Celebrate Success- September

Hi friends,
Today, I thought I would share the two projects my school kiddos made to "Celebrate Success." It's a way I recognize those students that have done a great job with homework & their behavior. We do a crafting activity as the prize each month. The requirements to be at each month's Celebrate Success Special Activity are:
1) Have 100 merits (They start with 100 merits & are taken away for no homework, classroom disruptions, problems at recess, or other infractions. They can also earn them back.)
2) Not have 3 Homework Alerts for the month. They get a homework alert for not having homework completed each day.
Anyhoo, I had 12 students (out of 20) who earned the special activity which is pictured above. They made a magnetic bookmark and a little backpack.

Here's the bookmark (they make one that looks like them- this is me)For the bookmark, they got to choose their "mini-me's" clothes, hair style, colors- everything (using my scrap papers & Sizzix dies.) I work the machine, they pick what they want & assemble it.
Here's the inside (you can see the magnetic closures)

Now for the backpack:
I really wanted them to make the backpack here, but I thought it would be too hard & time consuming for my 3rd graders. When I looked at it, I realized that basically, the base of the backpack was like a paper bag & "BAM!" just like Blair Warner from the Facts of Life (TV show) "I had another one of my brilliant ideas!" (Hee! Hee!) Why not use a little paper bag? And as you can see, it worked really well & was soooooooooo much easier to make! ( I bought the bags in blue -our main school color- at Uncle Mike's. They come in a package of 16 for $3.99.) They're not regular lunch bag size, they're much smaller.

It is made with many of the same elements as the original backpack with a few changes:
The front pocket is faux. It's just a rectangle with a half circle popped up with foam tape. The top flap was cut out with my Coluzzle template. We added the buttons & the stitching details with a white gel pen. Yes, it does have the ribbon straps on the back too! They do all the work themselves & I help where needed. I punched the holes for the ribbon, and they threaded the ribbon in the holes & taped the ends to the inside.
It closes with a small piece of Velcro.We added some school supplies (erasers, pencil sharpener, mini-pencil, mini-notebook) I bought from Oriental Trading Company at the beginning of the year. They loved them!

I'll give you a peek of this month's Celebrate Success project soon. I hope none of them read my blog so it stays a surprise! ;) For October, it's Halloween themed. (If there's a student who cannot participate due to religious reasons, I provide an alternate activity.) By the way, I didn't bring my camera to school the day we made these & they DID NOT want to leave them until Monday when I could take a picture. :( But I'll ask them to bring their mini-me's so you can check them out. They were so cute!

Thanks so much for peeking at our kid creations. My little one was sent home from school sick :( so I'm off to get him some tea~~~> Gotta go!