My friend's blog is holding a give-away

GIVE AWAY!!!

You don't want to miss this! Jennifer, over at The Trendy Spot

http://www.thetrendyspot.blogspot.com/

is hosting a give-away this month for this adorable, hand-made cloth baby doll and a super-fab new key chain/mini change purse she just invented. Gotta get one of these ladies! If you are on-the- go but don't want to mess with lugging a purse, this is for you. This is Jennifer's take on her own creation:

"A fabulous new item! The other week we went to a concert at the Sommet Center. I didn't want to carry my purse for obvious reasons but since I was the driver, I needed my license, insurance card and of course I needed my cell and money. So, I drug my purse along with me. When I got home, I had an idea in my head and set out to create it. So, this is what I came up with... A small keychain/ID holder that has plenty of room for your debit/credit cards and money and a roomy pocket on the back for your cell phone!"

Go check her out and tell her Lynn sent ya. ;)

revamping Dollar Tree educational items; uses for Benda-Roos/Wikki-Stix

I have been buying some educational items at my local Dollar Tree to use with my schooling this upcoming year and as "fun" activities for my work box system.

One item I bought about 6 of is little matching cards in topics such as analogies, synonyms, chemical elements, US History, etc. You can play matching games with the cards. I thought the cards look too flimsy to hold up for long and also, I wanted to make the game a little more inviting to play.

So I started by photo-copying the cards while they were still attached correctly together. These copies will become the self-checking answer keys.

Then, I went on to sorting the question cards from the answer cards and gluing them onto a piece of card stock. The questions are on one side, the answers down the other but in random order.

I will laminate these sheets and place them with the answer keys, into a pocket folder.

Here's what my kids will like about using them: I plan to add in either a packet of Benda-roos or Wikki-Stix to use to match up the correct cards. Or I may simply put 10 or so lengths of yarn or ribbon into the pocket to use for matching the items. Now you have a sturdy, reusable matching game that uses strings for matching instead of drawing lines.

My daughter has been begging for Benda-Roos, so I will definetely grab some to use for these types of games. Also, they are handy to use for "tracing" outlines of letters or pictures. I have lots of clip art/bulletin board books with large patterns. I can tear out a page (or copy it), place it in a sheet protector, and let her outline the shape with the Benda-Roos.

-Lynn

attention homeschoolers and educators: Dollar Tree ROCKS

I am on two Yahoo "work box" email lists where I have been hearing all these moms talk about the great educational finds at their local Dollar tree stores. For about 2 weeks now I have gone every couple of days and found a few things, but nothing like the treasures they found. Then bam, I went yesterday (Friday) afternoon and stumbled upon these jewels of education...what a sight! There were file folder games, little matching games, charts to use in binders or on min-offices, their usual assortment of posters, simple board games, flip charts, writing prompts, you name it. I was almost swooning in the school supplies aisle.


I spent WAY more than I probably should have, but with a little lamination, these products will be usable for years to come and can be resold one day. There will always be educators on a budget looking to buy used.

Here are some of the things I found:

These are math related money games, window clings, dice for adding/multiplying, etc.

Here we have reproducible workbooks in a variety of subjects. Each is 32 pages. I may use them inside page protectors with dry erase markers in some of my work boxes.

File folder game Heaven! I was getting ready to make a bunch of these.

I love the fact that they are full-color and on card stock.

These are flip charts, an Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? card game,

and 4 packs of little trivia games similar to Brain Quest decks.

Next you see grids in many subjects (where there are blanks under questions, a child inserts paper and writes in answers, then flips it over to check their work against answers on back), and lots of colorful reference charts ready to be put in a binder or on a mini-office.

These are packs of Writing Prompt picture cards with questions on back to encourage the child to investigate, think about, and write about the photo.

Last of all, I found these nifty little matching cards. I think I will glue them into file folders and laminate. Then attach different colors of yarn to the word on one side so the child can pull it across to match the correct word on the other side. The one with the glare is American History.

Have fun shopping!

Lynn