Keeping My Mornings Sane!

I am NOT a morning person!  My husband is, but he is long gone (to work) before the four kids and I wake from our slumber.  He and I have a good thing going.  He does lunches and I do clothes.  Still I felt like I was always scrambling in the mornings... matching socks... steaming out wrinkles... praying my Bigs (who chose their own outfits) were matching! Getting them dressed, teeth brushed, fed, shoes on (you get the idea), left most of my mornings feeling frantic and rushed.

I was shopping in Ikea a few weeks ago and found these canvas-type shelves that hang from closets.  They had five shelves, perfect for Monday through Friday!  My kids don't have traditional rods in their closets, so I had to hang them using hangers.  I made little signs with the days of the week and we lay out all their clothes on Sunday night.

This has made my mornings HEAVENLY!  I know in the mornings that the kids will have wrinkle free clothes (because I take care of that on Sunday) and clean underwear.  I check the weather and let the Bigs pick out their own clothes.  Zach (my five year old) has even begun doing his own clothes (he had been just doing underwear and socks). I do the two year old's clothes (obviously) and put a diaper for each day too (one stop and I'm DONE).

My Big kids have deodorant now and they put it on to the new shelf each day after putting it on (which also makes me feel good knowing that they will smell fresh and lovely). I think this is a wonderful thing for people (like me) who hate mornings (and have a lot of little people to get out the door every morning).

What I really need now is to get this organized for myself...

Orphan Crayons Find a Home

As a teacher, I am always finding orphan crayons. I found that most of my students didn't like coloring with broken crayons (or even well-worn long crayons) so were throwing them out.  Instead of throwing them out, I had them put them in an old tub.  You can see that the orphan crayons got kind of out of control.  I thought I should melt them down and make new crayons but then I thought of some other kids that I didn't think would mind the orphans.

 My kids (and especially my oldest son) LOVE to color and draw.  My Joe has colored pictures with crayons that really SHOULD be thrown out (less than an inch long).
I have mentioned before that my kids are the messiest in the world so often they lost their crayons.  There may be some in Joe's room, a few in the car, some in an old backpack... (you get the idea). And so I got an idea.  Time to organize the old crayons and give my kids an OBVIOUS place where the crayons should go.  So I bought these cute little drawers at Bed, Bath and Beyond and put my kids to work.

 I had them sort the colors (which was also a fun activity for my little kids~ age 5 and almost 3). They did a great job and sorting them took no time at all.  Soon they were working on projects with the 'new' crayons and they loved that they had all the colors that they need right at their fingertips (and no fighting over colors because there are so many).

I was going to make some cute labels for the drawers (because that's just how I do things), but they didn't need them.  You can see the colors right through the drawers.  I thought this was a great idea and plan to pick up more drawers for the future orphans that will no doubt again grace my classroom this year.

Homemade White Board & Eraser Kits

Kids LOVE writing on white boards and teachers love them too.  They are great for taking quick assessments and "show what you know" activities.  They are also wonderful for practicing everyday skills you work on in the classroom.  I have found a few problems with traditional white boards.

1. They are expensive (and teacher's pay keeps going down).

2. They are big and to pass them out and then the markers and then the erasers takes time. Quick smooth transitions are the key to any lower elementary classroom (and a great thing in upper ele too).

Here's the solution.  

You will need:

White (or light colored) card stock

Laminator

Large envelope

Expo Marker

Large dark T-shirt (I found mine at the Dollar Store)

Put a number on each piece of cardstock and then laminate it.  Put a number on each envelope.  Cut the T-shirt into small rectangles (yup that's your eraser). Put the card, marker and eraser into the envelope.

You now have an easy system where each child has their own white board, marker and eraser in one easy place.  Passing them out is quick and because you have coordinating numbers the students can put them back on their own.

Brilliant and takes no time.

*Get a dark T-shirt because they won't look as bad when they get dirty! This was a buck and I got more than 30 erasers out of it (I stopped at 30).

Classroom Library & Book Shopping

One of the most time consuming things about setting up your classroom can be organizing your classroom library.  This is how I manage it in my classroom. My handy mom and I (OK, she was the one who really did most of the work) built the shelves pictured above.  I have quite a few of them (on wheels!) and they have been perfect for my classroom.  I use plastic bins to house my books and have created labels for each bin to help keep things organized.   This being my 15th year teaching, I have acquired A LOT of books over my career (and I'm sure Amazon and Scholastic are thrilled that I keep adding to that number).

 In first grade, it is really important that students practice reading in "Just Right" books.  The top of my bookshelves are categorized by DRA level. The bottom shelves all have blue labels on them (that I made in Publisher) and are organized by category. The top shelf books all have a number written on the front cover (upper right corner) for easy re-shelving and for the books on the bottom shelves, I made stickers that have the same name as a bin they belong in (those stickers go on the back of the books at the bottom).

At the beginning of the year, I give each student their own white book box.  Ikea sells the best kind (5 for $1.99!!). You will need to reinforce the bottom with packing tape. I like the white because they can decorate them.  They use the box every day for Reader's Workshop and take the box home with them at the end of the year.

Once a week my students go "Book Shopping" so I make them a "Shopping List" laminated with their name.  Each week, I write the number of the (yellow) bin that I want them to shop from and they get to choose 3 books from the blue bins (they can read the pictures in these books, retell the story... etc). The laminating not only keeps these Shopping Lists (that double as bookmarks) nice all year, you can also write on them each week (I prefer using Vis a-Vis markers. They erase better than Expo on lamination).

Leveling your library will take a loooong time! I still have books I need to shelf but haven't had the time... I use Scholastic Book Wizard to help me level the books.  It is easy to use.  You just type in the book title (cross your fingers), hit 'search' and if they have the title, it will give you the level.  If you'd like to check it out, HERE is a direct link.

Sheet Sanity!

 As I have mentioned before I have four kids at home.  Our house isn't giant and our linen closet is tiny! No matter what we do and how many times I reorganize it, I feel like it is always getting out of control. Recently on Pinterest, I saw a great idea of folding sheets and keeping them together in the pillowcase for that set.  I thought that was GENIUS! I was telling my brother about it when he said, "Laura, why don't you just get those under-bed storage containers and put the sheets that belong to each bed under them." BRILLIANT!

So I did!

I even got one for us (not pictured) and discovered that we have have too many sheets.  I don't think more than two sets is necessary so I'll be donating the other set to Salvation Army.

~Now all I need to do is keep my towels organized in my (now) much bigger linen closet... Wish me luck!

Hide Your Stuff!

As a teacher, I have always wished that I had more space to put my stuff... or rather hide it.  When I clean up my bookshelves and recess games at the end of the school year, I will always find that lost crayon, random ruler and growing dust bunny (among other things).  I have always wanted to cover up those book shelves I'd like my students to KEEP OUT of, but hadn't come up with the way to do it.

I don't sew.

But... I do talk... and my friend (and coworker) Dawn mentioned that another teacher on our staff (Lisa E.) covered her bookshelves with cloth (or perhaps a table cloth??) and hemmed it with Duck Tape!

BRILLIANT!

So I grabbed my favorite helper (my mom) and took her to my second home (Room 119) and we made my bookshelves go from THIS:

To THIS!

And it was easy!

This is what you'll need:

Shower liners (the cheaper the better)

Duck Tape (sold everywhere now in cute patterns)

Scissors

A meter/yard stick

Sticky sided Velcro

(and to make it easier an extra set of hands)

The first thing to do is measure your bookshelves (obviously) and then cut the desired amount out of your liner.  I will warn you that it isn't easy to snip the liner (if you want a straight line anyway).  We did discover though (through trial and error) that you can use a meter stick to mark the line you want to cut and just run an open scissor along it.  You don't need to press hard.  After you run your scissors, it will tear easily.

The next step is to put your duct tape along the edge of your shower curtain (creating a cute border and a more finished look).  I would definitely use two people to do this part.  Have one person put the Duck Tape down on one end while the other person pulls both the tape and the shower curtain taut.  The person who (first) put the Duck Tape down, can then press the remaining tape to the curtain.  By using two people you will eliminate bubbles and lines in your tape.

The next step is to add double stick Velcro to the top of your book shelf.  I found that you won't need it at the bottom because the shower curtain and Duck Tape lay nicely without needing reinforcement.  I did use a large strip of Velcro because when I used smaller pieces you could see holes in the top and it gaped.

Once you remove the sticky side from the Velcro, you just need to press your shower curtain to it and VOILA! Instant 'door' for your bookshelves (this may also be a good fix for toys in the basement)!

A bonus is by using a shower curtain, you can tape anchor charts and other posters to it creating more precious wall space in your classroom.

I haven't made any anchor charts yet since school hasn't started, but this poster has stayed up with just tape!

After covering bookshelves, my mom and I looked at my cart/table that holds my document camera, projector and laptop and all their unsightly cords and we knew just what to do.  We turned it from THIS:

To THIS!!

It helps to have a wonderful anal-retentive mother who can cut little windows (for cord placement) and frame those holes with Duck Tape.

Steal it!

Tweak it!

Make it your own!

(I did.)

Let me know how it goes!