Valentine's Fun

Valentine's in Thailand is very different.  Only similarities:  Everyone goes out to dinner.  Everyone buys flowers.  Both are quite cheap here.  Other than that it is different.  Valentine cards (for kids) are not possible to find here.  There are some "Happy Valentines Day" cards like what 'grown ups' send.  Candy is not made specially for Valentines other than M&Ms and I think it is just special packaging.  No fun hearts candy or anything like that.

Anyway, we made it work. It was fun.  Last week I had no idea what to do but was suggested to do the felt heart weaving basket.  It was fun! I learned a lot about my kids while doing it!  Some still struggle with fine motor skills like straight lines and cutting.  Some struggle with following directions or trying things that may be hard for them.  So it was a learning experience for us all!  Here is the tutorial that I found.  Pickin' and Throwin'.

My school is blessed to be able to order some supplies for crafts and things.  I had them order me felt. I got way more than I needed.  I had about 100 pieces of 5x12 in. I am so sad that I forgot to take a picture. It was silly how much felt I had, and still have.  I gave half to my buddy teacher.  After her class and my class did it  and a few mistakes, I still have 35 pieces left.

ANYWAY, it turned out great.  It is hard to tell in the pictures but the hearts do open.  I hot glued the edges a little so candy and things could stay in it without falling out.

The other thing that we did during our party time was play Valentine's Bingo.  It was a huge hit.  Even for my boys who HATE Valentine's Day as I was told so so SO many times!  I found it through Pinterest but it led me here: Prepared Not Scared.  It is beautiful. I did not have time to laminate it before playing but I made sure the kids did not destroy it so I can use it again next year.  I LOVE IT!!

Here we are in action: 

Finally, my Valentine/February bulletin board in our hallway.  Each student made a heart and wrote what book they LOVE reading and why.  I love the board and it was SO easy! I made the large heart 3-D by folding a file folder in between two construction sheets.  It flaps in the wind a little but it is quite fun!

What did you do for Valentine's Day?  I hope your day was as wonderful as mine!

Teaching and Thailand...

Well today I was hoping to link up with Tara and Monday Made Its, but my day was quickly changed. Yesterday we found the house of our dreams. It was perfect.  Perfect cost, perfect location, perfect everything.  We told the owners we wanted the house and were planning on giving them a deposit this afternoon.  (side note, it is Tuesday night here just to clarify.)  So hubby and I decided to do some work on my classroom before meeting with the owners.  While working this morning we got a phone call saying that the owners accepted money from someone else this morning, thus taking the house away from us.  It was so incredibly sad.  

This beauty was 'our' house..... ($475 US dollars)

Anyway, our perfect afternoon turned into a sad and very different afternoon.  We ended up seeing a few more houses but could not get over the sadness... haha.  SO, after all of this we did end up getting a few things done in my classroom but not enough to show yet.  

But I did want to share a few other things about Thailand.  I went to the market yesterday and bought some fabric.  This was my first trip to the market and it was so cool.  But while there I bought 3 different fabrics for about 2 dollars a meter.  I was quite impressed with this cost. I guess I'm not too familiar with costs in the States but I bought 10.5 meters of fabric for 22 dollars.  I have 3 large bulletin boards and 2 small ones in the front (one of which I left covered in paper)  Anyway, this is my fabric.  The left fabric doesn't show well but I have close up pics too ;)

These are the close ups.  I LOVE the multi-colored one and wish I would have gotten other more colorful ones as well.... guess I will have to go back!

black and white

favorite :)

black and white polka dots :)

The other thing I am very excited about but do not have pictures for are baskets!! Baskets here come in ALL colors and sizes and are also very cheap!! I already have quite the stash in my room and will make great use of them. But I am very happy that they are cheap and readily available. I cant wait to label them and have a place for everything!  I hope to share pictures soon of some of the things I am doing.  I still need to get access to a printer so I don't have to hand write a bunch of things.... please let the printer be available soon!!