Valentine's Day at school

I am one of the class Room Mothers.  The other Room Mother happens to have a set of boy-girl twins in the class, too.  We split up the duties and each have different things we are responsible for.  We are pretty lucky that our classroom teacher likes to have celebrations on the holidays and she invites parents.  I know some teachers ask for things to be sent in, but don't have the parents join in on the fun.  So, when it comes time for a holiday celebration, I coordinate the craft and Jessica coordinates the food and drinks.

Today was a class party day!  Since today is actually Valentine's Day I didn't want to do anything that involved a lot of glue.  I wanted things that could be sent home today.  Sadly, Gretchen wanted glitter glue, but didn't get her wish.  I couldn't decide between 2 ideas I had - so I did both.  See, this is exactly why I have never gone on Pinterest.  People ask me all the time "Did you get that off Pinterest?"  and I say, "Nope. I don't go there.  I do not need more inspiration in the craft department."  (I need more time and money in the craft department.)  When we were in Disney and people saw the twins in their homemade outfits, they asked me "Did you get that off Etsy?"   Apparently, they think only faceless people can sew and be crafty.  Surely, someone standing in front of you didn't have the visual idea and ability to make it come true.  You simply must have purchased it from someone crafty who lives in cyber space.  The real key is to be crafty just long enough that then people start asking,. "Did you make that?" when you, in fact, did not.  I could pass off a lot of things as my own at school now that I have established myself as crafty.   I just bought a hand knit sweater for less than $10 (shipping included) off ebay.  I can easily claim it as my own project.  I just might.

Back to the 2 crafts we did today.  You know our "We love you" red poster board heart?  Well, I made an "I love you" version and on Monday & Tuesday, I went to school and took pictures of each child holding it.  Then, I brought the prints today along with blank cards and stickers.  Each child could decorate a Valentine card for someone special using those things as well as their crayons and markers.  No glue - nothing that couldn't be brought home today.

Here are Carl & Gretchen's photos...  for the record, I chose that spot specifically.  I could have taken them outside or even out in the hallway for a plain wall background, but I wanted them to show their classroom.  I maneuvered myself so the globe was visible along with the calendar and the brightly colored learning environment.

(ps... I made that dress...  for real...  not just claiming I did.  It is her Minnie Mouse dress.)

The second project was a smaller little magnet.  I took some card stock and cut out 2 rectangles then added a foam heart shaped sticker and put a piece of magnet on the back.  I wrote the date on the back and we had the kids write their name on the front.  Then, we stamped their pointer finger 2 times to form a little heart.  They came out just like I had them pictured in my head.

Notice, Gretchen put her own date on there.  That is my daughter.  Big Ken's granddaughter.  She didn't realize I had already written the date on the back.  

The kids exchanged Valentine cards and gifts with their classmates.  We did little photo cards that the kids each signed.  Then, Carl tucked them into a plastic heart cup and Gretchen helped me wrap up the melted heart shaped rainbow crayons we made from broken crayons.  She cut out the heart shaped tags and both kids signed those as well as 14 teacher envelopes.  For the homeroom teacher and aides, we skipped chocolate or baked good figuring they would get tons of those today.  Instead, we gave them heart shaped post-it-notes and pink sharpie markers.

Here is our work from last night on those... both kids were very excited and helpful.  Carl had a lot of writing to do and he was very eager to help!

Yes, roses the night before Valentine's Day.  We thought that maybe on the 14th, they would be sold out, so Lew stopped on his way home on Wednesday and bought Gretchen a dozen red roses.  She loves them and is sharing them with all of us.

The other room mother I told you about... well, she gets my award for most awesome and personal Valentines!!!   I should mention that she is the wife of one of our Cub Scout Den Leaders.  So, the family knows Carl very well.   The little girl gave Carl fish crackers!  And the boy gave him a yellow car!!  So perfect!!!!!

And the glue stick is perfect for Miss Crafty Gretchen!  And red candy corn was a huge hit, too!!!   Such thoughtful, personal things!  

I felt the kids didn't get as much candy as last year.  Cool.  They got several pencils and a couple temporary tattoos.  There was some candy in there, too.  Carl decided to try some Fun Dip.  He said he liked it, but of course, he did not finish it.

Up next, I'll do a post about our Valentine's Day at home.