Showing posts with label organization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organization. Show all posts

A Modern Teacher Planner Giveaway!

I am 100% sure you know April from A Modern Teacher makes fabulous planners, but did you know she now makes PERSONAL planners too! When April sent me the info on her new printed planners, I knew it was something I needed! So, perhaps you will agree with me!

I've bought my fair share of digital planners (four to be exact) and I can tell you that they are all still right on my laptop.
Why?
I don't have a personal printing press. I have a great laser printer for prints and school stuff, but in a planner I need a tough cover and great binding. I'm not a dainty gal. I lug stuff in a back and forth in a big ole' bag from home to school to the ballfield and back again every single day.
I need a cover that can withstand me! And this one's super sturdy!
Plus April's personal planners merge TEACHER LIFE and FAMILY LIFE! Yes!
I'm sure y'all are way more organized than I am; but if you keep notes in a lesson planner, a data notebook, on stickies, on the back of your kids' work, or the back of your hand, then maybe this is our answer!









And if you are not a fan of everything bright like the Rainbow Chalkboard design I chose, April has two other more subtle options: The Sunshine and The Black and White Dot!



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Monday Made It and a drawer cart giveaway!

I'm linking up with my friend Tara for Monday Made it!



Last week I posed a simple question on my fb fan page...
what do you keep in your drawer carts?
and I honestly got waaaay more feedback than I thought!
I was working on math manipulative labels for my carts (which is what I use them for) and wanted to know what everyone else kept in those babies!
So here is what I came up with!

I absolutely adore them as much as one can adore labels...and that's a lot! Scrappy kids are my obsession and I knew I had to use them! plus they still look great pretty small!

FYI-they are HALF OFF for the rest of the day only!

I have two tall carts that I have zip tied together-this keeps them from getting wobbly. I also put a dab of hot glue on the screw when I put them together! I keep all my math manipulatives in these. I also have the nifty short one for my Word Work!

here's how they look!


I used a nice bold font because their purpose is for the kiddos to read them! I also added pictures of every.little.thing! WIth the help of some amazing artists on tpt! So you get over 130 labels!
I also added numbers 1-36 for upper grade teachers or teachers who may use these as student work station or student drawers. These labels are smaller (just the scrappy kid holding a sign with the number on it!)
Aren't they precious!?

and on the label front, I also finished up my closet storage boxes. I cannot get into school yet to put them in, so pretend these are in a closet and not my living room!
I love these sterilite drawers! I can stack them two high on the shelves in my closet! I buy the small and medium sized modular ones. I also use the labels that match my Schoolgirl Style decor set! Summer Soiree


and now for the giveaway...

I'm giving away one 10 drawer cart! It will ship directly to your front door!
Good Luck!
please note that only the tall, 10 drawer cart is in this giveaway!

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Bright Idea! Get that Library Cleaned Up!

It's that time again! Gear up for a slew of bright ideas!

I don't know about you, but I like to avoid work assign leadership positions to my kids as much as possible. As often as possible.
The classroom library makes me a teeny bit OCD. I my oldest son spent several weeks the last two summers labeling my library. Numbering. Color coordinating dots. Changing numbers when I decided to add more color dots. New numbers when I had to add more baskets. You get it. So I don't like it when the baskets are messy. Books face out. Books should be in the right basket. Etc. 
but as much as I threaten train the kids, the bins get stuffed and books get put back hurriedly and incorrectly. 
So each semester we have library cleanup. Simple. Each kid has a number in my class. Each book basket has a number in my class. So each student gets their number basket and fixes it. Any book that doesn't belong is taken where it DOES belong. They know each others numbers by the second semester so it gets quicker.


We currently have 48 baskets and 22 kids. So when one gets tidied, they grab another number and repeat. Thy truly do all the work!
My job is to sit and label books that may have been borrowed from my teacher stash or put up before getting labeled from a book fair or Ollie's purchase. 
I also decide if a sad little book needs to be mended or trashed Aka sent home with a kid!
I hope this simple idea brightens your library! 
Visit the dozens of other awesome ideas in the link up below!


Bright Idea: test scores at a glance


It's that time again! SO get your link up on!

Today's bright idea is one of those DUH! moments for me!
Sometimes it's the smallest things!
A few years ago, I was creating cute little covers for our required Math Expressions and Reading Street test. I like all my tests in booklets.

I started thinking about how I hate flipping through the booklets when I have to transfer the data to my personal data notebook and again when the kids transfer their data to their own data notebooks.
lots of flipping
confusion
etcetera

so why not plaster that little list right on that cover!

Now I can transfer everything right to my own data notebook!
and it's easy! I used publisher and just added a skinny little text box, but same goes with powerpoint (which is what I use now).

If you enjoyed this bright idea, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Instagram and on the blog for more bright ideas.
and for more bright ideas from 150 different bloggers, please browse through the link-up below and choose a topic! Thanks for visiting!




Now Teach! Organizing when you are not organized!


I am by no means an organized person.
I do however hate clutter
hate stacks
and hate messes
you will find all of this in my calssroom until I go into some mad rampage and trash everything around me!
but just to prove I am messy and UNorganized, I'm showing you what no other blogger will! These are all pictures I took last year as I was packing up for the summer. I wanted to remember where the messes tended to build up so I could prevent it this year!
So get ready! I really did not even need to watermark these babies cause no one else will claim them for sure!
solution-I got rid of my desk! Sort of...post coming soon!

problem-my writing "center" bookshelf became a dumping ground for things that had no other home. It was never used because it was inaccessible
solution-I broke out more containers and moved the privacy shields elsewhere. I also added a writing table.

problem-this is on top of my cubbies. I would not have cubbies if they were not built in. They are only wide enough to fit a smooshed backpack!
solution-all this is gone! I moved the leveled readers to my closet. The unused textbooks to the hallway supply closet aka land of the lost textbooks, and the rest of the goodies are in their rightful homes. Why did I have lotion sitting there anyway? The bookshelf is now on the floor.
problem-I love these cubbies, but this green basket is where I throw work that needs to be filed. It became where I put copies I never used, stuff I laminated, and anything else that had no home. Now, no more basket! 
solution-my sterilite drawers! I also use the extra spots to keep writing products for portfolios and fliers to go home! Oh, and the blue basket was trashed, the little dictionaries I copied and never used are on student desks, the flower bucket is given away and the old non sticky notepads were sent to the writing center!

problem-Ok, these seriously haven't been used in 4 years...I have labeled and relabeled. See, it's been since before I even made pretty labels! I'm really ashamed! 
solution-So I made some new labels using my Schoolgirl Style pack. But here are some free ones that fit these! They are now M-F labels for my read alouds and minilessons!

problem-Since I have a 20 gallon aquarium with heater, filter, lights, and bubbling shell, there are lots of cords. I am also in charge of the grade level walkie, plus that terrible sharpener. 
solution-moved the aquarium over in front of the cords. Fixed both my hand pencil sharpeners, and asked to not have the walkie! The hanitizer is gone {to the sink}, and the power bar sits on the back ledge of the aquarium lid!
Now, not all of my classroom is this bad! ONE area I worked really hard on was my guided reading table. Now I do consider myself lucky because we use Fountas and Pinnell LLI kits and there is no choice on lessons. While most teachers would cringe...I never have to pre-plan the lessons, all the books are right there in the folder as well as any word cards and response sheets. All I add are notebooks!
I have to have every student in a group that meets daily. You do the math. But that's another post! So I meet with 3 groups and our title I teacher meets with the other 2 in my room. I cross my fingers we will still have this support this year!

each group has a "locker crate" basket from walmart. they are slimmer that regular crates. 

 I also emptied all my craft supplies from drawers and organized them into these babies from Walmart! They have labels now, but not when I snapped this!
and I purchased these wall pockets from Staples for all my super duper important paperwork! Notes from home, field trip forms, and emergency forms. Labels from Schoolgirl Style!

Each of these drawers used to be filled to the brim with random office supplies like reinforcement dots and old ink pens. No more. I set it all in the hallway or kept it and put it in it's new home in the closet. I used my Schoolgirl Style labels and sorted all my bulletin board stuff into these. That may seem like a waste of space to many teachers since this is out in the classroom, but the drawers are super shallow (top three) and lots of other people borrow from my embarrassingly large amount of decor! Plus my mom usually stops in to change out my hallway board! I'll get a picture of the insides later!

Well, if I haven't scared you away, then yay! I still have lots to do and I am refusing to go back to my room until Thursday so these pictures will have to suffice until then!


library organization Q&A

After some instagram fun yesterday, I had a few questions about my library.
Perfect time to link up with sweet Elizabeth and Kristen for Optimum Organization!

Q: How do you organize your books?
A: by genre. and, it has changed over the years, but not really...let me explain.
I organize by genre. I do this because in 4th grade I taught by genre.
it just stuck
I like it
I am sure you have seen Beth Newingham's classroom library
if you haven't, don't throw up while you visit
oh say, for the next few days!

this is how I began this madness
I printed off all her labels
laminated the ones I'd needed
and even bought floppy disk inserts!
that's right...but I can't find them anymore! sorry!
I have 4 baskets of realistic fiction and 4 baskets of animal characters. that's ok! Just go with what you've got.  I have added a lot more specific nonfiction. It used to be a box! Now it's 20! 
There are tons of teachers selling library labels. They are very personal to me, but Kristen offers hers with editable templates so all was good! It will admittedly be difficult to use someone else's labels but these fit my needs! I honestly ended using the blank ones and adding my own clipart! Maybe she'll hire me! 

Q: where do you get your book baskets?
A: I color code. The blue fiction baskets are the picture book boxes from really good stuff. I do kit like my boxes to be different colors. So I did the 12 pack plus another 3 pack if the same neon blue. 
I used to buy the target sterilite baskets, but I had a hard time fitting larger picture books in them. 
Thus here's my closet!
They carry small perfect for chapter books, medium for regular picture books, and the large are huge! They are harder to find but do fit picture books!

Now my nonfiction is a bright red. I do use the target baskets here. I do because the red matches my seat cubes and crates all from target college line last summer. It's the perfect red for my dots on turquoise theme! They are the medium size and 2.99 each. 

Q: where'd you get 43 boxes of books?
A: with my money of course! blah!
when I moved to second I ended up packing away a lot of books and began adding picture books I got from mainly Scholastic. But I love children's lit and I am willing to do it. If you are low on cash, I always go through the discards in our library. I was obsessed with Tintin as a kid and when we discarded the older ones, our media specialist saved them for me! Garage sales and used book stores are great too. Just don't buy any old thing though! Be sure it's quality!

Q: do kids get and put away their own books?
A: of course! I do not coddle! Each book is labeled with a garage sale dot sticker that matches the number on the book box! I get the stickers at dollar tree.
Of course, they mess up or stickers fall off.
So I made a book doctor basket for any books that are falling apart, missing a sticker, or for those little lazy lucy's out there.

Q: how long did it take you to get your library organized?
A: It's ongoing. In the beginning I literally had a panic attack. I had pulled all my books {they were inserted with spines out back then}, put them in piles in my floor, and began making stacks. Mind you this was like April one year. I do this. crazy
that was the initial plunge. It took about a week to get them how I wanted.
I had about 10 baskets of books.
My library has expanded since it has become more of a priority.
I hire out my teenager in the summer to sticker and reorganize any missed books. He's cheap! But very efficient!
However, each quarter or so, each student in my room gets their "number" box {every student has a number and they just pick that box from the library}. They take every book out. Make sure it is in the right place, knock the grossness out of the bottom of the box, and get it all pretty again. Students love to help you organize!

Q: where do you keep all these baskets? 
A: I am lucky to have a wall of built in bookcases. I can fit my entire fiction section (15 boxes) plus 8 chapter book size baskets and two poetry baskets, and 24 student book boxes! 
Our district also provides bookcases. I have two taller 3-shelf bookcases and another 2-shelf case. If I had to purchase book cases the 3-shelf ones at target and Walmart are great. I also use a tall 6 foot shelf from Ollie's. 

I hope that helps! A little!

favorite pins and classroom library organizing part 1

I'm taking a break from cutting out library labels to link up with adorable Cara and share my favorite pins from this week!


first is a home with the boys pin. I love this idea from The Modern Teacher {she is ah-mazing btw} for the week before going back to school. My up and coming third grader loves school supplies almost as much as his momma! I have been hoarding away some cute notebooks and things for him!
I am planning on recovering my ugly burgundy office chair I use at school. I have the fabric to cover it {and those crate seats I was going to do LAST summer} I just need to figure out how to get it apart! and I cannot trace this pin back...


I adore this little video clip of Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. Looks like a match made in heaven!


and here's something I want to do at Open House! Do the math to find your seat, but I want to use it to find their "number" for cubbies and desks, etc. this is another pin that leads to nowhere though...


I love this sight word money from the Moffat Girls. Annie is a doll! and so is here stuff! These are on my B2S list!

and here's what I have spent every morning this week doing! I added contact paper to the back inside of my built-ins. If they weren't built in I'd spray paint those bad boys!
 I got all my craft supplies into 6 modular shelves from Walmart. I still have more organizing to do in this closet!
and here's my nonfiction section. I also need to recover that chair. It was a throw away I snagged. and those frames will frame something!
 I still have to attach all the labels to the book boxes. I ordered new boxes at the end of school, so I need to add my new ones. I used the editable Bright and Clear from Kristen. I really ended up using the blank template more than anything! I get a little specific with my labels! Luckily she thought about that ahead of time!
I wrote down each genre and box number so I could work on them at home.

and I got one on today. I sure didn't realize they were this big, but it'll work! I will not let it bother me. No.I.won't. The stickers are probably the only thing I still hand write in my classroom! I have 43 full boxes and I will not be tackling renumbering all those books. Never, Like ever!
aren't those labels cute! they are her best seller!

happy friday!
I will link up with Kristen and Elizabeth tomorrow to share more about our library!

and one more itty bitty thing...
check out this awesome giveaway at Farley's place!
I you could win $100 at School Outfitters!


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