Getting to Know You...Getting to Know All About You...

The first step in being a room mom is to get to know your teacher.  Below is a Teacher Profile you can use to help break the ice and begin to get to know your teacher, what he/she likes and what he/she needs assistance with.  Your teacher is a wealth of knowledge so use him or her.  They know best what works in the classroom.  And likewise make sure if you ask them to fill this out you not only use the answers they provide but you share them with the other parents of the class.  I knew of one teacher who wrote on her teacher profile she was allergic to flowers.  The parents of the class sent flowers in for almost every occasion that year.  Now either they really didn't like the teacher, they failed to read the answers she wrote or some sweet parent just wasn't informed of her allergy.  Either way it's the room parent's responsibility to notify and/or organize teacher gifts for the different occasions throughout the year and in doing so you should always provide them with a list of the teacher's favorites. 
Teacher Profile
(Please fill out and return to So & So’s mom)

Full Name:
Initials/Monogram:
Family Names (please list spouse, children & pets):

Birthday:
Hobbies or Interests:
Favorite Store(s):
Favorite Restaurant(s):
Favorite Flower:
Favorite Candy:
Favorite Drink/Soda:
Favorite Snack(s):
Favorite Cake:
Favorite Color:
Anniversary of becoming a teacher:
Anniversary of teaching at this school:

What projects, programs or special events can I assist with this year?

Back to School 2012

It's Back to School time!  I'm trying to muster some excitement because honestly this summer went by way to fast and I miss my babies already.  I don't like them going back to school, not one bit, but I'm going to put my big girl panties on and deal with it.  In the meantime, we picked up a few things for their teachers to make the first week of school a little easier (because I'm SURE they are SO excited too;). 

I've been making back to school kits for the past 8 years (yikes!).  I have found the following items especially useful and included them in my kit this year:

• lint brush
• tide stick or shout wipes
• mints
• hand sanitizer
• advil/aleeve/excedrin (for the headaches that could possibly ensue)
• cute paper/binder clips
• thank cards/note cards
• chocolate
• mouse-pad tablet (I love these and so many teachers have commented they love them too!  Often their desks are so crowded and it's convenient to have a multipurpose pad of paper.  These cute mouse-pad tablets are in the dollar section now at Target.)
• Smart water (because it tastes the best and it's smart for school to stay hydrated;)

  

Soap Clouds

Yet another reason I LOVE Pinterest, the really cool science projects you can do with children!  I stumbled on soap clouds over at www.ourbestbites.com.  You can make these super cool creations with a bar of IVORY soap and your microwave.  Yep, that is all you need.  Our Best Bites site had lots of ways you could utilize soap clouds including breaking them back down and molding the soap into shapes.  However, I saw their picture and had a different idea in mind...

My youngest daughter has Market Day next week.  Each child has to make 25 of an item (of their choosing), decide on a price (hopefully based on cost), bring it to school and try to sell their item to students from the other classes at their "booth" (or desk).  No real money is exchanged, it's just an exercise for them to learn economics.  Every year we've been able to make food, but for some ridiculous reason we can't this year.  Which left me stumped.  So I decided if we can't make food, we'll make a product that looks like food and I think we did pretty well!  We bought IVORY soap bars, broke them into pieces, placed them in the microwave on high for 27 seconds and viola, soap clouds that we could pull apart into "popcorn" pieces.  This really is a great project that your child can do.  The soap easily breaks into pieces with a dull butter knife and it never gets to hot for them to touch!  It can be a little messy (with the soap pieces), but the kitchen smells good and everything is VERY clean when you are done!  We got about 3 popcorn boxes filled with 1 bar of soap.  I'm so excited for her to show her class and teacher! 

Candy Graduation Caps...

I haven't been posting because I am SLAMMED this spring.  Between Teacher Appreciation, PTA, swim team and cancer benefits I can't think straight.  I really don't have time to post this today...BUT these little suckers are all over Pinterest with no instructions and a link to SPAM.  So I figured this was an emergency;)  My daughter's teacher is graduating this weekend and this is her final degree...ever.  So I thought it would be nice to recognize it in someway.  You all know I'm not a great photographer - but I hope you get the picture.  If you want to make the candy graduation caps see below...

Here are the "ingredients" and I use that term oh so loosely.  Then you just use the chocolate icing to "glue" it together.  There are 18 squares in a Cadbury bar however those suckers break really easily when you are cutting them up.  SO do yourself a favor and buy double what you need.  You cut the Cadbury squares and stack them on top of the Reese's Mini's.  Then you pull the licorice string apart, cut them into small strips and use a brown mini M&M for the "tassel".  I squeezed the end of the licorice string so it would be flat and easier to "glue" using the icing on the top with the Mini M&M.  And there you go!

WhatACuteIdea!

Look what I just purchased from WhatACuteIdea for our bus driver!  Shelly makes THE cutest gifts and has lots of ideas for all the support people at your school or in your life.  It may be too late for the holidays - but keep her in mind for the end of the year!

Indoor Snowball Fight Class Activity

When discussing our winter party my daughter's teacher suggested a snowball fight.  If you know me, you know that anything that incites children to be rowdy and rambunctious INSIDE a classroom is not my cup of tea.  But, I agreed and I must say that now I'm sort of looking forward to it!  I couldn't afford the snowball fight kits that they are currently selling online and in stores, I couldn't even afford the plush snowballs from Oriental trading.  So, I went to my new favorite site, Pinterest, and found this idea. She used a paint can (still out of my price range) and pom poms she made out of yarn (which is super cute, but again a little expensive when you are making 25 snowball kits).  So I took this idea and I made it cheap to mass produce for my daughter's class;).  I found "paint can" like pails in the Dollar Section at Target and I purchased 2 inch craft pom poms www.createforless.com website (because I shopped everywhere and these were by far cheaper than anywhere I could find).  Each pail is filled with 6 craft pom poms and then I used a silver paint marker to write Snowball Fight Kit on the pails.  This project was less than $2 per kit.  Now, you could certainly make this project even cheaper by using cotton balls or I've heard people even using paper crumpled into a ball.  Either way I was happy with the cost this ended up being.  These would be great little gifts for neighborhood kids as well!

THE RULES:
You can either split your class into two groups or split them into more groups and have "brackets" (I think we are going to create four groups and have them come up with team names).  You then clear the desks and tables out of the way, draw a line down the center of the room with masking tape and have two groups/team stand facing each other.  They have 1 minute to throw the snowballs at each other (the idea that once the snowballs they have in their bucket are thrown then they throw any snowballs on the floor back to the other side of the room).  Once the minute is up you call time and count the snowballs on each side of the room.  The side with the least amount of snowballs wins the game.  If you decided to do brackets, then you would have the next two teams step up and do the same thing and the winner of the first game and the winner of the second game face off.  In our classroom the final winner gets bragging rights.  The best part is that the children get to take this game home as a party favor (and it encourages them to pick up the snowballs:).

Last Minute Class Party Ideas

Alright people we are running the gauntlet this week!  You know what I mean, it's the last days of shopping while your kids are in school, you are trying to finish decorating, you have baking, church, charity work you signed up to, that random get together you planned that sounded so great 2 months ago and now you wonder WHAT you were thinking and CLASS PARTIES!!  It's OK.  It's going to be alright.  We ARE going to make it through this week!!  If you need some last minute CHEAP but cute party activities/ideas because you have ran out of time, out of money or Pinterest made you do it and it's not going as planned -  I have listed some below.

"Build a Snowman Contest"
 

M&M Wreath - Great for fine motor skills!
 

Marshmallow Snowman

Candy Cane Initial Ornament

Also, if you haven't tried www.signupgenius.com I HIGHLY recommend it.  You simply create an event, type in EXACTLY what you need and then the site e-mails parents the link where they can sign up and also sends out reminders for you.  This site is also great if you are purchasing gifts for needy families (it allows everyone to sign up for the exact items you listed for each child/person).  I haven't had any complaints and I have had a lot of feedback that they are getting more parent participation using this site.

I hope you all have a peaceful week and fabulous parties!!  We CAN do this!!