Preparing to Substitute Teach 1st Grade

On Wednesday I am substitute teaching a 1st grade religion class. The two subjects that the class is learning about this week are the Holy Spirit and the Epiphany.

First graders like to color - so I have some fun coloring sheets.

I am actually going to spend more time teaching the Epiphany.

I also made a little coloring book out of the three gifts - gold, frankincense and myrrh.

This little coloring book is a reminder of the gifts that brought to the baby Jesus.

I made little bags of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  Matthew 2:11

The gold is a bag of Rolo;s. The frankincense is a bag of carmel corn and the myrrh is a bag of banana chips.

I put a bag of each "gift" into a brown paper bag with a colorful ribbon and added a Three Wise Men graphic.

I think the kids will like the little take home treat and it will reinforce the story of the gifts. 

I am planning on making some Three Wise Men cookies tomorrow - hopefully I will remember to post them!

Thanksgiving Party Favors

Something I enjoy doing is turning Halloween candy into Thanksgiving Party Favors. You can buy leftover Halloween candy for 50% off a few days after Halloween. They year I bought bags of mini Rolo's and Kit Kat bars!

To make this project you will need:

Halloween candy

Brown, orange or yellow wrapping or scrapbook paper

Thanksgiving themed stickers

Scissors

Scotch tape

Plastic bags

Coordinating ribbon

Hole punch

Directions:

Make a pattern to fit your Halloween candy. Then cut out the scraps of paper to size and tape them around the candy. Add a Thanksgiving sticker. Then put the candy into the plastic bags.

The above photo is Kit Kat bars - the orange ends of the candy bar add to the Thanksgiving feel.

I find crafting relaxing. I often make these treats while I watch my favorite television shows.

I also love the gold ends of the Rolo's. I happened to have the brown wrapping paper from a cigar project I did last year. I also found the brown ribbon in my ribbon box. So before you head out to the store check your supplies and don't forget to use your coupons (Michael's, Hobby Lobby and JoAnne's).

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.

Rolo Cigars

Next Sunday  is  Fathers Day!s I am in charge of the party favors and I am making a lot of fun favors! The first favor that I made was a Rolo Cigar!

I bought some Rolo's at Target. Note: Rolo's are .79 each at Target and as much as $1.29 at other stores.

I started experimenting with different colors of brown wrapping paper.

I asked my husband which color Rolo looked the most like a cigar. He said he liked the dark brown - but I liked the light brown. Then he said "do whatever you want."

I decided to do both colors! I think it looks really unique. I put the cigars in a Kate Spade box - they fit perfectly.  I also put an "R" sticker on the cigars. My Father-in-Law's name is Raymond. And it was also near his birthday.

I found the "R" stickers in the wedding section at Michael's.

Instead of a monogram sticker - a sports sticker (i.e. baseball, basketball or football stickers). Be creative!

Firecrackers

I made some Firecrackers out of Rolo's. I used to make Firecrackers out of Lifesavers - I guess I haven't made this craft for 5 or 6 years because I could not find a roll of Lifesavers anywhere! Lifesavers are now in the candy aisle in bags. After speaking to several store employees - they said that they only carry rolls of Lifesavers in holiday boxes during the Christmas holiday. Who knew? Since I had recently used Rolo's to make pencils I decided to use them for my Firecracker project.

If you see rolls of Lifesavers any where - please let me know.

The first step is to slowly and carefully take the wrappers off the Rolo.

Now use a Rolo wrapper as a pattern to cut out some wrapping or scrapbook paper.

Find some wrapping paper or scrapbook paper and cut them out to size.

You could also need some fun little sparklers and twirlers.

You could also make your own twirlers by using a bunch of curling ribbon.

This is a fun and safe Firecracker. Tape the twirlers to the top of the Rolo, then wrap the Rolo with the scrapbook paper. Use double stick tape to adhere the scrapbook paper. So easy.

So I made a bunch of Firecrackers and put them in a cute bucket in the middle of my table. This makes a super cute centerpiece, party favor or a unique place card.

I love Fireworks! Happy Fourth of July!

Pencils! I Said I Wouldn't......But I Did!

I said I wasn't going to add the silver band to the pencils. But I decided that the pencils would look a lot cuter with the silver band.

So I glued a thin piece silver between the yellow and pink papers. It really didn't take that long.

I looked all over Michael's craft store, Party City and Target for some thin sliver tape. I could not find any. So I ended up using the super thin wired silver ribbon that I had purchased for my back-up plan.

When I bring these to Christian's class I will probably put them in a basket. But I am keeping them in the box - just in case I have a tennis match and my hubby  has to bring them to the classroom. He refuses to carry a basket.

Pencils!

Today I finished making one of the end-of-year treats for Christian's class.  I made 38 of these pencils! I wish that I could take credit for this idea but it was featured in the 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. They had some additional steps in the magazine that I deleted - like wrapping thin silver tape in the area between the yellow and pink papers and crimping the yellow paper. I don't want to be lazy - BUT the kids are just going to rip these open to gobble up the candy!

To make these pencils you will need:

* individual packages of Rolos
* bag of Hershey's Kisses
* yellow card stock
* light pink card stock
* glue gun
* sharp scissors
* ruler
* pinking shears
* double stick tape
* black Sharpie pen

My very first tip is to buy the Rolos at Target - by the front checkout area. At Target the Rolos are .79 each and I saw them other places for $1.19 and .99. I bought 38 packages of Rolos so the lower price is important.

The first step that you should do is hot glue a Hershey's kiss to the top of the Rolo. Be sure to trim the little Hershey's tag off with some sharp scissors.

While I was watching the French Open I cut the yellow card stock into 4 1/2" x 4" pieces.

I cut one of the shorter (4') sides with pinking shears.

Once I cut 38 pieces of yellow card stock and used pinking shears to cut one side. I rolled the yellow card stock around the Rolos.

I put double stick tape on the three sides that were not trimmed with the pinking shears. And rolled the yellow card stock around the Rolo. The zig zag side should be facing the Hershey Kiss.

I used a ton of double stick tape on this project!

I marked the end of the pencil with a black  Sharpie marker - No. 2.

Okay - when I bought the yellow card stock at Michael's I was sure that I had pink card stock at home. But I didn't. The pink paper that I had was hot pink - erasers are not hot pink! So I improvised - I found some light pink wrapping paper.  I cut the wrapping paper in to 3/8" x 3 1/2" strips.

Using double stick tape I wrapped and taped the light pink paper around the top of Rolo.

I made 38 of these pencils! By the time I was done my back was killing me!

This would be a wonderful back to school lunch box treat or a fun year end treat for the classroom.

Now I must go lay down on a heating pad!