Coloring Eggs in a Classroom - Easy+Clean = Fun

First grade teacher here and I am not ashamed to admit that I have NEVER colored eggs with my class before. Why? Ummm, boil eggs? Carry to school? The cups? The dye tablets? The wire thingy to fish them out of said cups? Oh Calgon - take me away (dating myself here I know)!!!

Upon a recent trip to Walmart I came across this product. I have bought and used this before with my triplets at home. The packaging looked the same but alas, one huge flaw, no dye was included! The eggs did not hold color from vinegar and food coloring at all! They did not hold color from the tablet stuff either. I am so happy that the company added the dye packs this year! 

So imagine my delight to see that the dye packs came with this dozen egg kit this year! And $1.98? I’ll give it a try (in no way was I asked to review this product or will be compensated for the review).


Here are the dye packs. The eggs are hard and hollow. They can drop on the ground and not break. They can get squeezed and not cave in. They do not open like plastic eggs. They are not plastic. They are great!

There are four colors: blue, yellow, pink and green.
I put them in a small cup to stand them up and snipped the end of the package with a scissor. 

The kit came with bags to put the egg in. I did not use them. I used sandwich sized ziplock bags so that the tops could be sealed. Each child got their own baggie. 

Step 1:  Squeeze a few drops of color into the bag for them! This is all you needed! I know right? I had 2 packs for my 20 students and ended up using just the dye from the first pack!

Step 3: Squish the egg around in the bag. No mess! No dye on hands!

Step 3: Put in the cartoon that it came with to dry. This is where my OCD came into play. I didn’t want to get dye on my hands so I used a glove from the nurse. I didn’t want the kiddos to get dye on their hands so I took the egg out for them with my gloved hand! Honestly, this is what I had on me at the end. Not bad right? The dye did wash off with plenty of soap.

Here are our masterpieces! Why are 4 still white? I have 20 children in my class! They all wanted to dye the extras! It bothered them leaving them white! 
I want to add that I did this in a small group of 5 children at a time at our guided reading table - not whole group. 

POSITIVES OF THESE EGGS:

1. NO MESS

2. EASY AND FAST

3. DRYS QUICKLY

4. CHILDREN LOVE THEM

5. MIX COLORS TO MAKE NEW COLORS

6. NO SMELL

NEGATIVES OF THESE EGGS:

Even if you let the egg dry and go back for a second color, the color was not that vibrant. Best when made with just one color.

In conclusion, I will be checking my Walmart after the holiday to grab these gems at a discounted price! I will be filling my cart up to the top! I will definitely be making these eggs EVERY YEAR FROM NOW ON! 

Let me know if you have tried these eggs and what you thought of them in the comment section below!

Hoppy Easter!

TpT Gift Card Give Away

As we are SO thankful to you, myself and a team of amazing teachers have grouped together to gift an awesome teacher with a TPTgift card to show you how appreciative we are!

Simply enter the rafflecopter below!
What can you win?
A $100 TPT gift card!
Yes, that’s right! $100 TPT GIFT CARD!!

Good luck!!! The contest is over December 1st. Get your entries in!

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Don’t miss these great finds at IKEA!

Hello sweet friends! Are you scoping out all the stores for new things for your classroom like me? Today I made a trip to IKEA with my beautiful triplets. They love the store! There is only one IKEA by me though, I know many people make long treks to the closest IKEA. With that in mind, my daughters helped me take pics of things that would be great for any classroom! So if you are planning a trip soon, keep the below items in mind!! (I am not affiliated in anyway with IKEA).

I have these and LOVE them! Yes they are cardboard and you have to put them together yourself but they are 25 cents as in 1 quarter EACH!! I have them numbered in my classroom and we store our large science workbook, our STEM packets, or anything else I don’t want my kiddos to lose in their desk! 

I have quite a few of these clip hangers at 99 cents each. I display my anchor charts on them and then hang them from my shades. I remember fun-tak-ing charts to my shades and having to scrape the blue goo off at the end of the year - so 2001. This is the way to go and this is the best price around!

Love these also! They are 4x6 picture frames that stand up. So many uses! Heres a few:
1 - center directions!
2 - inspirational quote holders!
3 - back to school direction holder for parents!
4 - take out the frame and use book clips to make a mini mini anchor chart holder for sight words!

My store only had white this year but I’ve seen them in different colors.

$4.99? Yup. I only saw white though.

Tiny for little ones. So cute! Flexible seating option?

I bet most kids would love this pod chair as a flexible seating option! It is small. My 10 year olds could barely fit. Don’t get excited. It is not the price shown (that is for the carpet underneath). It is $69.99. 

Here is the carpet. Perfect to take out at free time or fun Friday with a basket of cars and people for imaginative play! 

Just the right size for little ones! 

Have and love! Small containers to hold a variety of classroom dodads. 3 in a pack for 3.99

And I’ll take some of those green bins before they are sold out!

For the friends doing an amazing circus theme :)

I wanted this so bad! I could not carry it out of the store though with all my other stuff! You have to put it together but it is super cute, on wheels, and such a great price 24.99.

One last thing - that cool inflatable fabric die. It is big and feels squishy. It is 14.99 though - I thought that was a lot so I skipped it. Showing some restraint is good right?

Well there you have it - just a few things that IKEA has that teachers may want. I hope you have a store near you or can make a trip soon! 

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Back to School TpT Sale - Win a $10 Giftcard

Sweet friends, It is that time of year that many of you have been anxiously waiting for! The TpT site wide sale is here!! 

Happening Monday, August 1st and Tuesday, August 2nd. Are you excited? Is your shopping cart busting at the seems? Well, I can help with that!

Enter below for your chance to win a $10 TpT gift card! 

The contest ends tomorrow so you can use the money towards your purchases on THIS SALE! Hurry and enter for our chance to win! Good luck!

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Chit Chat Sticks

So about 10-12 years ago, I took a class during the summer to earn credits above my masters. The class was held in the basement of an old church. I don’t remember much from the class other than this idea that I got from it ---->CHIT CHAT STICKS!!!

So you may be asking yourself, what are Chit Chat Sticks? Well, it is quite simple. They are sticks to help you partner students up in a fast, fair, and effective way. In first grade, I cannot simple say, “pick a partner”. It just does not work at this age. Someone is always left out. The same kids go with the same kids. The anxiety for some of the kiddos being chosen last, is just too much. Hence, the Chit Chat Sticks, a fun an effective way to partner up your students!

For literally $2, yes $2 you can make Chit Chat Sticks and they will last for many years. You can get the supplies at the Dollar Tree, or you might already have  popsicle sticks and small round reward stickers in your classroom!!! You need one stick per student and enough pairs of DIFFERENT stickers for groups of 2. 

Just match up pairs of stickers. This year I used alphabet stickers. When I need my students to work with a partner for a game or buddy reading, I mix up the sticks and pass them out. The children find the person who has the same stick as they do and wahla, they are a group! So A goes with A or green frog with green frog...simple. You can use any stickers you want. You can match it to a theme in your classroom. You can even write sight words right on the stick and students have to match up the sight words (oooohhhh, that’s a good one!).

I can’t tell you how much this method is appreciated in my classroom. Students ask to use Chit Chat Sticks when they know they will be working with a partner. By the luck of the draw, kiddos will work with almost all of the students in the class. 

I hope you like this idea and can use it in your classroom too :)

Let’s Get Organized!

I saw a fabulous pin on Pinterest from We Heart 1st on using a shoe organizer as a supply organizer! I ran with this idea and made my own and decided to show you how I went about making it. I did not think of this idea on my own. I give complete credit to We Heart 1st who inspired me to make one like theirs!

Here it is!

In just a few simple steps, you can make one too! I was surprised with how many supplies I actually had at home. Pardon the pockets that are empty. Once September comes, they will be stuffed! 

I ordered this shoe organizer from Amazon. It has 24 pockets which seems like a lot at first until you start thinking about all your stuff! I had to scale back! The organizer measures 64 inches x 19 inches and fits perfectly on a door!

Here is a link to it on Amazon.

I first thought of all the things I wanted to get off of my desk and out of little buckets. That consisted mostly of markers! I have a ton of them! I also wanted to keep a better eye on my Expo markers. My students bring them in an I hand them out as needed. Same with glue sticks which I always seem to run out of!

Each rectangle on my sheet measures 1.5” x 4.5” and the font I used was KG Drops of Jupiter. 

Once the labels were made, I printed them on card stock and laminated them.

Then I used my handy dandy how did I ever survive with out paper cutter to cut them down.

Next, I spread the shoe organizer out on the floor and arranged where I wanted everything to go by placing the labels down. I figured that the heaviest items should go on the bottom.

Last, I used my handy dandy, I have about 5, glue gun, to hot glue the labels right to the fabric on top of each pocket. I used a generous amount around the edges. 

And there you have! Pretty easy! I can’t wait to hang this up on the back of my closet door at school. I hope that each time my kiddos see it they gasp in awe. I know I will!

In case you are interested, here is a pic of the one posted on Pinterest by We Love First. Click on the pic to head on over to TpT to download the labels for FREE! Thank you We Heart First!

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July Pinterest Pick 3

CLICK FOR ORIGINAL PIN

Look at how cute these firecracker cupcakes are! I don’t know if I am talented enough to make them! I don’t even know how they got the frosting to swirl like that haha! The red part is a marshmallow covered in red chocolate! Yummy!

CLICK FOR ORIGINAL PIN

Do you have a lot of washi tape lying around? I do. I saw this and fell in love! What a great a way to decorate the average yellow pencil?? And guess what? You put the tape on the pencil horizontally. You don’t wrap it around like I thought. This saves so much tape! And from the picture, it looks like you can still sharpen them without a problem (oh please let this be true)! Super cute, fast, and creative! 

CLICK FOR ORIGINAL PIN

This is my favorite pin! I already ordered the organizer from Amazon for $7. I have SO MANY markers! SO MANY SO MANY SO MANY and I love each and every one! It is a sad day if I have to throw one out because it has dried out! I don’t want to keep them on my desk anymore. Don’t get me wrong. I have cute containers to house them. Chevron, polka dot, striped, but there are just too many. I am going to hang this on my closet door behind my desk. Each time I open the door, to get something, the oohs and aahs will fill the air! I can’t wait! 

Click below to see other great Pinterest picks for the month of July! 

An InLinkz Link-up