Monday Made It: Monster Reading Buddies!

We have open house tomorrow so I am in full swing back-to-school mode, but I had to take a break just in time for Monday Made It and tell you about the best little project that I worked on over the weekend!

Over the summer I got the idea in my head that I really wanted to make some take-home book bags for my little readers with different books and sight word resources to help them with their at-home practice. One of the things that I really wanted to include in these bags were some little reading buddies! I am lucky to have a crafty family and quickly commissioned my grandma's help for this part of my project. I don't have the bags all ready to go yet (but will definitely post about them when I do!), but I spent the weekend making some adorable little monster reading buddies and I couldn't wait to share them with you! 

Follow along for a short step-by-step look at how to make your own little monsters! 

Step One: Cut monster body shapes out of fleece (or a fabric of your choice). We choose just to cut all different "blob" type shapes- my hubby actually did most of this part! 

Step Two: Pick and cut out fabric pieces to decorate your monster. We made little pockets, ears, and eyes out of fun fabric scraps and ribbons that we had laying around.  

Step Three: Use a sewing machine (or maybe a glue gun?) to sew the monster's eye and ears. Sew ears facing down like in the picture, once you sew the sides of the monster together they will flip up the right way! Sew a seam into the top of your pocket fabric but don't sew your pocket down yet!

Step Four: Use your machine to stitch a second eye and mouth onto your little monster.

Step Five: Sew up and around the edges of your monster, making sure that the front of the monster is facing to the inside. Leave a hole in the bottom big enough for you to flip your monster right-side-out and stuff it! 

Step Six: Flip your little monster right-side out and stuff him up! We tore apart an old pillow and used the stuffing from it-nice and cheap! 

Step Seven: Use your machine or hand-stitch your little monster up! 

 And there ya go, lots of little monsters ready to read with your kiddos! I was lucky to have so much awesome help making these little cuties and we made 25 completely different and weirdly adorable little monsters over the majority of one weekend. It was such a fun little project and I can't wait to introduce them to my kiddos! I am planning on having a few visit our class reading center so that my munchkins can get used to reading them. If you decide to make some of your own little monsters, feel free to use this fun little sign I made!

Thanks for checking out my project! If you make your own monster buddies be sure to share-- I would love to see them!!! 

Back to School Reading Surveys

This summer I have been reading through The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. If you haven't read it, I definitely recommend it! There are a lot of really great topics that Ms. Miller shines a light on in regard to reading.
One thing that really stuck with me in my reading was Ms. Miller's encouragement to use reading surveys at the beginning of the year to find out the interests and reading habits of each of your students.
I wanted to create a simple, yet effective reading survey to use with my little ones at the beginning of the year. I'm excited about learning their interests and pairing them with books that they will enjoy. I think it is incredibly important for students to find books that are interesting to them so that they will want to pick them up and read!
I can't wait to use these reading surveys in the first week or two of school so that I can really get to know my students as readers!
If you would like your own copy of reading interest surveys for beginning readers, check them out here! As a part of celebrating hitting my 100 followers milestone on TPT, I'm making this survey pack a forever FREEBIE!! :)

Enjoy!

Back to School Reading Surveys for beginning readers