Cricut Use in the Classroom and a Linky Party

If you are like me, you are already thinking about next year and what you will do in your classroom to make it 'spiffy'.  Also, if you are like me, you have no desire to really think about curriculum while you are either  finishing up your year or just finished it.

BUT.....in thinking about all of this, I decided that it doesn't hurt to think about some fun things that you can do in your classroom and have them ready to go for the fall.  Enter, my Cricut that I got myself for Christmas with the intention of using it in the classroom for those 'craftivities' that we love!  Things were so crazy this past school year that I never got around to even using it to make anything for myself or my students to use.  In fact, the little time I spent trying to use it made me think that it would be best to get some lessons from someone that knows how to use one at least a little bit.  Enter, my sister, Jeane!  Tomorrow we will be going to check on my mom and go to my niece's summer dance recital and I plan to spend some quality Cricut time with my sister.  We rarely get to spend any kind of quality time with each other ever, so this is going to be a treat.  And, if I get some 'craftivities' done for school, then, so much better for next year's students!  But most of all, it is going to be great just being a sister.

Attention all Cricut users!  Please leave a comment letting me know how you use your Cricut in your classroom.  Do you cut out sets of shapes for your students to use? Do you cut out 2 patterns, one for a model and one for students to trace in order to cut out the pattern?  I am really curious as to how they are used in the classrooms.

Also, for those of you that access the computer program on line to design your Cricut patterns, is there a way we could use Dropbox.com is order to share patterns across the country?  Is there a Cricut law we would be breaking?  That is an idea that popped into my head a few minutes ago an I don't even have a way to research due to time constraints. So...if any of you out there are Cricut Aficionados, please let me know what you think about that.  I would love to create a dropbox.com account and share the password/sign in info here on my blog and create a 'go to' place for patterns and such for school displays.  Anybody know if this could even work???  PLEASE let me know!!  I'll see if I can figure it out tomorrow, if I can.

On the other side of things, I am joining up with Jeannie at Kindergarten Lifestyle's summer linky party!!  Read on!!!

Thanks for the Linky Party, Jeannie!

Enjoy!

Chimpanzee Movie and Craftivity

Last Friday my whole school went to see "Chimpanzee" at the movies in order to celebrate the end of our testing week.  All of us (teachers included) loved the movie.  I was laughing one minute and worried the next for little Oscar's safety, and then tearing up at the next minute.  It is a great movie to use as a culminating activity after teaching about mammals, the rainforest, carnirvores/omnivores, and herbivaores, and probably a lot more if I had time to sit down and think about it.

When we arrived back at school and began eating lunch, there was a definite buzz around the room as I heard my kids talking about the movie and how it made them feel.  A light bulb went off in my head and I scrambled to put together this little craftivity and I want to share it with you.  Enjoy the pictures as they lead you step by step to completing this fun writing activity!

WARNING:  I am not an artist, but the kids love it.  If any of you can do a better pattern than me, PLEASE take pictures of it and send them to me!  I would love to see them!

Enjoy!!

P.S.  Before our standardized testing each year we have to cover anything that may assist our students in finding an answer.  Well, this year, my 7 year old was helping to cover things in my classroom while I was in the hall talking to a teacher.  I...uh....have to tell you that he IS a little on the OCD side of life.  The top pictures in my library.  The bottom picture is my bookshelf.  Notice that all of the paper is anchored to the carpet and that he put 'super duper extra' on the carpet in the second pictures so that the carpet would not move.