Carolina Girls Guest Blogger.....Lacie from Polka Dots & Pencils

Hey y'all! I am so excited to be guest posting for my fabulous friend Patti today! Thank you Patti for inviting me over! This is start of our fabulous Carolina Girl Guest Posts! Woo Hoo!!!

So, I thought to start things off today, I would discuss the topic that is on EVERY teacher's mind right now....BACK TO SCHOOL!!! This time every year, I have very bittersweet feelings. I get to spend every summer with my beautiful son, and I LOVE it so much! I love being a teacher too, so I am always excited to go back to school as well! So, the feelings have begun, and I am sad yet excited! I am like many people (or I hope I am) in that I have tons of projects going on right now for my classroom! I can't seem to finish one before I want to start another! 

First, I am making some AWESOME crate seats for my library/reading area at school! One of my former teaching buddies, Shannon, put a picture up on her Facebook of these neat little seats! They are super easy to make and very functional for a classroom! The idea originated from Pinterest, and I have seem several different types all over the Internet. I am in the process of making 4 of them for my classroom and 2 for my son. I wish I could show you a finished picture, but as I said before I am in the middle of several projects and can't seem to finish one before I get inspired to start another! :) I can tell you what you need to make them though! You can also go to Pinterest and type in "crate seats" and you will see tons of tutorials! The supplies you will need are crates, plywood, some type of padding or quilting fiber, fabric, ribbon, and a staple gun! You can see my picture below minus the padding, ribbon, and staple gun! Hopefully, I will have these finished this week, and if you head over to my blog, you can see the finished product! :) 

All you do to make them is follow these easy steps: 

1) Go to Lowe's or Home Depot and get them to cut pieces of plywood for you to sit on top of the lip of the crate. 

2) Cut your padding to fit on top of the plywood. 

3) Wrap your fabric around the padding and plywood and staple the fabric to the back of the plywood. 

4) This step is optional, but if you want to you can staple a piece of ribbon (in a loop) on the side of the bottom of the plywood so you will have a way to pull the plywood up if you want to use the crate for storage! 

So, there you have it! The directions to make a crate seat! If you would like to see a completed crate, please head over to my blog later this week (Polka Dots & Pencils) to see my finished product!

My other favorite project that I have been working on this summer is a "Superfun Back to School Activities" packet! Over the past 4 years of teaching, I have used many different back to school activities with my kids to get to know them the first few days of school. I decided to compile all these activities into a packet for other teachers to purchase and use in their own classroom! One of my favorite activities to do with my students every year on the first day of school is a game I call "MEETO". It is a version of BINGO that I use to help my students get to know each other! Each box has a statement in it. The students travel around the room and find other students that fit the descriptions in each box. Now, I usually do a coverall or 2 ways BINGO (vertical, horizontal, diagonal) for the students to win. When they win, they yell "MEETO"!!! It is just a fun, introductory activity for the students to get to know each other. I will warn you, it can get a little crazy in the room, but the kids have SO MUCH fun! This activity will be a part of my "Superfun Back to School Activities" packet that will be sold in my 2 teachers stores later on this week! However, I do want to leave all you AWESOME readers with a freebie so for the next 2 days, my "MEETO" will be free to download in my Teachers Pay Teachers store! YAY! The color and black and white picture of the game are pictured below. Just click on the TpT logo below or the picture to go to my TpT store to download your copy for free! 

Thank you so much for letting me rant and rave today about Back to School! I hope everyone has an awesome day! Please stop by and check out my blog by clicking the button below! :)