Monday Made It

Linking up with Tara again for this week's Monday Made it! I so look forawrd to these, but today I am feeling a little bummed. I made LOTS of stuff this week, but in my typical fashion, it is all about 7/8 finished. That is how I roll people... I almost finish lots of stuff, then 8 months later, it will be done! Stresses me out - why do I do it?? Hmmm, I may need to sit on a couch to figure out this one!  

Any who, I did finish my whisper phones. The first time I went to Lowe's and asked a guy to cut the PVC pipe, he told me no! I went back a week later with a plan. It went like this. 
Me:"can you please cut this for me? I'm a teacher and I need it for my classroom!" 
Employee" I can make one cut. Why, how many did you need?"
Me: (big smile) "Um, about 25... you would be helping kindergartners learn to read. Please!"
Employee: "I can sell you some cheap cutters... "
Me: " Did I mention I am a teacher and I am really trying not to spend more money, I already spend so much for my classroom. Seriously, I am using these as whisper phones, it really helps the kids with reading... want to try one out?"
Employee" (laughing and shaking his head) "okay, just this once!"

Moral of the story. Be very nice, explain why and lay it on thick!!!

They were super easy to make and I think the whole project cost around $19 and that is with the $7 I spent on the colored duct tape. If you want to make them, you will need (1) 10 foot piece of 3/4 inch PVC pipe cut into 3 1/2 inch pieces and (2) 3/4 inch elbow pieces per phone.

I cleaned my pieces with nail polish remover (although you can buy actual cleaner at the store) and then put an elbow on each side. Wrapped a piece of colored duct tape around the middle and that's it! The whole project took me 15 minutes once I started! Click here to see the video I watched before making them.

Next up was my alphabet line. I LOVE all the ones I have seen while blog hopping and in TpT stores, but I plan to use Zoo Phonics next year and I really wanted the alphabet line to match. If you have never heard about Zoo Phonics, I highly recommend you visit their site now. I plan to post more about it later this week. Stay tuned!

I bought their font CD and I love it. The only problem is the fonts only came in black line. I really wanted color for this, so I found some graphics online. I am not sure which ones I'll use. I love the colored graphics, but I wonder if I should be consistent and use the actual Zoo Phonics picture even though it wouldn't be colored. Any thoughts?

                                 With random graphics                      With Zoo Phonic graphics

I also made some flash cards to use with my class while teaching the letter sounds. The front has the animal cue and the back has the description of the movement. I love the way they turned out. I printed one last night (just to be sure) I just folded down the middle, added some double sided tape in the middle and laminated. Perfect, thick and sturdy! 

Front                                Back

 Lastly, I created some number labels so that I could make number magnets. I number all my students and thought this would be an easy way to see where everyone is during Daily 5. I already use a clip chart for behavior so I didn't think I wanted another clip chart with more clothespins for my daily 5 board.  I am tossing around the idea of using my smart board for this, but then the kids can't use it as part of their rotation and that seems silly. If you like these number circles, you can get a free copy by clicking on the picture below. The numbers came from Print Candee. So fun!

Here is the unfinished board. I will post another picture of the final product when I decide what I am going to use it for! 

 As always, thanks for coming over here and checking out my stuff and sticking around through my super long posts!