Saturday, September 12, 2015

Spotlight Saturday: Flipbooks, Flipbooks, and More Flipbooks!

 Welcome to another week of Spotlight Saturday, hosted by KINDERGARTEN DRAGONS! you can click on the link to learn more about it, but in nutshell it's just like a Show and Tell for teachers to share resources and ideas. You should try it, it's really fun!

Lately I've been making lots of flip-books and having so much fun with them! That's the reason I give them a spotlight today.  Not only they are adorable, but my students are enjoying working with them tremendously, so what else can I ask for?

We made one for United States Symbols:

We worked on  another one to review our numbers and counting skills:

We haven't started with the colors yet, but we will working on this next quarter since all these colors words are included in our sight words list:

Just this week we finished our Five Senses flip-book, and it was probably my favorite so far! We were doing a page a day, but my kids were so engaged on the making of this book, that they wanted to keep working on it even when it was almost time to go home!
Here are the snapshots:

Tip: Except for the sandpaper, we used adhesive tape to secure the items, because the glue didn't work so well.
These are all the flip-books I have so far, but I am currently working on one for Johnny Appleseed that I'm hoping to finish this week. Stay tuned!

I hope you enjoyed this post. Thank you for reading!


Saturday, September 5, 2015

Spotlight Saturday: Pennant Banner in 1, 2 3!

Yes! Saturday has arrived, which means it's time for....Spotlight Saturday, hosted by one of my favorite blogs: KINDERGARTEN DRAGONS. To learn more about this fabulous opportunity to show and tell about ideas, resources, etc. you find worth to share, clink on the link.

This week my post is all about do it yourself banners!

Pennant banners to me add another level of happiness to any room or celebration. It is amazing how by just adding a little touch like this, a room becomes so much cheerful and lively, don't you think?
However, if you need to buy them, it can get a little pricey. This year I really wanted  some for my classroom. But I did not buy them, I made them.
The good thing about making your own is not just the savings. To me the best part is the personal touch you can add. You can pick the color and patterns you like, the size of the pennants, and the length of the banner.

I made small ones and hanged them on bulletin boards:



I made bigger ones and hanged them on the windows:


 I even made some (flag style) for my word wall:


Although I wanted banners, I had spent so much already that I didn't want to completely  extinguish  my budget. Another issue was the colors and patterns. I found some pennant banners already made at the dollar store but the colors were not a good match for my classroom. And then it hit me! What about that gadget that I bought about six months ago in HSN??? I could use my own scrapbook paper with the colors and patterns I want!
This certainly became my new favorite gadget! When I bought it, they were offering 4 payments, so it was a really good deal. Here it is:



I really bought this set because of the punch board to make envelopes and bows which I had a chance to use at the end of the school year to make envelopes for my end of the year movie, but I forgot all about the banner punch board.
I pulled it out of the box, still in its bubble wrap, and I though it was going to take me a while to learn how to use it.
I was wrong! I took literally two minutes to become an expert! That's how easy it is!

You can also find it at Amazon :
It may seem a little too much, but it is totally worth its price!
I'm going to try my best to show how easy it is to use:

- Once you have your paper with the measurements you want, place it in the board. The top clear part opens up so you can place the paper, and then when you close it, its little magnets keep the paper from moving.



 - Then, you place the blade (it has a handle so you don cut yourself) on the guiding track and slide it to cut the paper.


Here is the paper already cut:



- To make the little holes, you need to place the pennant top corners on the top side of the board, and press down to punch the hole.


And that's it! You have your pennant!

Besides the pennant, you can also make flags (like the ones I cut for my letters for the word wall)  and crest shapes. Isn't this an awesome gadget?
I actually spent more time looking for the paper with the right colors and patterns, than what it took to make the banners! And I didn't even mention how much fun I had!

If you decide to buy this gadget and make some banners I would love to see them! So please don't forget to post pictures on Instagram and tag me. I hope you enjoyed this post. Thank you for reading! Until next time!