Monday Made It: Seuss and Supplies!

It's been ages since I had the opportunity to link up with my buddy, Tara, and her Monday Made It link up! I am never crafty, but, now and then, I "make" something that leads to some extra fun in the classroom OR makes things run more smoothly... And I'm excited to share two of those things today!

I love to organize things... and this time I gave organization as a gift! I have a friend at my school who works with different groups of children all day long (and some of them are from my classroom!) She literally has a parade of kiddos in and out all day long, and it's hard to keep supplies organized when everything (and everyone) has to move so quickly. I decided that I would try to make an organizational system that would let the kids put things away--with minimal effort.

Many of the kids that spend time in her room are from primary grade classrooms, and many are English Learners, so I knew I needed to minimize the use of "words." (Looking over the pictures, I think I will re-do the labels to include pictures and words, but, alas, that "adjustment" will have to wait a while).

I like the way it turned out, but the real test will be in its efficiency in keeping supplies available and organized. I love the little containers in the drawers. They are large enough to make it easy for little hands to retrieve and put away materials. And since the containers are clear (other than the pencil trays), it's easy to see the materials in each drawer. The top drawer has pencils... lots and lots of pencils! She should have sharpened pencils for weeks! I also made a can for pencils that need to be sharpened and one of my students has volunteered to be her pencil monitor!

There are lots of materials that might be needed for (almost) any project she can imagine...

 And a variety of paper types for a variety of learners...

 Here are two views from "inside"...

I hope she loves it as much as I enjoyed making it for her!

 

My second "Made It" is more of a Borrowed-and-Used It" situation. We celebrated Read Across America a little late... but we had a great time!

The fourth, fifth and sixth grade students rotated through the classrooms, where they participated in different activities in each room. There was a Bingo room, and a drawing room, and word play room, and then there was my room... which was all about The Lorax and the need to save the trees...

Following a discussion about conservation and caring for our resources, we used these cards to play... SPOONS!

Many of my students do not know how to play "traditional" board and card games, so it always fun when we learn a new game together. I used graphics from "It's a Silly World" (Read Across America) clip art collection from the 3am Teacher to make the cards for our game. Such fun trees! It made the game so much more fun! And the kids loved them!

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So that's the extent of my craftiness for the week (or month?!). I am thankful that Tara gives us a chance each month to share and showcase our "creations." I always love to see what others have shared in the link-up and I'm always in awe of the creativity of so many bloggers! Hop on over to Tara's blog and see for yourself... Just click the image below!

Thanks for visiting today...