Tissue Paper Poms Tutorial

Hiya friends,

Today I am excited to show you the table signs I've been working on because I think they're FAB-ULOUS!
I am equally excited about linking up with 4th Grade Folics for my first ever Monday Made-it!


Soooo...I was inspired by several blogs and Pinterest to create these tissue paper poms to hang from the ceiling in my classroom. I took it a step further and added the table number sign and a cutie patootie owl. Here's the finished product:









I love them all!!!! But, if I had to choose a favorite...maybe the green one...or the yellow. I can't choose. Obviously, these are not hanging in my classroom yet. I can't even get in the building until August 13th! AHHHHHH!!! Ahhhhhhh! Okay, moving on. They are hanging in my house. And, they will stay hanging there until August 13th. My husband hates that I poked holes in the ceiling to hang them, but it's just teeny tiny little push pin holes. Sorry, babe. I have a teenage son who is six feet, two inches tall. He has to dodge them when he walks down the hall. Sorry, Jerm.

There are LOTS of tutorials online on making tissue paper poms, but here's how I did it:


I started by choosing tissue paper that I thought coordinated with the table sign and the owl. I used 6 sheets of the 19 3/4 IN/PO X 2 1/6 FT sheets. But the tissue is a little too long, so I had to trim it once it was folded up. I'll show you that in a minute. Other than tissue paper, you will need a ruler, fishing line, jewelry wire, scissors, button, hot glue gun, ribbon, and a sewing needle.


For this pom, I placed three orange sheets on top of three yellow sheets of tissue paper, but you can alternate the colors depending on the desired look. Then, I folded the paper accordian style smoothing out the edges with a ruler along each fold.


Once I had the paper folded, I wrapped a few inches of jewelry wire at the center of the bundle of paper. Next, I trimmed about an inch and a half from both ends. On my first attempt, without trimming, the pom was large enough to hang from the ceiling of a concert hall :-( You could just buy smaller paper though :-) After I cut off some length, I rounded the edges so it would look more like petals on a flower. In the last pic, I'm preparing to seperate the tissue paper on one half on my pom.


I pulled a piece of tissue to the right, then a piece to the left, alternating side-to-side. It's not pretty at first (the bottom left pic).  Once all the pieces were roughly pulled apart I shaped it to look like a blossom. I intentionally made mine flat on one side because I planned on nesting an owl on it, but you can make it more spherical if you want.


Next, I hot glued a piece of ribbon to the pom and then to a table sign. The signs pictured are from Cara Carrol's Chalk One Up for Being Organized pack. I like them, but I can't decide if they are too dark for these poms and should be replaced with something that has a white background. What do you think? Ok, back to the ribbon. After I glued the ribbon to the table sign, I glued a decorative button over the end of the ribbon to make it look more finished. Finally, I threaded a needle with fishing line. I "sewed" the fishing line through the wire at the center of the pom and through the top and bottom of the owl leaving enough line to hang the pom from the ceiling. Obviously, I'll have to adjust the length of the fishing line once I get into my classroom.

My husband's favorite is the green pom. What's yours?


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Ten Pins for Writing

Hiya friends,

It's Wednesday, and that means it's time for another Ten Pin Linky Party with Ashley from Just Reed. This week's pins are all about writing. If you wanna checkout my Write On! board (which is kinda lacking if I'm being honest) or any of my boards you can follow me on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/kasandrateach/.



My first pin is my all time favorite writing related resource that I've ever purchased from TpT.


Kerri Bordelon's writing resources are awesome. I L-O-V-E the picture dictionary that comes with each theme. Themed writing paper is also included. And, you can get writing packets with the picture dictionary and themed paper for any and every book or theme you could ever imagine. I'm going to stock my writing center with Keri Bordelon's stuff! (I take an oath she is not paying me to say these things. I've never contacted her:-)

EDIT: I have to add my favorite writing resource that I ever got for F-R-E-E!


The Writing Privacy Folder from Ashley Sanderson includes:
hand labels with left and right
"What I Can Write About..."
family member name words
color words
Transition words
Short Vowel/Long Vowel sound help
Reminder to put name, capitalization, and punctuation
Personal Word Wall
name tag for front of privacy folder
My Writing Office label for front of privacy folder

My next few pins are gonna be heavy on the anchor chart side of things. They are all pretty self explanatory.


Handwriting problems





Spaghetti and meatball spacing


These last few pins are neat-o projects that include a writing component.

 Biography bottles (coke bottle with a styrofoam ball head) - add a writing component. Precious!



Tell me about your writing center or send me a link to a post about your writing center. I'd love to read it as part of my "summer professional development."

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Favorite Pins Friday with The First Grade Parade

Hey friends,

I don't know about you, but I feel like "relax and take your time" time is O-V-E-R! We are mid-way through July - what, WHAT??? I'm changing schools and changing grades, and I can't get into my room until mid-August due to construction. I've been enjoying getting things done here and there in a very un-timely fashion, but now I feel the need to write it down, to "to-do list it". Maybe it's just because I've had a crazy week. I saw my doctor today, got two epi-pens, and a referral to an allergist. After the whole wasp encounter, ambulance ride and hospitalization thing on Monday, I killed a yellow jacket in my bathroom yesterday. Gasp. What is going on??? My heart raced for half an hour, maybe more, after that. How do you prevent wasps from flying around outside your door? In Houston, TX? Ha. I need to move to a cooler climate. Less insects. Colorado??? I'm still not over it, can you tell?

Moving on...today I am linking up with The First Grade Parade for "Favorite Pins Friday". If you are a fan of Cara's linky party and Pinterest (who isn't?), you gotta check out Ashley's Ten Pin Linky parties on Wednesdays at Just Reed. She's been hosting a party for ten specifically themed pins each week for several weeks now.
FAVE ORGANIZATION PINS:

DIY Cereal Box Drawer Organization. Why didn't I think of this? 

Holy moly, Batman! I WISH my pots and pans were organizationed like this. Find it at kitchens.com.


FAVE EDUCATION PIN:

These cute kitties help teach common and proper nouns. I found these at Smitten With First in her Throwback Thursday linky post. 


FAVE FOOD PIN:
Healthy packed luncg ideas from funfindsformom.com. Only, these bento box style lunch ideas are for me, not the kiddies! 

FAVE QUOTES PINS:
 Teacher humor :-)

This is me to a T. 


FAVE HALLOWEEN PIN:
Zombie Boogers! For my girlies, for school, for everyone!

'Til next time,


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Ten Pins for Science & Social Studies

Hey friends,

Lemme start off by saying that if you missed yesterday's post; it was a doozy, about my encounter with a wasp and the hospitalization that followed. You'll wanna check it out if you've got wasps in your area so you know the signs to look for...as in get me to the hospital NOW signs :-(

Now for the good stuff! I am linking up with Ashley at Just Reed again for her Ten Pin Linky Party. This week's theme is Science & Social Studies. Some of these science and social studies pins will be more appropriate for upper elementary or middle school than my future firsties. 


Here we go...

1. This website is full of experiments to do with kids - It's even got a "preschool science" section! science-sparks.com

2. Cloud Dough - (the stuff at hands on museums) 8 cups flour & 1 cup baby oil. It feels like flour as you run your fingers through it, but it's moldable. A wonderful sensory activity for children. I'm positive this stuff has lots of uses...moon craters, 3-D shapes, etc... jugglingwithkids.com

3. Nine apps for young scientists! playfullearning.net
4. Edible DNA :-) Edible science is the best kind! When I taught fifth grade science, kids went crazy for out Roots, Leaves, and Stems Feast, sugar cube sink holes, chocolate cake mudslides, and boiled egg earth layers. teach.genetics.utah.edu
5. Hello! No social studies class is complete without at least one salt dough map :-) Great for teaching elevation and physical features. kidworldcitizen.org
6. Flip flap books and foldables were great for 5th and 6th grade. This one is from a second grade classroom.  simplyskilledinsecond.blogspot.com
7. Food chain stacking cups from eisforexplore.blogspot.com.
8. More edible science. I don't know the source of this one. 
9. Too cute! Spring Time Science with Seeds from rainbowswithinreach.blogspot.com.

10. Weather: Fill the cup with water. Put shaving cream on top for a cloud. Explain that when clouds get really heavy with water, it rains! Then put blue food coloring on top of the cloud, and watch it rain. Kids love experiments! I don't know the source of this pin either. 


Thanks for stopping by, and come back soon :-)

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