Monday Made It: January

Monday Made It may very well be one of my favorite link ups. I'm feeling excited to see what everyone's been up to. I actually just unpacked my crafting and cake decorating supplies (which have been in various storage locations since June)-so I'm ready for a new project!

We threw a sort of last minute New Year's Eve party, but last minute always seems to really make the creative juices flow, right? I made the things pictured above for about $4! I used the bulletin board from the seating chart at our wedding, and made everyone create a hashtag for their 2015 and for their hopes for 2016 (this picture was taken early in the night). It was super fun! I used paper and paint I already had, but I did have to buy some new thumbtacks that were a simple color. I also went to the dollar tree and bought gold frames to decorate the table with. I tried out my own hand lettering and design. Again, I had gold paint left from the wedding. It was super easy! I even made the dots just using my fingers! 

 

This was a project I made to display in our home. I printed out photographs and a map of our city (Atlanta) and neighborhood. I traced around the letters and mod podged over them. Voila-they look super fancy but were really simple! I think the most difficult part was finding a photo or drawing that had high resolution and also fit the letters just how I wanted. The letters are just lightweight cardboard from Hobby Lobby. I would have preferred wooden, but I couldn't find the sans serif look I was going for. 

 

I was inspired to begin a new series of products for my store. Teaching Math and encouraging higher order thinking has my heart. A few years ago, I began developing tasks that my old district would have referred to as "Constructed Response" for different topics. These were tasks that would have different steps building upon the ones in front of them, and just would require students do some deep thinking, and often, writing.

So I have begun putting them on TPT-tasks and assessments for each task. I use them with my kids and they are doing great! It's good for everyone, but especially my kids who need a challenge. I've been using them whole group.  I will keep creating new sets as I try them out and tweak them in my classroom.