DIY Oracle/affirmation Cards From Paint Chips!: Oracle cards are like tarot cards. They can be used for introspection or divination. But unlike tarot cards, they are free flowing and can really say or contain whatever you want! You can have a theme, like animals, or symbols that are meaningful to…

Paint chip crafts make for colorful decor and can transform boring into wow for free. Step by step photo tutorial | InMyOwnStyle.com

Kids' writing ideas from Pinterest, including paint chip synonyms, printable Boggle game, traffic signal transitions, and paper plate Venn diagram.

Teaching shades of meaning and levels of intensity in first grade.

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Friends, I've been so excited for this blog post but wanted to put it off til I had the time to really focus in! I have a few things I've been DYING to share with you! But let's start here. With a FREEBIE! Duh! Who doesn't want to start their Saturday morning with free goodies? Click the picture below for the cutest darn Sentence Fluency/Punctuation center. And of course, it's fall/pumpkin themed.. who could resist? Next up! I'm so excited to share with you something we did in our classroom that I ACTUALLY remembered to take pictures of! This week, in writers workshop, our class was working on adding powerful verbs and adjectives to our writing. Now, I don't know about you guys but in our classroom... wall space is seriously limited. I wanted my kids to have a resource they could always go to for using powerful verbs and adjectives without taking up any precious bulletin boards. So these were born: Easy Peasy! Just use a binder ring and some freeeeeeeeeeeeeeee paint chips and you have yourself a nice little resource for writing. My kids LOVED creating these and they have been using them like crazy! I have loved reading words like "gobbled" in their memoirs! :) So I'm having a little trouble believing that it's ALMOST October! How outrageous is that?? It will be fall break before we know it ;) To celebrate the coming of October and the "Peace out" of September, I'm throwing a little sale in my TPT store! Every item will be 10% off for this weekend only! Click the graphic below to visit my store and check out all the discounted goodies! :) Last but not least, have you met Dana over at Fun in First Grade? No? Well don't waste any time. Hop on over to her blog and check out her 500 follower giveaway! There are over 50 PRIZES, including winner's choice from my store.

This week our first grade team analyzed some Fountas and Pinnell level G books to figure out what needed to be taught in reading to help our students…

Caisteal Maol is a ruined castle located near the harbour of the village of Kyleakin.  An ancient seat of the MacKinnon clan, the fortress commands the strait between Kyleakin and the mainland.   Please note: Whilst we try to replicate each colour on our website, colour on screen may vary due to a number of factors including screen resolution. We therefore advise that you order a colour card or sample pot to check actual finished colour.

Painting...not my favorite thing to do, but you do get unbelievable results with paint. I have a few paint projects in the works right now. Some are further along than others. I want to paint part of the family room, my daughter's room, guest bathroom, 6 chairs, a bookshelf...ok I have to stop. I think I'm going to be sick with how much painting I want to get done. Well, any who, I'm in the paint section of the hardware store and always grabbing more paint chips for inspiration. You know I love a good paint chip. If you click HERE and HERE, you'll find two other ideas that I've done with those unused paint chips. Today's idea is for this...what is it? It's a needle case!! I saw something some where on the Internet that was made with paper into a little note pad, but I can't remember where I saw it. This needle case is my version of the paint chip match book. All you need are paint chips... a piece of cotton batting or felt and those metal thingies that clip paper together. I know, technical term. The metal things are from the office supply. You poke the metal through something and then you separate the 2 parts and it keeps things together. First step...just fold up the bottom about 1 1/4 inch. Use a hole punch or sharp pointy thing to poke a hole through the 2 layers in the center of the bottom. Cut your batting to fit. Put the metal thingy through the hole...force through the cotton. Separate and flatten the metal flaps on the back side. Just add your needles and you are good to go...or should I say...good to "sew". Make them in any color. Great for little... little stocking stuffers for sewing friends add to the top of a gift package guild gifts sewing bee gifts party favors for you sewing groups add pins, needle, small button, thread wrapped on a small card and make a sewing kit The ideas are endless with paint chips. I just hope the paint companies don't catch on. I really did need these paint chips for painting though. well, maybe not the orange...I just loved the burnt orange color. Already bought my first gallon of tan paint to paint brick in the family room. Pictures of that to come. Happy Tuesday, ~Karen~

Kids' writing ideas from Pinterest, including paint chip synonyms, printable Boggle game, traffic signal transitions, and paper plate Venn diagram.

We have been exploring "shades of meaning" aka synonyms for the last week to spruce up our writing. First we read this book: Then using paint strip samples from Home Depot and Lowe's, we brainstormed "shades" of overused words and created anchor charts. Created by the talented teacher next door:-) Finally these anchor charts were added to our writing wall for reference during Writer's Workshop. (Can you tell we're working on transition words as well?) I'd love to hear from you. Share an activity you have used for "shades of meaning." 

We all know that the most cost effective way to change the look of a room is changing the wall color. Picking the wrong color and then having to change it

The life of a creative, and sometimes hectic, teacher. Get ideas and inspiration to enhance your classroom - maybe even your life. = )

We've long admired the work of New Zealand–born, London-based designer Cassandra Ellis, whose approach to interiors we find particularly resonant: Rather t

I originally saw the idea for a synonym flower or wheel or sun pinned from Hello Literacy. There weren't any directions there, but this is not a difficult project! The hardest part was stuffing my purse with the paint sample cards. I felt like a shoplifter, even though I know these are perfectly acceptable to take! The idea is to put a common word, like "happy," at the bottom (or top, depending on the direction) and then find synonyms for that word. We actually all did this together as a family, although I intended to do it just with my 5th-grader. Everyone just happened to be around and kept yelling out words. This would be a great learn-to-use-the-thesaurus activity as well. This was an incredibly easy and fun project, and we now have it brightening up our schoolroom. I really intend to do it with my creative writing classes, but 24 kids X 9 paint cards each is a whole lot of paint cards in my purse! (Yes, I know they will probably just actually give them to me at Lowe's or Home Depot.) I meant to write in the middle, "Instead of _____, Use ______" but I forgot and wrote "synonyms" instead. The idea, of course, is that instead of using the same old words over and over again, such as "awesome" or "nice," you can have a choice of sooo many others! Isn't Pinterest an amazing resource? How have you used your Pinterest ideas this week?

Today I am linking up with Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It. Actually, I can't believe I made it through the first week of school, and my to-do list is just as long as ever! Last Monday I unveiled the first half of my reading area makeover. It really is my favorite part of the room to work on! So I left off last time explaining how I talk to my students about my love for reading. I show them the book racks they will be using to keep books that they want to read in the future (Tried it Tuesday-Reading Area Revealed!) and tell them that they will get some time to begin looking for books to put on their rack today. I remind them that they need to choose books that are just right for them. I tell them that one way to check if a book is just right is to read a page of the book and raise a finger each time you come to a word you don't know. If you get to five words you don't know before you reach the end of the page, it's probably too difficult of a book for you. All of my books have library cards in them that the students need to fill out, and I show them the back part of the reading area where they will keep the library cards. This is the before picture of this part of my room. This is the larger bulletin board after I finished it. I used a pocket chart for each of my kids to put their library cards, and as a little first day of school surprise, I put bookmarks in them that I made over the summer after seeing them on Pinterest. This was the picture from Fern Smith's Classroom Ideas. I thought they were a great idea and easy enough to do quickly. I got a variety of colors, wrote READ! on them, and put one in each pocket. So, when my students filled out their library cards and went to put them in their pocket, they got to take out their bookmark. I told my kids I made them and someone said, "Really?" like they thought it was amazing! On the right side of the bulletin board I put my Theme Mini-Poster Set which you can find at my TPT store. This is the second bulletin board back in the corner. Sorry, the picture turned out a little fuzzy. :( As you can see, I am a big Snoopy fan! I found these great classroom supplies online a couple years ago. The small ones are little game boards. Each time a student finishes reading a book, we talk about it, and I put a small sticker on their game board. It's an easy way to keep track of how many books everyone has read. The goal chart to the left is where we track our quarterly reading goal. When the students reach the goal, we have a reading celebration! I have so much more to talk about, but my teenage son is chomping at the bit to get on the computer! Check out all the Monday Made It ideas at 4th Grade Frolics! Subscribe to the Forever in Fifth Grade Newsletter for the latest info on freebies, classroom tips, and special sales!

Hi Bloggers! I just wanted to make a quick post and show some of the samples I made for CHA. I was so honored to make samples for Tim Holtz, Stampers Anonymous, Sizzix, Advantus and Ranger. Thank you so much! To be among so many talented designers was a treat. I loved seeing all the different styles, it was simply amazing! Loving the new releases, I think it's the BEST ever!! Here are some samples with the new stamp! Which is your favorite? If your in Elk Grove Saturday, January 26th I'll be teaching at Stampers Corner. Come by and say hi! I'd love to see you! Richele

The cue word at CASology Challenge is Copper this week. I stamped the outline stamp in Versamark and embossed in dark brown embossing powder. Then I used Distress Stains in Tarnished Brass (the closest thing I had to copper) to stamp the lightest layer stamps for the flower and leaves. I also used it to colour some white card so that I could die cut my words in the same colour. I love that it has a metallic shimmer. Pop on over to the design team to get more inspiration ... and then I'm looking forward to seeing how you interpret copper. Anna Uhras Bharati Nayudu Deidre Payne Jacquie Southas Janet Ribet (you are here) Jen Wills Joyce Mehrberg Karen Haman Kevin Bray Kymona Tracey Melissa Chipperfield Rachel Bergfeld Sponsor : Stamplorations

Yesterday, I shared the process of painting our master bathroom pink. First, I started with Pink Sea Salt by Martha Stewart. The color was pale. I didn’t realize I wanted something as high …

I love using paint chips! I have used them in the past for books marks, reading incentives, and for brainstorming synonyms. I used them last week to write Color Poems. The kids wrote a metaphor and three similes describing a color. They came out awesome! Check out my color poetry post from last year! I read some trade books and we talked about how colors represent emotions and feelings. I read the books and used the chart. The next thing that the kids did was pick a paint chip. They used the following sheet to brainstorm their ideas. Click for link: I used a sheet from Writing Fix. The kids wrote similes using their senses. They picked three similes that fit their metaphor. (I did conference with them, although the mistakes reappeared!) Here are some published poems:

I'm still in the midst of cleaning up/clearing out my studio...and the things that I discover...or rather, had forgotten about...are becoming their own junk pile. And then I need to decide...pitch, donate, re-use or save...and I'm trying to be ruthless...so to be saved, something either has to be really great or I have the best idea for using it...in the near future...no more "well, maybe someday..." Perfect example...came across a box filled with die-cut cardboard envelopes. When I started my handcrafted card line 15 years ago, I designed an eco-friendly, lightweight cardboard folder for packaging. The idea for the design was based on a similar package of postcards that I had bought in Paris and just loved. I was convinced this was going to be great...I had a die created and 1000 envelopes cut and scored. Turns out that the outside flaps covered too much of the design of the cards so people had a hard time seeing what the outside of the card looked like. So back to the drawing board on package design...and the box of cardboard envelopes was put on a bottom shelf in the studio. So I looked at the cardboard folders and thought...what can I do with them? Since I had just finished my recycled journal class, I had a stack of trimmed newsprint left over...which when folded in half, fit perfectly inside the cardboard envelope. My other art journals are held together with two staples on the folded spine...but these envelopes were too wide for my stapler...and then...that's when it hits me...the eureka moment...as I'm standing next to my sewing machine...I'll sew the papers into place! I sew up one journal...with the newsprint and the cardboard, its pretty drab looking...as I'm looking at it...my eye wanders across my work table...and there's a stack of paint sample cards...and the rest they say is history... Simple blank journals with a paint sample card pocket...ideal for recording your hopes, dreams and inspirations...or maybe just a grocery list or appointment reminders... The closure is a length of colored twine wrapped around a brass paper fastener... The paint sample cards are also sewn in place...a slim pocket for saving a receipt or a telephone number... or a picture of your true love... As I have mentioned before...I want the job of naming the paint colors... I would have the best time... And where can you find these journals you wonder? Why at my booth at the Phinney Winter Festival, December 7 & 8 in Seattle...click on the poster icon on the right sidebar of my blog and you'll get all the details. Back to production...I think there's probably more than 500 cardboard envelopes left in the box...

Here is one of the most popular tri-folds I've done. This is on a mini tri-fold board, so it's small enough to sit at a table and allow the teacher to still see the students working behind it. 895183-Assorted Mini Tri-Fold Board (Light Blue) TNT6034-Green Polka Dot Library Pockets (Peel & Stick) TNT3542-Pocket Chart Cards Bright (100 count) PAC25340-Craft Sticks Regular Size T46405-Colorful Sparkle Star Stickers (for self-checking) The polka dot paper behind the title is one of the pockets cut apart. On each stick I put a different noun (also included proper nouns) Then on the back of the stick I put a star sticker that matched one that I put on the outside of the pocket, allowing the student to check their work.

This video begins by showing a man and a boy. Today, they've taken an adventure to Home Depot, along with filmer Anita Mander. They need to get some paint for a project. Most people don't enjoy picking out a new paint color. It can seem like the choices are nearly unlimited: did you know there

Fern Smith's Directions to Easy Make and Take Centers with Leftover Valentine's Day Candy Boxes

These are some cards I made for the Crafty Vintage Market. I used to make a lot of cards like these but haven't made any for ...

Do you have any spare paint sample cards in your classroom? Grab this Ranking Words Vocabulary Freebie for a short activity that helps students visualize word intensity. Students sort or rank groups of words. The activity helps build vocabulary as well as encourage students to recognize shades of meaning. There are several extension ideas. You can adapt this lesson to help with synonyms, antonyms, and analogies. I like to put the completed cards on a binder ring and hang it in my classroom. Students can flip through the cards when revising their writing and use the word ring as a classroom thesaurus. CLICK HERE to download for free. Caitlin The-Room-Mom.com