Finals Goodie Bags

My students start final exams on Friday! This year has gone by so fast!!

I remember when I was a freshman final exams were petrifying. As I got older they got less scary, but were also intense. I wanted to make my students something that would help them as finals rolled around and hopefully help them de-stress (a bit).

Here you can see a photo of the little "Finals Survival Kits" I made. They cost about $50 to make 80 full bags with a 20 extra that didn't quite have everything (which I'm going to divvy up with a slightly different note to some of the teachers and staff). The note attached states:

As this year comes to an end you have just final exams left! This Finals Survival Kit is from me to you thanking you for a great first year at Mater Dei and wishing you the best. 

If I don't teach you again next year, I am still available to help you during lunch, and before or after school. Otherwise, have a GREAT summer and I'll see you next year!

This kit includes:

• A pencil to help you write the right answers
• A grip to keep you holding on when things seem tough
• An eraser for when you make a mistake
• A pencil sharpener to keep you sharp during testing
• A lifesaver for when you need a little extra help
• A sticker to help you stick to it even when things seem hard
• And some chewy candies because I didn't want to add anything else hard to finals week!

Best of  luck and know that I believe you can do this!

Things I thought about including, but didn't because I was sure they would just end up in the trash:
A bouncy ball to remind you to keep having fun
A toothpick to help you pick the right answer
A candle for late nights studying (birthday candles work well)
A paperclip to hold everything together
A rubber band so you stay flexible when you want to get stressed
Gum to remind you to stick to it! (Gum is against school rules, so I didn't want to go there)

Do you do anything special for finals or the end of the school year?

St Paddy's Day Goodies

Goodies!

I LOVE Saint Patrick's Day. I am probably more Irish than I am Mexican. I don't know much of my Irish roots, but I do love St Patrick's day. We're going 1-1 next year, and the tech team has been working ridiculously hard on getting everyone ready. As a result, I made these little "goodie bags" for the team, and a few other people who have made my first year at this school amazing.

Each of these lucky co-workers will get:

• A Green Martini Glass (you could substitute wine, or a normal drinking glass, but these just looked so pretty!)
• Green Easter Grass (used to fill Easter baskets)
• A St. Paddy themed pencil 
• DoubleMint Gum
• A Gold Chocolate Coin
• Andes Chocolate Mints
• A Gold Mini Reeses (for the ladies in ring form modeled in this picture) 
• A green accessory
• For the boys it is a green fake mustache
• For the ladies a green shamrock necklace

Different Colors!

These were easy and fun to make. Most of this was just separating different goodies into the green glasses. The rings were handmade and SUPER easy! I made a bunch of these so I could use them with my students as well. In the photo on the left I am showing off three different ones I made.

• The green are for St. Patrick's Day
• The yellow are as close as I found to gold (also St. Patrick's Day).
• The blue are because my school colors are blue and gold.

I don't think these are quite as cute as the rings I made with Hershey's kisses (seen on the right) but I like the taste of Reeses better anyways, and you can use the same method with either candy.

You have THREE different ways of making these rings:

1. With TWO pipe cleaners
   
• Cross the pipe cleaners on a flat service 
• Put the candy in the middle 
• Pull the pipe cleaners up and over the candy and cross the pipe cleaners again  
• Wrap the pipe cleaners around your finger and wrap the excess below the candy 
2. With ONE pipe cleaner cut in half


• Put the candy in the middle Cross the pipe cleaners on a flat service. Make one the cross asymmetrical so that two of the sides are shorter than the other two.  
• Pull the pipe cleaners up and over the candy and cross the pipe cleaners again. Make the shorter sides combine with the longer sides.   
• Wrap the pipe cleaners around your finger and wrap the excess around the other pipe cleaner 
3. With ONE pipe cleaner
• Put the candy in the middle of the pipe cleaner.
• Twist the sides together.
• Rotate the pipe-cleaner and flip to the other side.
• Twist the sides together
• Wrap the pipe cleaner around a finger/magic marker
• Secure the ends 

You don't work well with my descriptions? Don't worry, I am not offended. Check out the video below (only for the one pipe cleaner)!

So those rings, and my dollar store decor get my students festive.

How do you get in the Saint Patrick's Day spirit at your school? 

My Cat is getting into the St Patrick's Day Spirit

Valentine's Day Goodie Bags

Assembling all the goodies

A finished bag

I just started this job at a new school, and Monday the English department has a meeting.

Since Saturday is Valentine's day, I thought it would be a nice time to show everyone how much I appreciate them, by making little goodie bags

I originally was going to make cupcakes, but so many people are watching their weight, I decided that candy was better. This way, if they don't want it, I am sure they can find a several students to reward with sweet treats!

They aren't the cutest, and they aren't the most creative, but I thought I'd share them here.

• Each person got: a pencil sharpener in our school colors
• A cute little Coca-Cola glass
• Cadny (to fill the glass of course)!!!
• A monogram notepad made from their initial
• A note thanking them for being so sweet

If you were interested in making similar bags for co-workers, students, or really anyone, I made a PDF with the graphic you see above (free fonts via fontspace) you can download it for free here.

Do you get crafty for Valentine's day? Or stick with something simple? Ignore it completely? I'd love to know more about what other teachers do.