Gettin' My (Teacher) Craft On

It is a truth universally acknowledged that upper grade teachers

 have a lot of correcting to do, 

and lower grade teachers have a lot of fiddly prep work to do.

Which is great, 

because I loooove fiddly prep work!

A recent lesson began, as many do,

 with a find in Bullseye's Playground (formerly the Dollar Spot) at Target.

Hmmm... what could I do with these cute but cheap li'l clothespins?

Well, I could do a matching idea on a piece of paper...

but is there something even more engaging I could do?

Bingo!

I printed out six hedgehog drawings found on the internets, 

laminated them, and wrote uppercase letters on the hedgehog with a Sharpie.

 On the clips, I wrote the corresponding lowercase letters,

 so kids could practice matching them.

Is this as adorable as all get out, or what?

But, I can hear you say,

 "Dang It Minnie, isn't that a lot of work for one fifteen minute lesson?"

Yes, it is.  But fortunately, a sister teacher taught me a neat MacGyver trick.

To remove Sharpie marker from a slick surface,

 just write over it with a dry erase marker...

... and it will wipe right off.

Now I can use these hedgehogs for number matching, word completion, etc. 

Who knows? 

 Maybe if I get transferred to middle school,

 I can even use them for Periodic Table practice.