Friday, June 8, 2018

Summer Project 1 Done!

I sometimes have a problem finishing projects.  This year before school ended I had 3 projects going on at the same time. It makes my dining room table a mess but that’s sort of how my brain works.

My first summer homework was to fix my letter box. I need to explain. I have a slight obsession with bulletin board borders and bulletin board letters. I’ve taught for so long, when I first started, my school did not  have an Ellison machine. Ellison For those of you who don’t know, an Ellison machine is a letter cutter.  It’s not a Cricut or a Silhouette cutter by any stretch of the imagination.  It’s the most simple thing in the world: you put the paper under the die cut, pull the lever and it cuts your letter. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.  When I started teaching we didn’t have one. So, you had to trace and cut your own letters. . . It took a LONG time. I still have a tracing kit somewhere.

So I started buying letter sets.  Teacher stores and Hobby Lobby  sell letter sets. They usually have to be punched out but they come in cute patterns.  Trend letters I have a huge weakness for bulletin board borders and letter sets. I almost can’t contain myself or stop buying them. I know – it’s a sickness. There’s just so many cute sets and I never know which set I might need.  Here are just  a few of my my sets: 

IMG_0962

 

Several years ago, while my school resource deputy was teaching my class, I made little envelopes for all my letters, sorted them and stored them in a box.  It makes it really, really simple to find the ones I need.  My box looked like this:

IMG_0961

And this: IMG_0960

I  made those envelopes at least 6 years ago but I think it was longer.  They were looking a little worse for wear.  And  I have so many sets, they wouldn’t all fit in one box. So, . . I found these great Ziploc type packets from Amazon. . . and found new boxes.  Here they all are. 

IMG_0963

The new packets/envelopes are almost pencil case sized. The only thing is, my M’s and W’s are too tall and they won’t zip.  But it’s better. it’s much much better. I can check one thing off my summer “to do” list.    And now, I think I’ll work on another part of my to do list – naps!