Mommy Monday: DIY, cheap wrapping paper

Welcome back to Mommy Monday! I hope you all are managing the chaos and enjoying the holiday season. I wanted to come back to one of the activities I am doing with my girls from their advent calendar, which I shared in this post last week- making (sort of) your own wrapping paper.

I was just at the store this past weekend to stock up on some more of my "wrapping paper" and was reminded again of how much cheaper it is. I'm talking about this stuff (not necessarily this brand- anything called "postal wrapping paper" or something similar):

This is actually the only "wrapping paper" I buy year-round now. For adults and quick gifts, it is actually pretty trendy looking all by itself, and is perfectly suited for any occasion- no need panic because you just realized you only have Christmas paper and you're supposed to go to a birthday party in an hour! With "rustic"/"natural" looks being trendy these days, simple brown paper looks like you did it on purpose! Cha-ching!

PLUS you no longer need to buy or make gift tags, or even cards- just write directly on the wrapping paper! You don't have to worry about the tag falling off or the card getting separated from the present on the gift table.

But for those of us with kids, there is an even better reason to use this: we can recoup some of the fortune we spend on our children by putting them to work as decorators! Just look at the amazing results: 

OK, I know. But it actually looks really nice when you wrap presents with this. We just haven't actually wrapped anything yet for me to take pictures- I will try to update this post when I do. And it has.... drumroll please.... sentimental value. Instant cute/heart-warming factor. (Sidenote: the picture above is one we recently did that was on packing paper that was *actually* in a package we got- so it was free! Next time you get a package packed with paper, save it!)

For Christmas I just hand my girls only Christmas colors (if I am feeling especially fancy), or if it is for a specific person's birthday we will just use their favorite color(s). Or we just go to town and do whatever we want.

The best part of this wrapping strategy is not the results, or even the penny-saving though- it's the process. There is something about having a giant piece of paper spread out on the floor that is magical for toddlers (and, well, for adults too). Drawing is not a fine motor activity anymore- it involves the whole body! We trace body parts, do dance moves, run across the paper to make the longest line possible, and draw random pictures everywhere. One tip- if you are using a big piece (which I highly recommend), you will probably want to tape it to the floor. It can get frustrating, especially if you are walking around on it, if the paper is sliding around on the floor.

So, my friends, the next time you go to buy wrapping paper, save yourself some money (and time and angst trying to find the one that everyone will like) and buy some postal paper instead! I bought my last roll at Target but many stores have it, and of course you can buy it at the post office too or even online. Or you can bug put the word out to your friends that you want their packaging paper. Then cut off a big piece, tape it to the floor, pull out the markers, and have some fun! 

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Teacher Tuesday: on my desk

For today's Teacher Tuesday I'm linking up with Rachel Tanenblatt at Music With Mrs. Tanenblatt to show you what's on my teacher desk right now. What a great idea for a linky party! It's easy to look at people's blog posts and think, "I'm not like that at all- I could never be that organized, or trendy, or _________". But most blog posts are just snippets of life as a whole, and the whole point of writing a blog post is generally to share something that is successful for you and you think might be useful for readers. 

With that being said, I should make it very clear that I did not adjust anything on my desk when I took this photo. I took it at the end of the day yesterday before I packed up to go home. This is what my desk currently looks like most of the time (you remember my blog is called, "Organized CHAOS", right?!?):

I have my desk facing a wall with cork board, where I hang pictures that students give me, concert programs, and documents I need to reference often (like school schedules). Right in front of the wall, I have (from left to right) a stack of catalogs that I have been collecting as they come in the mail so I have them for orders later, sanitizing wipes, my teacher supply organizer, my recorder, stapler, and hole punch, and my stacking paper sorters (which currently has papers that need to be graded from several classes, forms to pass out to my choir students, forms I need to send in my verify the professional development conference I recently attended, and my 2 iPads, which I have been charging on the paper sorter.

For everything in front of that, I should add the disclaimer that my concert is today. There are a lot of things on my desk right now that aren't normally there! OK so anyway...
I have my coffee and water, my planner (which is currently sitting on top of a stack of things I need to file), index cards with to-do lists (mostly for the concert), and several random things that students have given me (like the rainbow-colored popsicle stick craft- so cute!). Oh, and my lanyard. Because I cannot stand walking around with that thing banging on my chest and jingling all the way.

In the very front I have my clipboard with my seating charts (which is normally on my music stand where I teach but it was there because I was looking at the seating charts for my choir groups that are performing today), my choir folder (with sticky notes with more to-do lists and things to remember for the concert), and my color-group folders. 

Now, if you were looking for my usual genius teacher tips and have been disappointed, never fear: HERE'S MY TIP! ;) I use those folders to have students hand in papers when they are in the middle of working on something and I need to be able to pass them out again quickly. They are color-coded to match my grouping system in my room and I keep them in magazine holders so they can quickly find the folder for their class and find their papers. More on this system another day, but there you go, I have now bestowed some wisdom and you can go back to your lives feeling enriched. :D

And that just about covers my desk! Thank you to Rachel for hosting this linky party- I had a lot of fun! Don't forget to head over to the party to check out everyone else's posts!

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Mommy Monday: 24 Christmas activities for 2-3 year old's

Last week I showed off my DIY advent calendar, which has a different activity for my not-quite-3-year-old twins and I to do together each day. Today I want to share those activities with you! Many of the crafts are ideas I got from other places- click on the item in the list below the graphic to go to those links and get a full description. Because I sometimes only see them for the morning get-out-the-door rush and then right before bed, many of the things I planned are ones that can be done in 5 minutes or less. On the days that I know I have more time, I planned more involved outings and activities. So here the are, not at all in the order we will be doing them:

1. Put up the Christmas tree
2. Hang a felt tree (I have one like this)
3. Pinecone Christmas tree craft 
4. Decorate the Christmas tree
5. Hang Christmas lights
6. Make Christmas cards
7. Go see a Christmas lights display
8. Bake sugar cookies
9. Decorate sugar cookies
10. Deliver cookies to friends
11. Gingerbread man craft 
12. Gingerbread houses (found some good tips to keep it simple here)
13. Visit Santa
14. Wrap Christmas presents
15. Call extended family to wish them Merry Christmas
16. Take family pictures
17. Get out the nativity set (I have this one which is great for this age)
18. Scribble on large paper to use to wrap presents
19. Hand print reindeer craft
20. Marshmallow snowmen (something like this picture)
21. Read a new Christmas book
22. Read a new Christmas book (yes, we are doing this twice!)
23. Stained glass ornament craft
24. Play with snow dough

P.S. Did you notice that several items are things that I have on my own to-do list anyway, like putting up decorations and wrapping presents? This way they get to be involved in the process, and it's one less thing for me to worry about. Cha-ching! :)

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Teacher Tuesday: removable score notes

Welcome back to Teacher Tuesday! Today I have a quick tip using one of my favorite tools again: washi tape! I have recently started using it to make notes in my original scores for my choir classes.

I used to make a photocopy of the original score for every song I did with my choirs so that I could write my own notes about things I want to remember to teach, conducting cues I don't want to forget, or changes I make to the original arrangement (usually to simplify for my younger groups). I would use the photocopy with all my notes for rehearsals and then use the original score for performance.

Problem: I sometimes want my notes in the performance too! I will confess, I still get nervous in performances, even after more than 2 decades of performing and almost a decade of teaching and conducting. I need my notes to remember what cues to give, which vocal part to focus on, etc in the performance. I have to use the original score to follow copyright correctly, but I don't want to mark up the originals.

Enter washi tape!

Any time I want to make a note in the score, I just get a piece of washi tape, stick it in, and write over it. When I'm done, or I change my mind, I can take it out without damaging the score. Score! (Sorry, couldn't stop myself from using that pun...) Now I just use my original scores for rehearsals as well. The thicker paper is much easier to use, and I can easily color-code my notes with different color tape (cues in blue, rehearsal notes in yellow etc, or sopranos green, altos red etc), and they are actually easier to read on the tape than they are when I write them straight onto the paper. So many advantages to this system!

P.S. Have you checked out the Cyber Monday deals on teacherspayteachers? 28% off everything in my store is hard to beat! It ends today (December 2nd) so don't forget to empty your cart before midnight and enter the discount code at checkout!

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