Bridal Shower

This entry is not related to kindergarten or school at all, but more about a party I am planning for a great lady I know! 
So, my friend Brandy is getting married September 23! She lives about an hour and a half away from where my husband and I live, and she helps out with his high school band (Go Tribe!) a lot! I got together with some of the band parents and other friends here and we decided to throw a semi-surprise shower for our friend! (It's a semi-surprise because this year, Brandy has other work arrangements that are not allowing her to be at band camp as often as she has in the past. So I had to tell her part of it. She knows it's happening, just no specifics!)


Brandy and Shaun's wedding colors are black and white, so my decor is mostly black and white. It will be outside at a friend's house (Thank you Beth!) who has a beautiful backyard area!
I got all the little goodies - plates, cups, plastic tablecloths, and even the favors - at Wal-Mart and Dollar Tree!


These are the favors I've put together. I got the idea from (you guessed it!) Pinterest and just tweaked it a little to make it less expensive for myself!

I bought all this - emery boards, nail polish, 

and hair ties and then put it all together as a

 cute favor for the shower guests!

These next pictures are of the activities I have planned for the shower:

As people arrive, I will give them a card to give the bride and groom advice.

When the cards are filled out, I will tie them together with ribbons, like this:

I  added a few embellishments to the cover page of the "advice book."

As I was using the glitter glue on the hearts and the G, the lid kept touching the wet glue and messing up what I was doing, so I put a rubber band around it to hold the lid down. Just a little trick that dawned on me,. Thought I'd share! :)  

This isn't an activity, but is my gift to the couple and will serve as a centerpiece for the entrance or gift table.

This is a traditional game: "How well do you know the bride?"  

Every bride needs a tiara! :)

 While at the beach this summer, I saw a "redneck wine glass." It was a red solo cup mounted on a glass candle stick holder. They sell them in souvenir shops for $6.95! I thought, "I can make that!" And I did! The candle stick holder was $1, I got a sleeve of the purple cups for $1, I got a roll of black ribbon and a roll of white for  47 cents each, and I had the sticker letters in my scrap-booking drawer! (they spell out "Mrs") Some hot glue and viola! A pretty and slightly silly redneck wine glass!

So, these are the fruits of my labor! I laid everything out before packing it up to take over the party sight! It's going to be a great party! 

It's July!

I am having a fabulous summer! 
My husband and I have been to the beach: 

We've been to the zoo:

My husband's band, The Reticent, had their CD release party: 

I've been to a bridal shower:

I'm planning a bridal shower for that very same bride-to-be:
http://pinterest.com/cwhathcock/bridal-shower-ideas/

...but I can't help but notice that it's already July! 
As you may know, I have a slight addiction to Pinterest. If you're not on there yet: what are you waiting for!?!? If you are on there, feel free to follow my pins: pinterest.com/cwhathcock 

While I am enjoying my summer, I am also always thinking like a teacher. When I go into Dollar Tree, I always want to see what's new in the educational aisle, I want to go to flea markets so I can see what little odds and ends I can find for my classroom - furniture, centers activities, decorations for themes and/or holidays, etc. You know, a lot of teachers tell me that they spend less and less on their room each year, and while I understand it, I think finding the cutsie little things is half the fun! :)


I have two Pinterest Boards that are very broad and ever-growing: Back to School and Teacher Tools. Each time I find something useful, I just pin it there and I always make time to go through my pins to refresh my memory on WHAT I've pinned and to make sure that I try to USE some of the fantastic ideas that are out there! Being a teacher is so much fun when you find all these other great teachers out there who LOVE to share their ideas with the rest of us!
This is a neat little tool that I found just this morning and it made me say: "Wow! What else am I missing out on?" Do you all know about this - Random Name Generator:

You can type in your class list and create a seating chart, groups, and it will create random groups of whatever size you need! No more popsicle sticks! :)

I also plan on having a "No Name" area in my room. It starts in kindergarten -- students need to learn to put their names on things! I typically begin the year by rewarding kids for writing their names on their work, then I back off when they are more automatic about it. (This picture is from http://mrsbrowndotcom.blogspot.com/ - a cute display for hanging things with no name!)

I haven't found the perfect poster, yet, but I also intend to use sign language in my classroom this year. There will hand signals for everything! I don't want to use numbers like this one here, I want to use actual sign language letters. The ASL letter for W will mean "water," R will mean "restroom," S for "sharpen my pencil," T for "trash," N for "nurse" (I haven't completely decided on that one!), I for "I have a question" (easier than the Q!); there are lots of different things you can do with sign language and my problem might be limiting the signs! In kindergarten less is more!

I saw this on Pinterest, as well, and I haven't decided yet HOW I will do it, but I know I will do it - have something with rewards my students will get to DO instead of things they get to HAVE. I love this idea! Buying prizes for prize box on Fridays gets expensive! 

I would much rather reward kids with a game, a dance, extra recess, a movie, a story on tape, sitting with a friend during work time, anything like that! 

What kids of things do you do in your rooms to reward instead of with treats  and prizes?