Mini Home Visits... Drop Offs... Drive-bys

I have a million things I should be doing, but last night was such a high that I'm going to link up with Teaching Trio's Sunday Scoop today to share. I'm most excited about number 1 on the list. 

(Golly, that was not the font to use in there! You were thinkin that too, right? Fess up. We all become editors as we blog read. I mean, bloggers aren't real writers... Was I tired last night or what...)

Our school puts final touches on classlists as late as possible to catch as many of the new kids coming in as we can. Our Meet & Greet is this coming Wednesday, the week before school starts so Friday was the deadline... well, it was kindergarten's deadline because K families get a special packet that cannot be sent electronically.

For years I've sent home "The August Packet." It consists of

• a welcome letter to parents from me

• a request that both parents send me an email so I can just copy and paste CORRECT email addresses into my list. When I had to type them in myself I used to get most of them wrong. Well, lots of them. At least a few. Enough to make corrections annoying!

• a transportation form that tells me where kids go after school– child care, bus, or pick-up by who.

• an invitation to Work & Mingle Night– don't know what Work & Mingle Night is??? Mine is this coming Thursday, before school starts this year. Before school is the most useful time. I hope I can be ready. And not too frantic. Click on the photo below to see the post and some useful wording.

• my Ultimate Student Info Card that parents must fill out before they drop off their child on the first day. You won't believe all the info I get from one half sheet of paper. Yes, I will need extra copies for those parents who didn't do it and don't realize I'll hold their child ransom until I get it. And they all want their child back... at least on the first day of kindergarten. It is available as a free download if you click on this photo of it.

Freebie Kidpeople Classroom Ultimate Parent Info Card

• a first-day-of-school backpack checklist saying what students need and don't need

• my brand new Parent Flip Book! It is a template that you can use to cover any topic.  My colleague uses hers for curriculum night. Mine includes EVERYTHING incoming parents need to know. It says so right on the cover. Well, almost everything– lunch; snack; dressing for winter; field trips; my classroom behavior expectations; ways to support learning at home; spare clothes; and toileting details. (Do you know the word "toileting" is not real. It comes up with a red spelled wrong line. Let me tell you it is a real word among teachers of young children. Yep, it is.) The Flip Book also includes ways parents can contact me and a big welcome. To a great extent, it is the nitty-gritty of my philosophy of education. And yes, it is long, but if they ain't gonna read it at peak excitement for their kid's first school experience, then when are they gonna. They usually hang on your every word at this point in the year, and I take full advantage. A parent in the know is a parent ready to go. I just made that up.

I had all the info written up from years of teaching kindergarten, but the flip book part was new. I compiled it as a reference packet that parents can and hopefully WILL refer to all year. I LOVE how it turned out.

It actually is purple, blue and green, not pink, blue and yellow. huh.

I got the template from Learning in Wonderland. You can get it, too, from TPT by clicking on the picture of mine up above. There is even a video tutorial to help you put it together. It is work to make everything fit the prearranged spaces, but it was a good summer task and I am so happy to have it.

• and last but not least, my letter to my new students. It has a kid friendly message designed to quiet the jitters and it has a photo of a wildly waving yours truly. You can download a completely editable copy to see what it says by clicking on the photo.

NOW to tell you the sweetest part, and why I'm really posting this morning. As I mentioned, we wait as long as we can to finalize classlists so everyone is included, so there isn't much time to get the August Packet to families in time for them to drop off their completed information and transportation forms at our Meet & Greet. To make sure it reaches them in time I do drive-by mini home visits and deliver the packets door to door. I don't actually just drive by. I stop. And get out VERY briefly.

Here comes Mrs. Wright.
I found this posted on the internet and it is MY car.
No, really. I mean, yes, really.
At least this person "got it." I think I love him.
Plates are meant to be fun, right??

Our school is the most westward school in the district, on the edge of town where there are various subdivisions. It is pretty easy to group the packets by neighborhood to drop them off. I did tonight, with Jonathan dragging along playing chauffeur so I could just hop out. (Don't feel bad for him– he gets free haircuts. And we're an old married couple– what else does he have to do but be with his wife on a Saturday night no matter what she's doing.) If no one was home, I left the packet in the door, but going between 6 - 7:30 p.m. on a Saturday night is a good time to find people.  I mean, come on, parents of kindergartners never go out on a Saturday night like kindergarten teachers and their husbands.

Honest to Pete, you would think Santa Claus was standing on the porch when they come to the door! Can the eyes of my new kidpeople get any bigger? The kids are thrilled, too. I got hugs from kids and parents alike! I had to refuse invites in, cups of tea and coffee, Sprite and pizza! I even could have had a beer. I didn't manage to dodge having my picture taken once or twice– darn it that iPhones are so convenient when I'm in work clothes from sorting out the classroom all day. Photos I don't want to see. Ever. I do drive a red vehicle but I'm not as round as Santa. Really. Just sayin. In case you're taking that analogy too far.

It takes just over an hour of my our time (Thank you, Jonathan. Remember– free haircuts) and I couldn't invest the hour any better. It is SO worth it! Everyone is happy and the stage. is. set. I gain a lot of info, too. I know our neighborhoods pretty well now. I greet former students out on the sidewalks. I see where my kids live and to a certain extent how they live. It lets me connect with my littles even before I know them.

In another lifetime, long ago, I used to do home visits. They seem to be a thing of the past now, but this little mini-version on the porch and in the driveway is better than nothing. It really makes me happy to be a kindergarten teacher, welcoming parents to school, and the kids to my classroom. I mean, a Mrs. Wright Sighting at your own house! Not at school. Where she lives. I get instant celebrity status. Among a small handful of five year olds. I thrill easily.

I know we all teach in a million different situations, but if you can swing getting out into your school community and connecting with kids and families even before they arrive at your classroom door, I HIGHLY recommend it. I was pooped, but happy, and so looking forward to seeing my new little darlings in a week's time. Even if "home visits" are not practical, I hope some of the things I mention from the packet are useful to you. Have a great rest of the weekend! Me... I'm starting to get that back-to-school high energy that makes me just. a. little. punchy. It's only gonna get worse.

Thanks for stopping by. Cliiiiiiiick on back to read more.

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Resources and Freebies Galore!

So excited to have new resources and freebies for you today. Thanks to Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for throwing her weekly Five for Friday linky party to help me share them.

1.  I'm starting with what I am super excited about doing this year with my kiddos. I think it is wonderful when the early years of education are cherished by families– kids grow and learn so much! I help families collect memories in many ways throughout the year, and this activity adds to that collection.

One poem is for the beginning of the year and one for the end. Each poem is about how tall the child is at the moment, measured by the string, and reflects on how much they grow in a year. You do the measuring in the first and last weeks of school. I wrote the poems and include a copy for kindergarten, preschool, and first grade. You'll need yarn in two colors, one for the beginning of the year, one for the end. I am making them FREE to download, so all you have to do is print on cardstock. Directions for an easy way to measure your students' height is included, too. To get this freebie simply click on the photo above. I hope you enjoy it! PLEASE leave love in the comments and PIN!

2.  For the last month or so I've been posting on start-of-year topics– from the first minutes of the first day, to anchor charts, to info cards, to getting parents involved on many levels. And there are freebies to download, too. I've made a special page to connect to all the topics and will be adding to this page as time goes on so all back to school ideas and freebies are easy to find. You can go there by clicking on the photo below. I hope this is useful to you now and in the future. Pin so you can come back as I add on, too.

3.  In one of my last posts I talked about Think-Talk Sticks and I mention them here again so you don't miss out on a useful freebie.

These little babies are going help my kidpeople think and talk during various points in our day– guided reading, writing workshop, and general discussion. I got the original idea from Two Writing Teachers and include a link so you can get their freebie. Click on the photo above to see.

4.  The folks from SightWord.com contacted me to ask if I'd share the news of their resource site with you. I checked it out and, whoa, there are many, many FREE resources here to help teachers teach sight words, phonemic awareness, and counting. Resources include video lessons and lesson tips, games to make, and word cards, too– word cards that are completely editable. You can add any words that your unique class is working on. And did I mention it's all free! There's nothing to buy and you don't need to give your name or sign-up for anything. I suggest you check them out by clicking the icon below. They are not compensating me in any way, just think they are a goodie to know about.

5.  And last, a little bit of shopping fun. If you have a Meijer close by you might want to keep your eyes open for these little babies.

Are you kidding me! Watermelon seed sticky notes! Jonathan had to hold me back before I bought them all– they are on sale! Bonus! If you teach from Lucy Calkins you'll know that small moment stories are like seeds in the juicy watermelon of life, and this is a big idea that kids really latch on to. I can hardly wait until we get to those lessons- I'm going to give each student a watermelon sticky to keep in their notebook to collect watermelon seed ideas for small moment stories. I bet everyone comes up with a few ideas just to use the notes– mwah ha ha, the teacher laughs gleefully. I love when little inexpensive notions translate into good learning for kids. These are fun and novel and the brain grooves on novelty.

Well, that's all for this Friday. Hope you are happy with your finds!

Oh, yeah, almost forgot. Click back to the linky for more great ideas.

All the Links for Start-of-School

I love starting school each year! There is nothing like the excitement of a new class... and nothing like the effort teachers put into it! This is a page where I collect the start-of-school ideas I use in my classroom. Just click below to go to the various topics. Be sure to check back as this post will stay updated with new links as I post them. 

Find some new, fun ideas and FREEBIES to help you and your kiddos launch the year by clicking on the titles!

Night Before School Wishing Star–

a little freebie gift you send to students for the night before school starts

Drop Offs and Drive-bys

The Crucial First Minutes of the First Day

The Ultimate Student Info Card, Parent Work and Mingle Night, and Line-Up Routines

Parent Zip-In Jobs

Five Ways Parents Can Help from Home

Building a Name Chart with Students

Beginning-End of Year Activity

to Celebrate Growing Kids

Hope you found these helpful. PIN so you can check for updates!

Thanks for stopping by!

Think–Talk Sticks and a Freebie Link

Okay, so I'm doing another post for Monday Wednesday Made It! I have little tool that could be useful in many classrooms, and now that Monday Made It is making it's move for the school year to just monthly, I don't want to wait to share. I call them Think–Talk Sticks.

These can be used lots of ways

This idea has two sources. I found it through Betsy Hubbard's post at Two Writing Teachers and she gives credit to Kathy Collins from The Educator Collaborative. Kathy originally used her sticks during reading. She has students place their stick near a character in a picture to talk about what the character might be thinking or saying. Betsy furthered the thinking by applying them to writing workshop. Betsy gives each of her students a stick to hold up when they are formulating their ideas and planning what to write, and then they turn it over when they are ready to share with their partners.

When I read about the sticks being used in these two good ways, I thought of yet another time when they might be useful and that is in group discussions. When I ask a question kids could show they were thinking of their answer, and then when they were ready to share, flip them over. I'm hoping it will increase student engagement by giving kids an action to show on the outside of what's going on inside their head. Some kids are always ready with answers, but others need a bit of help, and this would let students know what the expectation is. I would be able to say, "I see soandso thinking of their answer and I'll watch for him to let me know when he has it." And besides, think-talk sticks are fun and there is good purpose to pulling out a widget every once in a while– remember the brain grooves on novelty.

For all these reasons, I was all about the sticks. Betsy has a freebie sheet of the think and talk balloons– thanks, Betsy! You can simply cut them apart and glue them on either side of a stick. This being the season of extra hands available for cutting and a hot laminator at the ready, I decided to fancy them up a bit.

I happened to have black Post-its on hand, so I stuck the think bubble to the Post-it then laminated. I laminated the talk bubble, too. Hot glue worked well at attaching them to the sticks.

I didn't have any colored sticks at home, so a few seconds with some Sharpies and the sticks had color front and back. I color sticks like this sometimes because I like the uncolored stripe down the edge.

It was a lot of effort in cutting but I'm happy with them in the end. I'm not suggesting you do all this crafting, I sure don't usually when it comes to little sticks. I do encourage you, however, to click on Betsy's bubble page below to read her post and get her freebie. If you don't know about Two Writing Teachers check them out while you're there. This group of educators does a fantastic blog and I hardly ever miss it because I come away with new things to think about every time.

Click to go to Two Writing Teachers for the freebie

I bet if you make some of these you'll not only use them in the ways mentioned her, but in new ways, too. I love teaching tools that can be used over and over to stimulate student thinking. If you don't have time to make them now, Pin! Let me know in the comments what you think.

Trot back to Monday Made It. Find more stuff.

Scrounging in the Kitchen

Today I'm linking with Monday Made It from Fourth Grade Frolics and Teacher in the Kitchen at Not Very Fancy in First. Summer is usually my cooking season because I have the time to putzy around a bit. But not this summer. I thought I'd better cook something before the no-cook school season really takes over. I managed to think to take some photos while making dinner last night. Do you like Pasta Carbonara? Well, I didn't intend to make it, but that's what ended up in our bowls somehow. It was a stuff-Kathleen-can-find-around-the-house kinda carbonara. I do REALLY need to get to the grocery store.

Here you see a bowl of eggs, tomato, pesto, parmesan, and some basil... where's the rest of the basil... there was more basil... Unfortunately, you don't see bacon as we didn't have any... so carbonara it was not quite.

I managed to gather these things from the fridge, pantry, and garden... I use the term "garden" loosely. Four big pots, surrounding a post that has string attached to the top so the plants can grow up. This year I have tomatoes, basil, patty-pan squash, cilantro, cucumbers, lettuce, and corn. It does all right if I can manage to remember to water– a basic foundational concept of gardening... who knew...

This is a photo of the garden a spring ago

In this next photo you see cheese– queso blanco, also called bread cheese. This cheese is fantastic because you can brown it in the pan. It retains it's shape as it browns (if you cut it thicker than I did) and has the most divine flavor and texture. It goes VERY well with cherries and grapes. This package came from Costco where it is WAY cheaper than anywhere else. It doesn't really go with Carbonara, but then again, when does cheese not "go."

You also see our pasta bubbling away in the pot in the picture– no, I don't usually leave boxes on the stove. I just wanted you to see the package. To a great extent we have switched over to lentil pasta, made of beans, if you can believe it. It behaves and tastes like regular pasta– even my fussy youngest loves it. It is gluten free, but I buy it because it has fewer calories and more protein that regular pasta. This particular brand also comes from Costco and is also a good price. Gotta love Costco.

While the pasta cooked, I browned the cheese, chopped the tomato and basil, and whisked four eggs in a bowl. As the cheese got done I just set it aside to have as an appetizer. When I turned around it and most of the grapes had disappeared- poof! hmm...

Look at this delicious golden brown cheese. Yum!

I drained the cooked pasta but, and this part is crucial, I did not rinse it as it needs to stay very hot when I put it back in the pot and add the raw eggs. You mix the eggs into the hot pasta very quickly and very well so they cook with the heat of the pasta. The first few times I made Carbonara it kinda freaked me out to be adding raw eggs, but they really do cook in the hot pasta... and cook to just the right consistency. Then I added a generous amount of parmesan and kept stirring.

Because I thought it would be boring without the traditional bacon, I added the tomato, basil and pesto, and mixed it in. A generous amount of ground pepper and a bit of salt finished it off. I probably could have scrounged up a few more spices from the pantry, but I was hungry.

It was a gooey, cheesy delicious mess. YUM.

Where are the photos of this scrumptious concoction, you ask? Well, our bowls of pasta looked and smelled so good that we ate it all up, and I didn't think about the camera again until after the dishes were done! A food blogger I will never be!! Jonathan said I could take a picture of his round belly, but I'll save you all the sight :)

BUT WAIT! As I go to download the photos to add to the post I find...

That DH of mine is naughty, naughty! He took a photo of the empty pot and didn't tell me. So you don't get to see his belly, but you do get to see his happy face... I guess that's happy... it looks like he's about to bite somebody...

BUT WAIT AGAIN! What else is on the roll... (do digital photos come in rolls...?)

OMG.. a missing finger!

Somebody take the camera away from that man! sigh.

There you have it. Pasta Carbonara the throw-together way. I highly recommend a little experimentation in the kitchen. The older I get the fewer recipes I use and the braver I get at just winging it. Jonathan says it's because our taste buds are dying that I can get away with it. If you stop by, I promise to use the cookbook.

Now click on Deb's  Not Very Fancy in 1st  button here to see who else is sharing some cooking ideas.

And click here to go to Monday Made It! Thanks, Tara.

See you around!

Soggy Campfire Tales

Sometimes you get to do fun things... I am a storyteller– as in professional storyteller– when I am not teaching, reading about teaching, planning for teaching, assessing my teaching, prepping materials for teaching, and making the classroom just right for teaching. In other words, almost never. But that doesn't mean I don't love it. In this phase of my life, though, about the only people who get to hear my stories are my kindergartners... except for at one special backyard annual event, which happened tonight.

A classic scene of campfire stories

Stories 'round the campfire began as dusk was falling. What a lovely scene.

We heard a story about a lost bear... with the grandparents of the lost bear in the audience, which lent an important perspective. Clouds gathered and the wind started to blow.

We moved on to why Beetles are Bald. Leaves that we hadn't noticed were starting to turn swirled around our heads, landing in the fire that leapt up and crackled away.

We heard a classic scary story remembered from youth camp days about a mysterious black velvet ribbon. The story picked up pace as the velocity of the wind increased, thunder rolled in the distance, and a smattering of raindrops fell.

That didn't stop us. "It's going to blow over" was our mantra as umbrellas came out.

A not so classic scene as umbrellas went up

Stories continued with some thrills from piranhas, stingrays, and caimans. And more rain.

Cozy under umbrellas
as the rain fell and the tellers did tell

We tried to keep the marshmallows under shelter so the s'mores weren't soggy.

Our last story was a read aloud rendition of a Christmas story written by an eight year old teller. Good thing it was laminated. As much as we wanted to keep going, we were all getting soaked, so we squashed down the borrowed umbrellas, grabbed the s'more fixins, and put out the fire... just as the rain slowed enough so people could scurry to their cars and down the sidewalk home. All the beautiful weather we've had here in Michigan this summer, and this. one. night. it had to rain. sigh.

As midnight approaches and I sit here writing this, from the open deck door I smell the wet earth mingled with smokey fire pit, and hear the quiet shush of the rain, now gently falling. This will be a memory of summer. I thank all the neighbors and guild storytellers who joined in, Gertrude, my neighbor and fellow teller who helped host, and Jonathan who readied the backyard. We'll do it again next year and hope for more than just one hour of fun.

The post Soggy Campfire Tales first appeared on kidpeopleclassroom.com

Many Best Ways to Buy Books

Books, books, books. Seems I can never get enough. I truly am a bookworm, and with Jonathan almost as bad, we have a lot of books. I started our Little Free Library in an attempt to give away books that we just don't need anymore, but I find the number of books going out is barely larger than the number of books coming in!

If you are teacher who buys children's books– snort! What teacher doesn't???– it behooves you to know lots of ways to get your hands on best priced books. Some of these sources will be ones you use, some maybe not so much. Consider these Five for Friday as I link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to do it.

1.  Scholastic Points You can't get better for free. If your classroom parents buy from the Scholastic Book Clubs, you'll always be able to have fresh, new books in the classroom through the point system. I show you their current back to school deal... not too shabby. I always send out the September issue even if I don't send out all the rest. And their prices are good when you buy, too.

2.  Garage Sales Let's start out with the cheapest. You can't go shopping for specific titles but you sure can have categories that you're hoping to stock. The year I invested in those big gorgeous DK informational books, I kept my eye open for them at yard sales as well as stores.  I have a very complete set covering many topics which my kiddos adore. And I continue to add to the set– $1 for $12-$20 books– because I can't pass up the price. Also, neighborhood sellers will sometimes give you a better deal when they know you are a teacher, or will give you any leftover books for free. Don't rule out garage sales when you come across them.

3.  Local brick and mortar stores I simply can't talk about book buying and not mention local bookstores. Although shrinking in number, maybe because they are shrinking in number, I shop there whenever I can. I adore roaming the shelve full of real, live books. You find books you'd never find any other way. I encourage my classroom parents to pick-up bookstore cards for me when want to donate to the classroom, or give me a token gift at traditional times. Our local bookstores are good to teachers, giving up to a 20% discount on classroom books which makes those gift cards go further.

4. The Big Boy on the Block– Amazon Well, on lots of levels, you gotta love Amazon with it's many good features. Free shipping is the only way to go, and when you get it on orders of $35, it's not too hard to do. Their "Look Inside" feature is good when I haven't actually had time to have the book in my hand, or have only read reviews... and their reviews are handy, too. It's where I go when I need a specific title, cheap... or, it was until I discovered...

5.  Abebooks  I stand amazed at the books I can find for CHEAP. Most of the ones I pick up are used children's books, and plenty of them are under $3. Sometimes books you can't find anywhere else. And the vast majority of them come with free shipping.  HOW they can sell a book for $1.99, ship it for free, and stay in business is not my question to answer, but I sure am glad they do. Abebooks is an online marketplace that offers books for sale from booksellers all across the country, and the world. I have found most of the sellers to be speedy quick in sending them out, too.

While researching a couple new science topics that I wanted to stock up on this summer in prep for fall, I found some wonderful books, books that I wouldn't have found any other way. Sometimes I'll hear from teacher friends about a book that they adore, but they have had it a long time, and we figure I won't be able to find it now... nope. There are often several copies to choose from on Abebooks.

Oh, and one more thing to mention about Abebooks– you can google "Abebooks coupons" and find various sources for coupons. I have used ones for an additional 5% or 10% off, or for free shipping on those times when I'm getting a book that didn't come with free shipping. The coupons don't always work, but sometimes worth trying because it brings low prices down to can't-believe-it prices.

So, for me, depending on the what and why and when of my need, there are many best ways to shop for children's books at good prices. Finding a place to store them all... well, that's a post for another day. Hope reading through has added to your book buying options. Gotta feed the bookworm.

What sources do you use when buying books?

Scoot on back now to our favorite Friday read. Thanks, Kacey, for the linky.

Thanks for stopping by.  See you next time!

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Where in the World is Mrs. Wright?

Calling all Canadian readers and those who live on the edge! This post has a bonus for YOU.

I really struggled with what to title this post... 

Monday Made It? Yes, it is, because I'm going to share how to make a gif.

Great New Dollar Store Finds? Yep, it is full of those.

Special Edition for My Canadian Readers and US Folks Who Live on the Border? Well, yes, but lots of what I share on the post might very well be here in the US, too. 

Whatever it's title, this is a jam packed issue.

Now, here's a clue as to where I was. It's a very wet place.

Okay, so I bet you didn't guess. Here's another clue...

No, it's not Seattle. Come on, you gotta get it now...

Yep, Jonathan and I went to Niagara Falls a week or so ago. (No, I didn't photoshop in the rainbow. A rainbow appears whenever the sun shines– it's a rather lucky place heehee and truly beautiful. That's the Maid of the Mist boat hiding there in the abundant spray.) We spent a day at the Falls, a day at Niagara-on-the-Lake, a day with the Toronto relatives, and a leisurely day coming back the long way home. Great min-vacay. I could do a whole travel blog post on the great things we did in just four days, but I'll suffice to say, that you really should go. It was one of the easiest and funnest four days we've spent in a while. Maybe it will be a future post. 

What I'm blogging about today, is to tell you what I FOUND there! How many of you like Dollar Stores, Generals, Trees, Spots, etc? Well, I do, too. (So much so that I made Jonathan stop on the way TO Canada because I saw something on a blog that was in the Target Dollar Spot which I feared would be gone by the time we got back, which then rattled around in the car the entire trip... yes, we're still married... barely.)

A chalkboard and pencil jar were worth the extra stop. Cute, eh?

Well, in Canada they have dollar stores called Dollaramas! And as we were going down the highway There. Was. One!  So of course we had to STOP! Jackpot!

 These things were in my bag when I left...

A bizillion stickers. Don't know what I'm going to do with them yet, but with a bizillion, I can do LOTS of whatever it is.

These little cuties are going to monster-up some of my math manipulates... so they're aliens, but that's a fine point.

A caterpillar ruler– we don't really talk about centimeters in kindergarten, but the kiddos can still measure away with this little tool. And I love that is it clear so you can see what's underneath.

A whole slew of cute erasers. Having little gifts on hand always comes in handy. 

These are really great. They come in four not-typical colors and have a nice grip. My kiddos write with clicker pens most of the time in writers workshop and these are going to be a big hit when I break them out in, say, cold, dreary March.

A minion can! Yes, please. I see a game in the making... throwing in letters, numbers...?

I LOVE these. It's hard to see in the pic but they are see-thru. A quick glance and I'll be able to grab the right one once they contain school stuff.

And I saved my favorite for last. CUTE! These are going to be a BIG hit in the writing center. Each little marker is a different character and color. 

Now I do need to point out that Dollarama carries items for $1, $1.25, $1.50, $2... you get the idea. Most US dollar stores really keep to a flat one dollar amount. I don't know whether this means that Canadians don't follow the rules, or just don't make rules, but either way, these items were great bargains. And throw in a favorable exchange rate for the US dollar, and it was an even better price for us right now.

There was one bummer– Dollarama would not take our US debit or credit cards. It kind of depleted the cash supply we had with us, but it was worth it.

My Canadian family members got a hoot out of us driving up with our tiny Smart car completely loaded to the max. They agreed, though, that Dollarama has great deals. I hope anyone who can, visits a Dollarama to see what teacher bargains they can find. I'm going to be driving the hour or so to Windsor a bit more often than before. And if you are no where near Canada, I suggest you keep your eyes peeled for some of these things here at home. 

Now, about my Monday Made It! I love gifs. Think they are a hoot. I use the site MakeAGif  to make mine. There might very well be other gif making sites, but this is the one I use. You'll need to sign-up for a free account. (btw- "gif" is pronounced 'jif' as in the peanut butter, not 'gif' with a hard G, as you often hear it said. Think, Gif the Giraffe snort... you'd never know I was a kindergarten teacher...)

MakeaGif walks you through the steps to make your gif. A series of photos with just slight variation, showing some change or action, make good gifs, but any photos can be used with variable success. I actually took the eyeglass wiper photos for the purpose of making a gif– silly, I know. It's how my brain works sometimes. Take whatever photos you want to use and put them in a folder on your desktop so you can easily find them when the MakeaGif asks you to upload. I suggest using smaller sized photos so they download faster.

MakeaGif gives you the option to make your gifs public or private, and offers various way to share them. If you want to put it on your blog, first download it to your laptop. If you open it on your laptop and use "Preview," which many laptops default to, you'll just see the photos in a set of still slides, not a moving gif. The first time I did this I thought I had done something wrong. However, if you add the gif download to your post via the "insert image" button, like you would normally add any photo, you'll see that it magically comes to life as soon as you place it. Easy-peasy. 

So, there you have it– bargains to look for and gifs to make. Hope you have fun... AFTER you click on back to Monday Made It and see what others have been creating. Thanks so much, Tara, for this linky. I always find new ideas. 

Hope to see you back here soon!