FUN PRODUCTS

I'm taking a moment today to share some of my favorite new products- great for teachers!


Recently I discovered that a teacher friend of mine, known as Creative Teacher, is SUPER creative!  She made this shirt and apron for me.  (The colors are much more vibrant in person!)

I've never used an apron before while teaching, but I realized that I was cramming all kinds of things in my pockets during the day: my phone (Class Dojo!), dry erase markers, Promethean (smart) board pen, regular pens, stickers, etc....  I needed an apron!  So she made me this one!  You can find her on Facebook at Creative Teacher.   They are both so cute, and perfect for me!  Thanks Creative Teacher!





Another friend of mine recently started her own Fashion Jewelry and Accessories business called One Sassy Belle.  (http://www.onesassybelle.com)  My daughter and I have picked out a few things for our wish list so far, but we need to narrow down the list a little!  I'm thinking about one of these two necklaces.  Decisions, decisions.... (click the pictures to visit the website directly).  Super cute jewelry!  Check out the website and/or the Facebook page.

And last but not least, every teacher needs a great teacher bag!  I have found the best one through Thirty-One Gifts.  I love their bags so much that I decided to sell them too.  I get a lot of free bags that way!   Check out the most popular teacher bag (it's great for so many other things too!)  The Zip-Top Organizing Utility Tote comes in 17 fabrics and can be personalized.

Thirty-One Gifts has a special every month.  The September special is to get this new All-Day Organizing Tote for just $15 with any $35 purchase.  (so if you order the Zip-Top Organizing Utility Tote above, you can get this All-Day Organizing Tote below for just $15!)  Cute and functional!  If you are interested in learning more, or would like to order, visit www.mythirtyone.com/392407.  Or email me directly for more information.  

Do you have a great teacher product to share?  Share it on my new Facebook page: Just a Second, It's Time for Third!

UPDATED LIBRARY

For the last few years I have used a very old, very broken bookcase in my classroom library.  This year I decided it was time to get rid of it!  Aside from getting splinters, the back was coming off, and it really just needed to go!  I tried fixing it, but decided that new bookcases were in order!  My district has a furniture and budget shortage (don't they all these days), so to Target I went!  (see Pinterest Bookshelves for more on that)

 Out with the old!

In with the new!  I got four new bookcases and realized that I needed one more.  

(My library organization still needs work, but that's a project for another time!)

We had new carpet put in our house right before school started.  There was a piece left over that the crew was going to throw away unless we wanted it.  Of course I did!  I'm a teacher!  It turned out to be the perfect size for a classroom rug!  New, nice, and clean!  It's perfect!

We put the carpet in the classroom on the Saturday before school started, and there were little new carpet threads all over.  I didn't want to start the first day of school with that, so on Monday morning, the first day of school, I actually brought a vacuum from home and vacuumed the new rug 30 minutes before the kids came!  The new carpet is awesome!

MEET THE TEACHER

I love Meet the Teacher Night!  Excited students and their parents come by to meet me, drop off their supplies, and check things out before the first day.  This really makes the first day of school easier on the students and the teachers.

I found these really cute standing frames at Ikea and planned to use them for Center Work, but they worked out perfectly for Meet the Teacher Night!  Had I thought of it prior to 30 minutes before the event, I probably would have typed the message though.  Next year.....

My school requires a sign-in sheet, and I also like to have a paper to fill out with contact info, food allergies, and how the student will get home the first day.  From past experience, I have noticed that if the form is too long, parents will wait to fill it out and return later, so I made it as short as possible for Meet the Teacher Night.

I let the students pick their own desk for the first day.  We will change it later in the week.

The desks are ready for the first day!  I wrote names on the desk tags and name tags for those students who attended the Meet the Teacher Night.  The students will get started on this fun Look WHO's in 3rd Grade Packet by Nicole Rios (love TPT!) while I'm greeting students and parents and dealing with supplies on the First Day of School.  The students will enjoy their special cup filled with a few goodies.  

 
 I have received a TON of new Science and Math supplies, which is great, but I haven't had a chance to organize it all, so my back counter/cabinets will be a work-in-progress for quite some time.  More supplies are still coming!  It's exciting to have new supplies!  Now I just need more time to sort and organize!!

     In case you are wondering why my number line is positioned so far from the ceiling (18 inches to be exact), you can thank the Fire Codes for that one.  I'd much rather have it all the way up, but we have to stay 18 inches from the ceiling (maybe no one will notice my Pledge Posters though....)

It's time for school!

CHAIR FOOTIES 2

Last year I tried the Chair Footies and it was a great success! (click link for last year's post) This year I am doing it again, although with darker colors.  The yellow that I used last year was too light and showed a lot of dirt.  Putting on the Chair Footies is definitely worth my time!  By the end of the year, my floor still looked good!  No ugly marks all over the room!  They also eliminate most of the noises made by the chairs when moved.  And as an added benefit, it makes the custodians happy, which is very important!

I chose turquoise and purple this year, my class colors.  My handy rolling cutter made the cutting much easier than using scissors!

Ready to go!

Awesome!

BOXES

Just the other day I was enjoying the fact that I didn't have to unpack any boxes this year.  Then this happened:

My new Science supplies came in!  I get two sets because I teach two classes.  Thankfully these boxes were a breeze to unpack!  Each big box contained a large plastic tote filled with Science experiment supplies, nicely organized!  The smaller boxes were filled with bags of sand and pebbles.

Done, with a little extra cleaning to make room for the new Science materials!

Also, my hallway board is ready for a new creative display! 

PINTEREST PENCILS

Today I tried my classroom Pinterest project #2.  The bookshelf project was very successful, so this one should be too!  A teacher on Pinterest put decorated tape on their pencils so everyone knows that the pencils belong to the teacher.  Sound like a good idea!

Every summer I bring my heavy duty classroom pencil sharpener home, and we stock up on pencils when they are on sale.  My wonderful husband sharpens them all for me!  He's a great helper!  So I took one box of pencils, bought some decor tape for $2.49 and tried it.  Check it out:

They turned out great!  However, I decided that the for the time it took me to put a piece of tape on these pencils, I would rather just buy extra pencils and not worry about them getting lost.  But if you have lots of free time, or a volunteer with nothing to do, it sure is a cute idea!

SETTING UP 2014

Setting up my classroom this year has been the easiest year ever!  Guess how many boxes I had to unpack this year?  None! That's right!  For the first time in four years, I didn't have to change classrooms (or grades!)  Awesome!  I was so surprised at how much extra time I have this year during my prep week, what a relief!

Check out this old blog post from August 2012 or how about this one from August 2013.  This year, there were no crazy stacks of totes and boxes to unpack!  What a difference!

So, this year I forgot to take a "before" picture, but it looked a lot like this one, just had all the desks piled in the middle of the room.

Last year, I bought the Magazine Holders from Ikea to use in the cubbies as "Take Home Cubbies" for papers and things to go home, allowing the rest of the cubby to be used for the students personal items.  Because they share desks, the textbooks stay in the desks, but their personal items (journals, folders, boxes, etc...) are kept in the cubbies when not in use.  It worked out great!  This year, we decided to try adding another Magazine Holder for our homeroom students.  Every day during the transition between our classes, at least one student drops their pile of transition materials (Library Books, school boxes, anything needed for the next class).  So, to prevent that, we're going to try using one as a Book Box to hold their books in (borrowing a little from Daily 5), and the students will no longer bring their school boxes back and forth.  They will have one box in each class.  So, with that in mind, I had a LOT of Magazine Holders to build, and needed some help!  I had some great helpers!  

The students will decorate their Take Home Cubby and Book Box during the first week of school, using brand new markers!  (Love having brand new markers!)  When the first class leaves for their Literacy Class, they will take the Book Box (on the right), and the 2nd class will bring their Book Boxes with them.  Not only do I teach Math and Science, but I also teach an Intervention block, most often on Literacy.  We have our students reading every spare minute they have- Library Books, AR books, fun books, chapter books, leveled books, etc!  

I also worked on my classroom library.  Since I have such beautiful bookshelves now, it was so nice to see it all come together.  Usually I have to unpack my books about now, but this year I was able to keep most of them in their containers and store in the classroom, or stack under the counter.  Setting up the library was done in record time!  Only one snag though.... I really need another bookshelf!  I don't like how this is set up (having the chapter books in between the book bins), so I'm going to get one more bookshelf, reorganize, and I think it will be much better!  

A cute addition to my room this year is for how I give out special pencils.  I used to store them in an old cardboard school box (from 1996, not kidding!)  But then I came across this:

  The students will love choosing their special pencils from this cute straw dispenser! 

More Setting Up the Classroom 2014 Coming Soon!

PINTEREST BOOKSHELVES

This summer I decided to tackle a neat looking pinterest project for my classroom!  I needed new bookshelves and pinterest is filled with crafts using Mod Podge, so I gave it a try!  I am happy to report that the project was a great success!

I found the best instructions on Pretty Well Organized, and went for it!

First stop, Target!  These 3 shelf bookcases are around $20.  Walmart sells a similar one, but they are shorter.  

Next stop, Hobby Lobby!   I first chose this gingham fabric to match my other gingham curtains in my classroom.  Then I thought about how hard it might be to Mod Podge this while keeping the lines straight (it would bother me if they ended up crooked!)  So, I put the gingham back and found these:

Nice colors, and no worries about keeping any lines straight!  Each bookcase needed 3/4 of a yard of fabric.

I also needed these supplies.  The Mod Podge and foam brush were at Hobby Lobby, but the smoother was a Lowe's for less than $2.

I laid the fabric on the cardboard bookshelf backing, then folded about 1/2 back.  I spread the Mod Podge on 1/2 of the backing, then put the fabric on top of the Mod Podge.

Smooth out any wrinkles.  Repeat with the other 1/2.   Allow to dry for at least an hour, and then trim the excess fabric.  Attach backing to the bookshelf per the directions.

And here is the finished product!  Four beautiful bookcases for my classroom!