Finally, a Monday Made It: Number Lines and Fences

Finally, a Monday Made It link up with 4th Grade Frolics!

It isn't as if I have been sitting around the whole month of June watching TV, but the things that have been getting done have not exactly been Monday Made It worthy!  Babying the front lawn back from being de-thatched, pulling weeds, organizing closets, antique shopping, trying to eat "clean," and training Hank...well, not exactly exciting.  The truth is that I am trying to find a balance between this blogging, school, family, and life.  So, I will not be blogging every day, and probably not every week, unless there is something important to share.  Balance, less stress, and more me...that will be my mantra going back into the school year.

These are the things that I have got ready for school this week:

1. I finally got going last week on polishing up my Argumentative Writing Organizer revised and polished up.  After using all Spring with my kids, I wanted to make a few changes before I shared it on TPT.

2.  For the last few evenings, I have been happily coloring and cutting out number lines from my Vertical Number Lines for Students.  I printed out one copy of each set I was going to use, and then took them to Office Depot.  They printed out all the copies I needed on cardstock for about $3.  That made me much happier than using up all my printer ink.  Yesterday, I made a trip to Lakeshore to laminate them.

These are made from the full page version.  They are approximately 18 inches long.  I "prettied" them up by coloring in the flowers.  This set will be replacing my 20 year old class set of horizontal number lines.

For their Interactive Notebooks, I made a set of smaller number lines.  By printing out two to a page, I was able to get these approximately 11 inches long.  I figure that we will tape them down and fold them to make them handy for quick reference.

Personally, I love sitting around coloring, gluing, and trimming things for the classroom.  However, I realize that there are people not so OCD inclined as myself; so, I updated the packet with a set of number lines that were smaller (approx. 10 inches), but just required single straight cuts.  Since I was doing it, I did the numbers in color.

Then I realized that not every kid would appreciate a beautiful little flower on the end of their number line, and included a set without.

The updated and revised version is available now in my TPT store!

3.  As for non-school crafty things, I have zilch!  I did find the perfect old tablecloth to make into pillow cases for my new bed.  Not only that, I figured out how to re-make some beautiful pillow cases that I got at a great bargain to fit my new throw pillows.  However, they are not actually made yet.  Hopefully, next week, I will have pictures to share of the finished products!

4.  Remember when I said that I had been busy, but I had not exactly "made" anything.  Well, this weekend the sod went down in the side yard.  And yes, I did it myself (tip: don't wear new shoes when putting sod down).  It is a narrow strip of grass off the master bath.  I have it fenced off for the dogs.  The existing grass had taken a beating with the remodel of the master bath, and after the little patio section was put down by my landscaper, I reseeded the small patch of grass and put sod down on either end.  This extended their grass area by 50 square feet.  More work than I anticipated, but nothing that I couldn't handle.  However, keeping my 6 month old, 60lb German Shepherd/Catahoula mix puppy off of it....

I present to you, the fence that finally kept Hank out!  The green garden fence kept him out for about 5 minutes.  So I went back to Home Depot for more stakes.  That solution lasted about 10 minutes before he managed to find a weak spot and was frolicking on the new sod.  Then I pulled every piece of wire, metal, and wood not currently being used to shore up the weak spots and to confuse him.   Not pretty, not pretty at all, but so far it is working.

But something about this look tells me that it won't be working for long!  Next time, remind me to not get a smart puppy.

Enjoy your 4th of July!