to make. I made it Saturday while the kids were napping. I took a piece of cardboard from one of the many Amazon.com boxes lying around and covered it in some robot fabric I found at Wal-Mart. I like using fabric or fadeless paper for my walls because they last longer and stay bright. I made sure I had enough to wrap around all the edges. On the back, it is folded over, attached with permanent double-sided tape, then hot glued. 

For the front, I found foam glitter letters at Wal-Mart (let's just save time and tell you everything was found at Wal-Mart) and glitter foam sheets. I hot glued the letters to the fabric, to make sure they would stay, and then I drew and cut out gears from the glitter foam sheets to match the colors in the robots. This was the most time consuming part. If you know me, you know the gears had to be perfect. I traced two different sized circles from each color and then I had to divide the circles into 12 even pieces. The back of the foam sheets was paper, so it was easy to draw on. This is where I am thankful for my Trig class from way back when (and you said you would never need it! Ha!). Then I drew a small line on each of the 12 lines and connected every other line with a curved one, like this:

Cut out the circle and on the bold lines. Each line is 30 degrees apart. I cut them out and hot glued them in place.

Voila! A nice, big, colorful above-the-door-sign (batman pajama legs not included)!

I cannot wait to show you next Mondays Made It. I am almost finished, but need a few more kid naps to get it done :)

Finally!!

I went up to school today to take care of some things, and magically my room is not being used for summers school AND it has already been waxed!! Yea! That means I can start putting it together :) I am so excited! I already put up 1 1/2 bulletin boards today, found all of the decor I already had stored at school and got it out, and I started unpacking everything. I am so excited! Did I already say that! As soon as I get things up and running, I will post pictures of what my new STEM Robots room looks like. Excitement!

Perfection is...

I love the summer "break," but I also love teaching. I am not ready to end the summer, but I also know that school is starting soon, so my classroom needs to be awesome. An inviting classroom helps engage kids and make them want to be in your class every day. I have so many ideas for my classroom and plans for decorations. I am really excited about getting into my classroom and starting to decorate, but the school has summer school going on in my classroom right now.

For the past three years, I have had a safari themed classroom, and a garden classroom the two years before that. Since my room is a science lab, I like to keep in theme with something science-like. This year, I am changing themes to a robot STEM career classroom. Another teacher was doing a safari classroom, so I took down all of my safari stuff to give to her already. Also, my walls are supposed to be painted over the summer, so I took everything off the walls. Also, summer school is going on in my room during July, so I took all the stuff off the counters to give them space for stations. Also, since my room is tile, it has to be waxed over the summer, so everything was taken off the bookshelves, the desk, and any tables. So my room looks pretty bare right now. Well, meet the teacher/schedule pick up is 2 days into inservice. The first day with time for classroom set up is day 4. How will I fit making an inviting classroom for meet the teacher during those first 2 days? I am going to have to work before or after school and during lunch if my classroom will be the first impression I want it to be. I hate having the first thing a parent and student see being a half put together room. I want them excited to come to class from the moment they first see it.

I am sure it will all come together perfectly, but I cannot help but be anxious about the process :) In the meantime, here is a freebie. These are the gears I made for my turn in boxes for this year. Enjoy them!