Monday Made It: Contraction Shakers!

Happy Monday! Today marks the first day of my sailing lessons!!! I hope I don't regret this adventure... I'll let you all know tomorrow. :)

Time for Monday Made It, yeah!

Here is what I made this week: contraction shakers!!!!!!!!

This idea has been cooking in my brain for a while, and I had the empty bottle collection to prove it. :) A while back, Denise at Sunny Days in Second Grade posted about her synonym shakers, and I was totally in love with them! I knew my class would for sure love them, too.

Our reading series puts a TON of emphasis on contractions, and for some reason my class was really into them this past year, so I decided to make contraction shakers!

And you can make them, too!! I put my word lists and labels into a little document-o for ya.

When I looked up the Common Core standard for this activity, I noticed that it did not exist in the first grade set. So, question for you today: in which grade does your school teach contractions?

I teach one set of contractions in first grade in the fall and then the other set in the spring.

How about you?

Monday Made It: Mod Podge Paint Cans!

First of all, OMG! I almost had a heart attack watching The Bachelorette. I don't know if west coast people watch it later so I won't say anything, but I definitely shed a happy tear today during one of the dates, and before she gave out the last rose, I was feeling very anxious!!! But I'm happy now, all is well, and I can keep watching. :)

Second, I am participating in Monday Made It hosted by Tara at 4th Grade Frolics!

This is a really big deal for me, people. I am a visionary.... I get visions of things I want and that is pretty much where it ends. Haha! So I am really proud of myself for actually following through on a thing I wanted to do!

Here is my finished product!

I was inspired by Natalie's post about her paint cans!

This was my first ever Mod Podge project! I feel like that is crazy talk in the blogging world. I am trying not to care that there are some wrinkles in the paper and that it doesn't look perfect........... :) I'm sure I will get better with more Mod Podge practice!

I am going to use it to hold these bad boys:

They are the little rubbery things that come on Target prescription bottles! My mom had been saving them for me and I had like 4, and then I was able to go through a retiring teacher's stash over the weekend and she had TONS! I am going to use them as counters.

Last, over the weekend I picked up The Phonics Dance book!

I actually have an older version... it is well-loved. :)

I spent the afternoon lining up the hunks and chunks in The Phonics Dance with the order that I teach them in my reading program. I think this will make a HUGE difference for my students this year and I can't wait to do it!