Optimum Organization

Organization?!  Did someone say organization?!  I'm pretty sure that is my middle name.  My mother may beg to differ.  Actually she probably wouldn't.  So when I heard Ladybug's Teacher Files and Fun in Room 4B were hosting an organizational linky party, I got all sorts of giddy!

I know Kristen shared her Teacher Toolbox as well, but, man this thing is genius!  It is the best thing I have ever made.  It has a little drawer for every small teacher supply imaginable!  I purchased the toolbox from Lowe's and prettied it up!  I always have my supplies right at my fingertips, without having to dig through a messy drawer to find the exact thing I need.  

You can find a template over at Elizabeth's blog, if you want to make your own!

Another of my favorite organizational items came about after I discovered Teachers Pay Teachers.  I had lots of cards and game materials for my Guided Reading groups, but no way to organize them.  Okay, okay, technically I had elastic bands around them.  Um, boring!

That's when I discovered these small accordion files...

...and these bins that they fit perfectly into!

Score one for the Dollar Spot at Target.  I kept some of the accordion folders intact, which lets me sort the cards if I need to.  In the others, I cut out the insides, so it is just one large pocket.

My last organizational items are a work in progress.  I really like the concept of them, however, I need something slightly different.  These bins have helped immensely in keeping paper clutter off my desk.  When I make copies or choose books to read, I place them in the bin that represents the day of the week I plan to use them.

The only downside is that the paper doesn't stay standing in the bins, but curls up instead.  Maybe plastic drawers or trays would work better?  I'm on the hunt for something that works well for me.

Go link up with one of these lovely ladies, so I can learn more organizational tips!

Hall Pass {Linky}

Tonight I'm linking up with Reagan to share my "Hall Pass"

Here's how it works:

P is for Product

My favorite product, without a doubt, are my Writing Journal Prompts.  The reason is two-fold.  One, I use them Every.Single.Day in my classroom!   It's my kids morning work every day so it gets in a little extra writing (and illustrating!) time, but also keeps them busy while I take attendance and lunch count. Two, they are my best-selling item, so I know they are helping other teachers and students around the country (and the world)!

A is for Area

Ok, I have two favorite spots in my classroom.  The first is my desk area.  I recently converted it to an area to meet with students (read more here).  I love getting this one-on-one or small group time with my students.  They really open up and share!  Oh, and they love the stools too!

My second favorite area is my library.  I've always loved my library and I've always loved switching it around!  Right now, I am in the process of getting new baskets that match and that fit correctly on the shelves.  My inner-OCD is cheering very loudly right now.

S is for Signal

My time-timer.  It is seriously the best purchase I have ever made for my classroom.  Not only does it keep me on schedule, but the kids are aware of how much time they have left.  They know exactly what to do when it beeps.  I do wish the beep wasn't quite so annoying, but it works!  It is amazing for setting routines.  I used to joke last year that my classroom could run itself as long as someone went in and set the time for them!

S is for Sanity

Hmm...I think I need a little more work in this area.  I have a "teacher drawer" that holds these:

I can satisfy my sweet tooth with just one (really!) and the cute little sayings in the wrapper always make my day!

I also like to come home and check in with all my blogger buddies.  They keep me uplifted and motivated!

What does your Hall Pass look like??

Desk Be Gone!

This post has been moved to my new blog, The Colorful Apple.  Check it out here!

Monday Made-It!

I had a dilemma this year.  I started using the back wall of my classroom for our schedule and our Morning Message/notes board. My back wall, however, is a folding wall, so the white board does not have a ledge.  Where to put my markers and schedule cards?  

I used to have a plastic magnetic box, but I left a white board eraser in it over the summer and the eraser melted to the plastic - eww.  That idea was out the window.  Then I found this at Target on clearance: 

And, while I believe in peace, I'm not lovin the pastel peace signs for my classroom.  Time to paint!

Ok, so the orange (after 2 coats) didn't work out so well.  I decided to go with a dark blue and then cover it in polka dots to match my classroom!

So excited to hang them up in my classroom today!

Classroom Scavenger Hunt Freebie!

An activity that I have done every year with my students is a Classroom Scavenger Hunt.  I always do it the first few days of school to help the students get acclimated to their new classroom.  I have the students work with a friend and they walk around the classroom with a clipboard looking for things that fit the different categories.

Here are my kiddos in action this year:

They did such a great job working together!  I give them about 15-20 minutes to work on it.  If they finish early, I challenge them to find another thing in the classroom that fits each category.  I also let them know that it is okay if they don't finish.  At the end, I call them all to the rug and we go over some of the answers together.  A lot of times, they come up with things that I hadn't even thought of!

You can pick up this freebie in my {TpT} store!

        

I'm linking this freebie up with: 

I also decided to jazz up my Classroom Jobs a bit.  Here is a {really bad} picture of my jobs from last year: 

I display all the jobs on the board and each student has their own classroom number (which I use for everything!).  At the beginning of each month, I take down all the numbers and randomly call the students to change their job.  They then keep their job for the whole month.  I make sure they choose a job that they haven't already had so that everyone gets a chance to try something new.  I also let the students know they might not be able to do every job.  I've never had an issue with it!

In the packet, I included small job cards, large job cards, student numbers and teacher checklists to keep track of which student has done each job.

Check it out!

{TpT}

{TN}

Open House

**Visit The Colorful Apple for an UPDATED version of this post!**

Hi all!  I've been MIA for quite some time now...it must be back to school time!  It was a bit of a challenging back to school this year, for a variety of reasons.  But my class was wonderful yesterday so I think we are going to have a great year!

Thursday night was Open House, so I wanted to share some  a lot of  pictures!  I borrowed a LOT of these ideas from fellow bloggers and Pinterest.  I will share where I got my inspiration from, although it might not be the original source.

Welcome to Open House!

This is the entrance to my room on Open House night.

The banner came from The School Supply Addict for free!  My resource teacher told me I should keep it up all year, what do you think?

This was out in the hallway:

The students created flowers were all of their favorite things in them.  I created the poster with Tagxedo.  Our school mascot is the SuperStar and it has all the kids names in it!

We created a Who Am I board:

I got this bulletin board idea from Surfing Through Second.

The students wrote a few clues about themselves and then drew a picture:

Underneath the flap, I pasted a picture of the student holding their name:

{another teacher told me the pictures looked like mug shots - oops!}

The kids had the best time making their parents guess which one was theirs.

Check out my information table!

My magnets with contact information from VistaPrint were a big hit!

Open House is always kind of rushed and parents are coming and going all night, so I don't really have an opportunity to make a presentation so I put all my information into a brochure for parents to take:

The apples in the top left of the table came from:

                                                                        Source: mrsterhune.blogspot.com via Sara on Pinterest

Here is my version:

The bookmarks idea came from:

                                                              Source: aplacecalledkindergarten.blogspot.com via Nancy on Pinterest

Here are mine:

Clipart by Scrappin Doodles

I had the students write letters to their parents to leave on their desks:

This came from The Teacher Wife and it was also free!  I was so glad that I had it, because my students desperately needed the prompts this year.  My original idea was just to write a letter from scratch but that wasn't going to happen!

I thought about leaving a paper for parents to write back to their child, but most students come with their parents so I decided it wasn't worth it.

Here are some classroom pictures that aren't related to Open House, but I wanted to share!

I made some new bathroom passes and the kids love them!

Clipart by Scrappin Doodles

Here is the original pin:

                                                                 Source: 3rd-grade-thoughts.blogspot.com via Sara on Pinterest

I also created a classroom timeline to put on our {very plain} closet doors:

Clipart by Scrappin Doodles

My goal is take at least a few pictures each month and hang them up on our wall.  I got this cool idea from Bright Concepts 4 Teachers.

And, lastly, the sweet chair one of my friends made for me!

She bought the chair from a consignment shop and painted it for me!  I put it right next to the table she made for me last year.  My kids {and principal} love it!  One kid told me it looked like Play-Dough.  Um, okay!

**UPDATE**
I've created an Open House packet for your classroom!  Open House is a Hoot is my owl-themed packet!  Click on the pictures to check it out!