So Many Successes, But Still So Far To Go!

      I know I haven't been blogging lately, but I have been so busy (in my classroom and out). I have been working on the new Language Arts curriculum for the district to align with the Common Core Standards, and let me tell you- it was crazy! There are a million changes that our district had to make and it is a lot more rigorous than our former curiculum.  Anywho, that took up a lot of my time.  I was still able to manage some time in the classroom and have gotten a great deal of my de-cluttering finished. Woo hoo!

      I was very excited to get to my blog today (I'm actually sitting in my classroom) because I have finished some bigger projects that I wanted to share. First, I cleaned out ALL of my classroom closets and rearranged different areas of my class.  Trust me, this was no simple task!  Some things have been in them since my third grade teacher worked here (BTW I teach in the very classroom that I sat in for third grade). I even moved my word wall so that students have better access to the words.

Then, I covered all of my bulletin boards with fabric. I picked up some 200 thread count, twin size sheets from Walmart for $5 each. One sheet covers just about 8 feet (or in my case, 2 bulletin boards).

* It drives me crazy that the doors on this BB are misaligned!!

My writing area is still not complete.  The boards are done, but I am waiting for some of my orders to come in before I can finish the setup for the students supply area.  You can see that some of the supplies are ready to go!








My next project is my favorite! I made an awning for my CAFE board.  I used striped fabric (which happens to match my BB colors) and some pvc pipe.  I used flag holder brackets to attach the pvc to the wall.  This is by far the coolest area of my room now.








Finally, my last project was making a hanging file that I saw on Pinterest.  It was really easy to make- just some file folders and duct tape!

      Now I just have to finish cleaning up the random stuff that was in my cabinets and other boxes. Then its on to the task of preparing for the start of the school year and incoming students!   I hope everyone else's summer is going well! Until next time...

Finally accomplished something!

   I'm happy to say that I finally completed the milk crate bench!  I ended up buying milk crates from The Container Store for $7 each because the stores I called all said that they do not own the milk crates they use and have to return them each time they get a new shipment. :(  Either way it was pretty easy once I had all my products together.  I used 4 milk crates, 4 Cubeicals (from Target- made by Closetmaid), zip-ties, 1/2 in plywood, a twin-size foam mattress pad ($10 at Walmart), and a twin size flat sheet ($5 at Walmart). Oh, and a staple gun!
Here is what the final product looks like:

1) First, I zip-tied all the  milk crates together,  then I measured the top for the plywood (mine ended up being 53"x12" because I wanted a 1/2" overhang all around).  2) I put the milk crates on the plywood and marked the spots where I wanted to attach it. 3) Then I drilled holes to put the zip-ties through. I placed the zip ties through the holes but didn't actually attach it yet.  4)  I doubled the foam pad and cut it to size and stapled the ends to the plywood. 5) I cut the material to size and wrapped the plywood and foam, stapling all the way around the bottom. 6) I attached it to the milk crates using the zip-ties and put the cubes inside. All done!

Once I got started it really wasn't a hard project.  I have even had several requests to make them for others.My plan for the cubes is to put the textbooks for each table (my room has 4 tables instead of desks) as well as other items that the students don't need handy at all times.  As soon as my classroom is done being cleaned by maintenance I will be taking this in and continuing to de-clutter my closets. Hopefully this won't be an all summer project.  I'll keep you posted!

Still de-cluttering!

So I haven't really gotten that far in my quest to de-clutter. On the other hand I HAVE been planning and mapping out my classroom for next year.  I am addicted to Pinterest and have found a few projects I definitely want to complete for next year.  Here is a picture of one of my goals.

(Thanks to http://grade2happenings.blogspot.com/ for the idea)
I have purchased the fabric and foam, but I am working on getting milk crates (not file crates) and plywood.  I love that there is storage under the seats.  My thought is: I have four tables so their books and other larger supplies could be in one of the boxes and a table captain can retrieve the box when needed.  Aahhh so many things to accomplish (and still vacation).  Any volunteers to help are welcome :)

Where do I begin?

Here is my first summer project- cleaning and organizing!  I always start out the year with the best intentions of staying organized or with a great plan of how the flow in my room is going to work, but inevitably something doesn't work or gets left behind.  I am now following the Clutter-Free Classroom Project (which started in January, better late than never) and I am purging- as painful as that is with some items. Here are some photos of the current condition of my classroom as I started to pull out and take stock of all my stuff.

Please note that I am not purging all those books!  I am actually using a fantastic FREE website called Classroom Booksource to scan them all in, so that next year I can use my Iphone or Ipad to check them out to my students (no more paper!). For all my colleagues, you should definitely check out the site- it not only keeps track of your entire library but also keeps a reading log of all the books your students have checked out!
Anywho, Monday will be back to purging for me.

Well Hello!

I decided to start this blog as a way to communicate with parents, families, and colleagues about what is happening in my classroom.  I also have another blog for students to respond to what is going on with reading and writing in our room. This summer I plan to blog about some projects I am working on for the new school year that I am really excited about. Feel free to browse around!