Crystal's Corner

Last year was the first year I tried a behavior chart. I threw something together in the middle of the year because I needed to change up my classroom discipline for some of the students in my class. I ended up really liking the color chart and the visual concept for kids.  So I knew I needed a new one. And since my classroom is Mickey I thought why not? Another teacher gave me the scrapbook paper, but you could use any kind. I cut out the mickey heads out of black construction paper and had the whole thing laminated at Lakeshore who had a coupon for free laminating with any purchase. (Woot woot!) I just use regular clothes pins for the names. But you could spruce them up. You could even modge podge cute scrapbook paper on them. I did that to the clips that hold their art work.  If they end the day on blue (I'm a Handy Helper) they get in the treasure box.

Happy Mothers Day!! So in my last post  I wrote about the cute little Dollar Tree Minnie Mouse boxes we made for our moms in my class. Today was our Muffins with Mom event at the preschool where I work. Each class decorates a table or tables for the event. They were all so cute! Mother's Day is so fun because all the flowers and cute gifts are adorable. I went with a Minnie Mouse theme. These were the gifts the kids made for their parents.I got the idea for the flower bouquet off of Pinterest. For their card I just took a Minnie Mouse bow and added the words "You are Bow-tiful" Inside was just their hand prints and the words, "you are the best, hands down."And of course their Minnie Mouse boxes that I mentioned earlier. I threw some chocolate in the boxes because every mom deserves chocolate for Mother's Day! I added little place cards so everyone would know where to sit. The polka dot runner is actually Christmas wrapping paper that I got on cleara

At my preschool we do Muffins for Moms. The moms or other special ladies come and watch the kiddos do a little presentation and then they take their child into the special room for muffins and other goodies. Each class decorates a table and that is where we put their gifts for their moms. I searched Pinterest for the perfect gift for my kids to make... but then I was struck by the idea that I should do something Minnie Mouse theme to go along with my classroom theme. But I couldn't really find anything I liked. So I was back to square one on figuring out what to have my kids make their mothers for Mother's Day & Muffins for Mom.  I was walking through Dollar Tree (I can not tell you how much I LOVE Dollar Tree) and I spotted these little cardboard boxes. They had heart, square, and circle boxes. I picked up the heart boxes but they didn't have enough for my kids but they had a ton of circle ones. Circles are too boring , I thought. But then the light bulb

A while back I saw this darling Minnie Mouse play kitchen. I fell in love with it but didn't have the money to buy it for my classroom. (But if you are wanting to skip the DIY path, the paint stained hands, and the frustration you can buy it through Amazon by clicking on the picture.)                                                     What I did have in my room was a wood play kitchen set that had seen better days, but beggars can't be choosers. The longer I looked at them, the more I got the itch to paint them. I covered the back of the little stove with bulletin board paper when I turned my dramatic play area into Mickey's Bakery. You can see pics of that  Here . That helped for a little while, but when that came off and you could see the ugly back again, I knew it was time. I have never done a furniture DIY project. I'm sure this comes super easy to some people, and with practice I'm sure it would be easier for me to do too. Painting it red was no pr

I have been having so much fun incorporating mickey into some of my crafts to coincide with my Mickey themed classroom. As soon as Christmas time rolled around I knew I wanted to make a Mickey themed Gingerbread house. I love gingerbread, and my Christmas tree at home is decorated with them. So a Mickey gingerbread theme is just the best of both worlds. I freehand cut out all of the decorations (apart from the glittery gingerbread man and cup cake cutouts that I had picked up at the dollar store and had left over from different projects. And the white bulletin board borders that I used as "icing.")  I also added some brown bulletin board paper to the back of the play kitchen and added a Mickey's Bakery menu board. They baked and served felt gingerbread and other goodies in our dramatic play center.  The kids made Mickey gingerbread men.  I gave them a tray full of collage items and mickey ears with their name on it to tie in with our gingerbread h

I love Christmas and all the fun traditions that go with it. I am a huge fan of Elf on a Shelf. At home we have an elf named Snickers who gets into all kinds of mischief. I knew I wanted an elf for my preschool class as well, but I wanted to tie into my Disney themed class room. I've seen lots of Disney themed ideas for the regular Elf on a Shelf but I was so excited when I found a Minnie Mouse elf on Amazon. They have a cute Mickey elf too.                          Today was the day our elf arrived in our class! I waited for one of the kids to notice it and then pretended to be very surprised that she was there. She wrote a note to our class an explained that they can't touch her or she will lose her magic. For the note I just downloaded a Mickey and Minnie font that I use for a lot of classroom stuff. The kids were very excited at the idea that she goes to the North Pole and talks to Santa. Also our elf left a note on our classroom door to let all who come in know