The Finishing Touches

   It is really here!!! That time of year where teachers wonder where the summer went and parents are racing their kiddos to school. I spent a good chunk of the day today putting the finishing touches on my classroom for my new kiddos...names on name tags and cubbies, sharpening pencils, printing Back to School handbooks, and sorting everything out of my Mary Poppins (aka IKEA blue bag) bag.

   I am always looking for ways to cut prepping time for more learning and teaching time. Because we use whiteboards at least once a day in my room what better way to store everything my kiddos need in one place. I found these baskets at Dollar Tree (and thanks to my teammate she found the yellow basket at her location) that fit perfectly under my new Lakeshore rolling easel. Each basket has enough dry erase markers, white boards, and erasers for each kiddo sitting at the color table. My plan is to place the basket on each color table when we need the materials. I think this is going to save my kiddos at least 5 minutes of walking and grabbing the materials themselves.

 

 

   The purple basket is empty because that table is in my writing center. I still need it to make myself feel better...and make the bottom of my easel even.

 

 

    Here is a look inside of one of my baskets. Basic dry erase markers, sentence strip whiteboards from the dollar spot at Target (3/pack), and the most genius idea I saw floating around Pinterest. Those green circles are going to be my erasers. They are small face scrubbers from the Dollar Tree (3/pack). No more ripping apart tissues on the carpet or using my magnetic erasers like a super magnet needing to attract everything in sight. Plus, I can take them home every couple of weeks and throw them in the washing machine.

     Well I am off to work on my last couple of books from Booksource until my next box arrives. So excited to be apart of creating materials for teachers like you for this awesome company. I will let you know when our resources go live online! Pictures of my completed classroom (is it ever really complete?) coming soon!

 

 

A Day of Organization

   I spent the afternoon, after our summer school session, organizing all my math materials. Not teaching math this past year has left a toll on my poor math bins. I am pretty sure there was a cob web or two on top of everything. I have everything placed in labeled bins or in book bins (my favorite ever IKEA purchase).

   This is a look inside of my closet. I use the two top shelves to house my math manipulative. I have labeled pictures on both sides for my own sanity.

   This is a smaller cabinet above my writing center. The top plastic bin holds the manipulative I need for my small groups during Daily 5 Math  Teacher Time. There they are...my white IKEA boxes. Love them so much. Each one is labeled with the math games and centers that fall within that concept.

   So while I was organizing my math materials I figured I would post a picture of how I organize my literacy games. I keep them all on a shelf behind my guided reading table so I have easy access during our Walk to Read rotations. Again, I use the IKEA boxes and place all of my games and their answer sheets in gallon baggies. They have to be the ones from Dollar Tree, because I cannot deal with writing, logos, or colored zips. The ones from Dollar Tree are clear from top to bottom!!! So I will be exchanging out a couple bags to make everything match. (I know I am crazy, but these are the things that haunt me in my dreams!)

   Each IKEA box is labeled with a theme or skill and all the gallon baggies are placed inside. Like my classroom library, this took a little bit of time to organize, but it makes lesson planning and finding something specific so quick!

   I also organized my word work cabinet during my cleaning overhaul. I switch out my word work activities every two weeks as my kiddos I see for Daily 5 are classified as intensive so they only get to choose word work once a week.

   When I close the cabinet you can see my green bucket fillers. I am still awaiting my class roster to put little name tags on each one. The TV on top of the cabinet just takes up space. Does not work. BOO! So I try to hide it behind my Pinterest inspired melted crayon canvas. You cannot see it from this picture angle, but I have a shadow image of a girl walking with an opened umbrella under the melted crayon. It looks like she is walking through colored rain!

 

   Well tomorrow is our last day of the June summer school session. We will be celebrating our ant informational writing success with a yummy ant on a log snack! I promise to post  pictures and our activities as soon as I take pictures of our final drafts and crafts.