The Ikea Trofast storage unit is the perfect versatile solution for your storage needs. Here are a few hacks to get you started.
ADHDers need better strategies for conquering clutter. Most advice is a complicated strategy with "then keep it that way." That doesn't work for ADHD, THIS does!
Real-life tips and strategies to declutter with kids. Learn how to declutter the toys & teach them to keep their room clean and organized.
You've spoken, and I finally listened! For quite a while I've been receiving requests for an updated post on our restaurant kit now that the boys are a little bit older, so today I give
Wondering how many clothes you should have as an adult? How much clothing is too much? Our printable chart will help you declutter your wardrobe and keep just the clothing you need.
Drowning in kids' school paper clutter? Follow this step by step tutorial for organizing kids' school papers and memorabilia. This simple system will help you keep paper clutter at bay!
We have been talking second grade science! Specifically, we'll chat about the Next Gen standards on landforms and how to implement hands on activities,
Age-appropriate chores for young children (and older children) are so important - with or without a chore chart! They help raise children that work hard and are not spoiled. It's the reason that we use these Printable Chore Cards because they teach kids that they have to do their chores in order to have downtime.
Hi bloggy friends! Here's a quick post with two freebies for you. The first is what I called "Spooky Suffixes." We used these in a literacy center and the kiddos basically played Concentration with the cards. You could easily use the cards to play Suffix Go Fish or just a simple matching game. Spooky Suffixes The next is a graphic organizer that I typed for my students to use with the Someone, Wanted, But, So, Then Summarizing Strategy. I was introduced to this strategy by Kathy Bumgardner (http://kbumreading.com/) six or so years ago and it's the best thing I've found to help my students summarize fiction stories. Some of my students don't need the actual organizer and create their own but others benefit from the help of the premade organizer. Hopefully, some of your kiddos can use it too! Summarizing OrganizerIf you download either document, please leave a quick comment on how you plan to use (or even improve on my idea). I love to hear feedback! Thanks and have a terrific week!
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If you're tired of the "junk" kids accumulate via goodie bags, prizes and kids meal surprises, here are tips for decluttering kids toys.
Get ready! It is time to discover the pollinating superheroes! I introduce to you Powerful Pollinators—part of my Summer Camp at Home Big Kid Edition! This is a fun, engaging science unit study that combines science and environmental education—perfect to get you outside and observe pollinators in action. This unit study, like all of our
Organize your kids arts and crafts creations once and for all. Learn how to digitize, photograph, and save your kids' artwork.
*This post may contain affiliate links. Ah, the never-ending trail of school papers that parents have to deal with! It can be such a nightmare. And if you’re a sentimental person like me, then it’s even worse, because you probably have a hard time letting things go. For the last few years, I have looked high and low for a system that actually works for storing papers that the kids bring home from school, and I just didn’t love anything that I tried. For a while, I stored them loose in boxes, and then for the last couple of years I have been storing them in random files in my file cabinet in my office. However, the school papers took up so much space that I no longer had room for my regular files (taxes, bills, etc.) so I realized that I was going to have to find a better way to do it. Today I’m going to share with you how I finally got everything organized, and y’all, it is absolute perfection! I’m only regretting not doing it sooner. And before I go any further, after you read this post, be sure to go follow me on Instagram... there is a live look at these boxes in my "Simplify 3" highlight as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the rest of my entire decluttering journey. Just look for "Simplify 1," "Simplify 2" and "Simplify 3." Lots of good stuff!! And I update new decluttering/organizing stuff pretty frequently so be sure to check back regularly! Let’s do it! For this project, you will need the following: 1. 1 Hanging file box for each child (you may want to go ahead and stock up on these because you will probably want to make a non-school papers keepsake box for each child in addition to this school papers keepsake box. The non-school papers keepsake box is for birthday cards, notes, artwork, and other paper keepsakes that are not affiliated with school. You can see that post here.) 2. Labels for the outside of each of the boxes 3. Chalk Markers to label each box 4. Manila folders (I needed 8-9 per box) 5. 1 Set of hanging file folders for each child (I needed 26 per box) I have these file storage boxes from Amazon and I LOVE them. They have a split lid so you can open just half of the box, and they are also slightly longer than standard file boxes so they have a bit more room. **Update for June 2018, Amazon is sold out of the 1-packs, but you can get them here at Walmart.com** If you're looking for something similar there is also this slightly smaller size that is pretty inexpensive. Also, these, these, these, these, and these look like good options as well. If you prefer a cheaper version, you could also grab some of the cardboard banker’s boxes as well. I bought these chalkboard labels a while back as well as these chalk markers and I used those to label the outside of the boxes. These are the manila folders I purchased to go inside the hanging file folders. I use these all the time for my regular files, so eventually my box of 100 will get used. Plus they were only $10 for 100. I purchased these hanging files on Amazon because I love that they come in different colors… I chose blue for Jacob and pink for Olivia, their favorite colors respectively. I already had a set of yellow hanging file folders so I used those for my own box. Which brings me to… YES, I still have all of my old school papers. EEK. I know my parents meant well when saving all of the heaps and gobs of old papers (hiiii, Momma and Daddy!), but goodness gracious it was just too much!! Moms, listen to me when I say – when your kids are adults, they will NOT want every single piece of paperwork that they ever brought home from their entire school career! Take it from someone who just cleaned out boxes and boxes AND BOXES of old school papers. I had so much stuff that I got tired of looking at it. When you’re in the lower grades a lot of the work is repetitive. I swear I tossed a whole box just of handwriting practice! Haha. I’m so thankful my parents did save stuff, but my old keepsakes literally filled my office closet from floor to ceiling before I purged, and it took me over a month just to clean them all out. So before you get started, keep this in mind – BE RUTHLESS! You only need to save a random sample of stuff from each grade! Now that you have that in the forefront of your mind (and you’re going to keep it in the forefront of your mind the entire time you work on this) let’s get started! The first thing you need to do is set up your keepsake boxes. I’m using ours for SCHOOL PAPERS ONLY. Non-school papers are going to be stored differently, but that’s another post for another day, which I hope to get to soon. ;o) Label the outside of the box (I labeled each box with the child’s name, and “School.”), and then hang your file folders in the box. Once your boxes are set up, now it’s time to plan out your categories. You should have one folder for each grade, plus some additional folders for report cards, awards, and other miscellaneous things. Your categories will look similar to mine, but there may be some slight differences depending on if your child went to daycare or pre-school or not. Our kids went to daycare so they started bringing artwork home at the age of one, so we have the folders starting from those first one-year-old classes. For each of these files below I save the class syllabus (which is at the front of the folder) and then I save a few random pieces from throughout the year – reading, math, and other school work, art work, special projects, etc. We have hanging folders for the following grades for school papers: Young Toddler Papers (age 1-1.5) Older Toddler Papers (age 1.5-2) Twos Papers Threes Papers Pre-K4 Papers Kindergarten Papers First Grade Papers Second Grade Papers Third Grade Papers Fourth Grade Papers Fifth Grade Papers Sixth Grade Papers Seventh Grade Papers Eighth Grade Papers Ninth Grade Papers Tenth Grade Papers Eleventh Grade Papers Twelfth Grade Papers College Year One Papers College Year Two Papers College Year Three Papers College Year Four Papers Then behind all of the school papers folders by grade, I also added the following hanging folders for all of the other school-related papers that were saved that were not school work itself: Grades – This hanging folder is divided into two folders, one for “Report Cards”, and one for “Test Scores.” The folder for “Report Cards” will contain every single report card that my children receive. Report cards are one thing that I do not throw out. The folder for “Test Scores” will contain results for the big annual tests that they take, SAT scores, etc. This folder is not for every day tests that they take in class. It is only for the big tests. Awards – This hanging file is divided into three folders, one for “Academic,” one for “Scholarships,” and one for “Sports.” I save every single award that my kids are presented with as well. Chances are they’ll actually care about seeing those more than they will their school work. Each type of award is filed in its respective folder based on the category it falls under. Keepsakes – This hanging file will contain everything else that does not fall into one of the other categories. I have many different things in this folder. I have a few of the “Eat, Sleep, and Poop” info sheets from when the kids were infants at daycare, I have a few of the “Incident Reports” from when they fell and scraped their knees, programs from their school concerts and events, their Kindergarten diplomas, and eventually this file will also hold programs from their high school graduations and high school diplomas and other things like that. School Pictures – This hanging file is also divided into three folders, one for “Individual,” one for “Class,” and one for “School Dances.” I may also have to add one for “Sports” down the road as well. The “Individual” folder contains all of their spring and fall and yearbook individual pictures, the “Class” folder contains all of their class pictures, and the “School Dances” folder contains all of their photos from school dances. Our school holds a Mother/Son dance and a Father/Daughter dance, and they always have a professional photographer, so all of those pictures will go in there. And eventually their Homecoming and Prom dance pictures will as well. Waaaahhhh! I don’t even want to think about that! Now that your categories are decided and your folders are ready, it’s time to organize those papers and get them in the boxes. Again, BE RUTHLESS. This box is going to be for your child’s entire school career (our boxes even include college) so you are going to really have to pare down what you save. I promise you that your kids will be thankful… they will NOT want to see every single assignment that they ever did. Nobody would ever have time to look at everything and nobody wants ten boxes of school papers lying around and taking up space either. If you feel bad about throwing stuff away, you could always snap a quick picture of each piece with your phone and create a digital folder as well. This is what both of my kids' boxes currently look like... clearly I have some purging to do! The last thing I will be including in each of our kids’ boxes is a keepsake book from all of their teachers. I bought a copy of “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” for each of them when they were just babies, and I have had every single teacher sign it since they were infants. I will continue having every teacher sign it until high school graduation, and then we will give the books to them after graduation so they can read all of the sweet notes from their caretakers from their first eighteen years of life. If you haven’t started doing this, I urge you to. Jacob’s and Olivia’s teachers always think it’s the neatest idea when we ask them to sign their books at the end of each school year and they always write the sweetest little notes in there. It’s something that they will treasure forever. I just know it! Once the kids graduate from college, we will hand over their boxes so they can see everything that they accomplished during their entire school career! Random samples of their school work from every grade, as well as every single report card, test score, scholarship, award, keepsake, and school picture will be in there along with a book signed by every single teacher they ever had. How cool is that? Wouldn’t you love to have a wonderful time capsule like that?? And you wanna know how I know that this system will work? Because I made one for my entire school career! I went through aaaallll those boxes and saved a few things from each grade as well as all of my report cards, test scores, scholarships, awards, keepsakes, and school pictures. I only saved what I could fit in one box and everything else went in the recycling bin. I had so much stuff that I literally filled our four-foot tall recycling bin to the tippy top. TWICE. I now have every single thing that I actually want to see from my 18 years of school right here at my fingertips and it only takes up the space of one small box. Life, simplified! And while you're organizing keepsakes, you might want to go ahead and organize newborn keepsakes as well... click here to see how I organized those... they are all saved in one tiny box! Good luck! And remember, if you want to follow along with me on my journey to simplify my entire life in 2018, you can do so HERE. I post updates in Instagram Stories frequently, and if you missed any of them, just click on the “Simplify” story highlight in my bio. They’re all there! If you like this post, you may also like these posts below! How I Organized My Entire Life by Creating a Series of Lists How to Organize All Keepsakes from Your Child's First 22 Years of Life... Like, Every Single Thing How to Create an Infant Keepsake Box How to Organize All of Your Child's (Non-School) Keepsake Papers in Just One Box The Complete Guide to Organizing and Backing Up Digital and Non-Digital Photos, Videos, Music, and Other Files - Part 1 The Complete Guide to Organizing and Backing Up Digital and Non-Digital Photos, Videos, Music, and Other Files – Part 2
This week I tried something new with the vocabulary in the story. I got the idea at a First Grade Conference in December. The student writes the vocabulary word in the middle of the sheet and then there are four things to do with the word. We completed two of the boxes together as a class and they finished the last two boxes independently. The kiddos sure had a great grasp of the vocabulary after this. When we read the story they had fantastic comprehension.
Teach angry kids how to calm down? Is this possible? Yes, it is. Learn how to teach kids self-control and coping strategies with these easy anger management tips for kids. Real life strategies inside with step-by-step instructions.
What can I sell to make money? Check out these things you can sell to make money from home. Make money online right now.
Free toy bin labels to help you organize your toys!
Easy tricks and tips for correcting pencil grip in kids with videos to help you teach a child how to hold a pencil correctly and improve their handwriting.
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While there are lots of kitchen organizing tips out there, if you have ADHD, kitchen organizing needs to be done differently in your home.
Tutorial on how to remove pee stain from mattress using natural ingredients! It's an easy, quick, and effective cleaning solution. Be rid of kid's accident.
Hi all! Sorry I've been M.I.A., but WOW can the end of the year get the best of you! I have been getting several e-mails about how I organize all of our classroom materials. I took pictures in March when we packed up our March materials and then didn't have a chance to post until
Trying to figure out what to do with your child's artwork? These are the coolest ways to store, display, and save your little one's masterpieces!
Are you drowning in children's artwork? Don't hold on to that stack of paper and supplies forever. Instead, photograph it and turn it into a handsome photographic art journal.
Summer schedules can include bedroom reorganization for the child with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Reducing the number of items to keep
Okay folks, this makeover isn’t about pretty, it’s about function. You saw what our tiny master closet looked like: Help me, Rhonda. I really let it go because I knew I was EVENTUALLY going to get to it, so why bother? I had this rad plan when my husband was going to be out of town for 3 days to surprise him with a master bedroom makeover when he came home. I was going to be awesome and organize the closet, paint, makeover a dresser, make a headboard and create a beautiful retreat to welcome him home. Then, I got sick with a stomach bug the day he left. Then 3 of the 5 kids got it. Uggghhhh. Soooooo, I greeted him with a closet makeover and some Lysol instead. First, I took EVERYTHING out of the closet, removed that big long closet rod/shelf, and then sent 40% (thank you Katie Goldworthy in the comments for the 40%!) of the stuff to the Goodwill. Out went anything that hadn’t been worn the previous year. That eliminated a lot. The thing that bugged me most about this closet was the dead space on the sides that made it really hard to get to the clothes at the end of the rod. So, I tried to make the dead space work for me by placing two rods on each side and made the clothes face out to me. Supplies you'll need: * a drill * we used a wooden closet rod but with the price of wood these days you're probably going to want a metal adjustable one and some wall anchors if you won’t be drilling into a stud in the wall. I did the same thing on my side and that doubled our closet space right there! Our closet light needs to be replaced~it was smelling hot (yikes!) so I didn’t mess with it and the pics aren’t great, but you get the idea. Then, for the middle section I picked up two brackets with the rod holders and mounted another clothes rod and a shelf on top. You could use a scrap piece of wood sanded down as an option as well. I also got a cube organizerfor 39.99 plus a few bins to hold socks, paint clothes, swimsuits, etc. Then, I added a couple of pretty knobs and that was it. We were using part of my son’s closet across the hall for suits, skirts, ties, etc. but I was able to move everything into this closet and the 2 dressers we have in the room. Isn’t it amazing what throwing stuff out and making a closet functional can do for your mood?! I love our closet now :) Have you come up with any creative solutions for small closets? Don't miss anything new! Follow 320 Sycamore on Facebook * follow 320 Sycamore on Instagram * Get new posts from 320 Sycamore delivered to your inbox
Boost your next hiking experience with these games and activities for kids on a hike!
teacher hacks, back to school, back to school ideas, classroom tips, classroom hacks, classrooms tricks, classroom organization
Create ideas and ways to display Kids' art throughout the home, on walls and fun project ideas.
Here is a list of the best homeschool apps for organizing your homeschool and helping your kids learn, complete with reviews and discounts!
These 5 ways to store kids' artwork will make displaying drawings and paintings an easy part of creative home decor while limiting how art collects dust.
Try this fool proof trick for getting clean baking sheets. An easy-to-follow recipe and no-fail final step will give you new cookie sheets.
Free hamburger graphic organizer printable that helps kids with paragraph writing
Need a little help on navigating your child's screen time? This screen time checklist is the perfect printable to nip any negotiating in the bud!
What you need is a homemaking binder, something to keep track of everything for you so that you don’t have...
Are your kids constantly drawing, painting and creating? Is your refrigerator covered in art? These DIY Kids Art Displays may be a great way to clear the clutter and show your kids how much you love their creativity. Today I am going to share some great ideas for DIY Kids Art Displays in your home. As always,
Learning how to make clay is so easy! This homemade clay recipe uses simple ingredients you probably have in your kitchen already, and it's so nice to work with! How to Make Clay - Only 3 Ingredients! Air dry clay is so easy and so inexpensive to make! Why spend tons of money on store bought clay, when learning how to make clay at home is so much cheaper and so much fun?! We tested a few different clay recipes and this one was the BEST! And you only need 3 ingredients - water, cornstarch, and baking soda! You don't
I'm finally back from maternity leave and ready to teach (kinda)! Can I bring my baby with me? Can he be my assistant? No? Awe. :( Towards the end of the last school year, I came back from my maternity leave early so that I could work the two days of post-planning. I decided it would be best if I were the one to clean up and put away my classroom, so I’d know where everything was when I officially returned. Last school year, we had to take EVERYTHING off of the walls so that our custodial staff could clean them during the summer. And while it was a pain to take everything down, it did give me a blank slate for the new school year! Fun Fact: My classroom looks HUGGGGEEEE when it’s empty! This post contains some relevant affiliate links. SET OF DRAWERS Before I went back for pre-planning this year, I started work on a colorful new set of drawers for my classroom. The idea was that I would use each drawer to store all of my prepped paper for each of my grade-level projects (that way it wouldn’t end up all over my desk and every other flat surface in my room like usual). So I got online and found the perfect set of drawers from Target. As you can imagine I was overjoyed when I saw that the drawers could hold 12″x18″ paper – an art teacher’s dream! Unfortunately in all my excitement, I neglected to thoroughly read the product description and ended up buying a unit whose overall dimensions were 12″ deep by 18″ long; the drawers themselves were much smaller. And of course I didn’t realize all of this until after I had already primed and repainted all the drawer covers and assembled the whole thing. Upset with this realization, I took to Instagram where a fellow art teacher gave me the amazingly awesome idea to use the drawers to organize my scrap paper by color instead. TABLES AND STOOLS Once pre-planning started it was all about getting my classroom put together. My first project was to paint the edges of my tables and stools to color-code them! For the past several years I used colored masking tape to color-code my tables, but as I’m sure many of you already know – kids LOVE picking at tape! I was constantly having to replace it as it got worn and torn in order to save my sanity. The sanity that was slowly being picked away with every scratch of the fingernail. Yeah… I’m a bit of a perfectionist. 🙂 So I was more than relieved when my administration gave me the green light to use paint in my room instead! The tables in my classroom have a laminate surface on them, so the first step was to lightly sand the sides of my tables. My husband (who is not a carpenter, mind you) suggested that I use 220 grit sandpaper. In retrospect however, I wish I would’ve gone with something a little lower so that it would’ve scratched up the sides a bit more. Butttttttttt you live and you learn. After sanding, I cleaned off the laminate shrapnel, then taped off the table edges and started painting using a small roller and Behr Marquee paint (this paint already has the primer mixed into it). Each table took about 3 coats to fully cover the sides (I wasn’t using the 1-coat guarantee colors). After the paint was dry, I removed the painters tape and then used an oil-based sharpie paint marker to write my table numbers (I use these for classroom jobs). Once that had a chance to dry, I painted overtop of everything with coat of glossy mod-podge. When painting my stools, I just went straight in with the paint and then covered with mod-podge as well (in retrospect I could have done without the mod-podge on the chairs). **UPDATE: This particular type of paint didn't stay very well (still very pickable). So I took it off and repainted with Martha Stewart multi-surface acrylic and sealed it with Delta Creative polyurethane varnish. It is working INSANELY better. TABLE BUCKETS This year I used the same type of bins I've used in past years.. but got some nice new ones that weren't colored all over (who doesn't love shiny and new?). To color-code the bins I once again used ribbon. Click here to see how to attach it! I also created some new labels and then added those on as well to help my students know where to put things away. CENTERS Once again, I will be using art centers as part of my classroom management plan! In my classroom I do a table point system using Class Dojo. When students are doing what they are supposed to be doing (coming in quietly, being on task, helping each other, cleaning up on time, etc), they receive table points. When they aren’t following directions (being too loud, being super off task, not cleaning up, etc), they lose them. The way I record all of this in Class Dojo is by having 6 “classes” set up (one for each grade-level). Then in each class I have 8 “students” (one for each of my table colors). Since I see my students multiple days in a row before they rotate to their next special, I use only one class for each grade-level, then reset their points once their rotation is over so it’s back to zero for the next group. So what is the motivation to earn points? Great question! The number of points each table has determines which art centers they can participate in during free time (once a project is finished). Each center has a point value assigned to it. Once a table has that many points or more, they can use that center. If the table does not have that many points, they cannot. The way I determine how many points each center is depends on the interests of my students. If I know they’ll really enjoy something (like jewelry center), I give it a higher point value. In the past few years that I’ve been using this system, I’ve found a lot of success with it. It keeps my students motivated to make the right choices and rewards them with experiences instead of tangible items (like candy). The centers I currently have in my classroom are: Weaving/Lacing Cards - 1 pt White Boards - 1 pt *This is the one bone that I throw my students. They LOVE white boards! How to Draw Books and Free Draw - 2 pts Pattern Blocks - 3 pts Texture Rubbing - 4 pts Puzzles- 5 pts Origami - 6 pts Spirograph - 7 pts KEVA Contraptions -7 pts. K'NEX - 8 pts Play Doh - 10 pts Jewelry Center - 14 pts ELEMENTS AND PRINCIPLES POSTERS Now this isn't something new.. but the way that I'm displaying it is. I used to have just the elements posters hanging up on my bulletin board, but now I've hung them along with my principles posters to just above my centers (near my classroom door). I also printed them out larger this year. Instead of being 8.5"x11", I printed them out at 13"x18". If you like the look of these posters, be sure to check them out in my store! VISUAL ART WORD WALL CARDS My word wall is probably the single most popular thing in my classroom with my administrators. My thought when I created them and first hung them up was "Cool! Now my kids can see art words and pictures that help those words make sense." My administrators think "Wow! She's incorporating literacy into her art program!" At the end of last year I took down all my word wall cards and tossed them, so this year I had to print them all out again (which was fine with me because I'm made a million updates to them over the past few years). Once I had them all printed out I knew I needed to laminate them. Trying to get stuff laminated through the school in the beginning of the school year can be a bit challenging however, so I decided it was time to invest in my very own home laminator! Guys... I WANT TO LAMINATE EVERYTHING NOW! I mean.. the process of laminating itself is fun AND cutting out things that are laminated is fun. There's just something very rewarding about cutting through laminated paper. Either you know exactly what I'm talking about, or you think I'm crazy. That's okay. I probably am. ;) I personally bought my laminator at Wal-Mart for about $20... but you can also order the same Scotch Thermal Laminator from Amazon (theirs comes with 20 laminating pouches). Once I had all my cards laminated it was time to cut them out. Lucky for me I recently purchased an X-ACTO Commercial Grade 12" x 12" Paper Cutter (off of Amazon) which made cutting them out at home WAY easier. Seriously Amazon gets all of my money. Their 2-day Prime shipping is dangerously convenient. I decided that this year I was going to hang up my word wall cards on my bulletin board instead of the wall so I wouldn't have to cut like 30,000,000 pieces of tape to stick them up. Yay for staples! The only thing I didn't consider before starting was how to keep the cards straight on my bulletin board. 😔 By the time I got to the letter "D" I noticed that my cards were gradually moving upwards. Soooo I took them all down and started again. I'm going to be real with you guys.. I did this a few times. Then FINALLY I figured out an easy way to keep things on track; I measured how far down from my border I wanted the word wall cards to start, and then put a staple at that height along the length of the bulletin board. Helpful tip: Hang your word wall cards BEFORE you hang your bulletin board letters. The letters "C" and "S" have like a gazillion cards, while the letter "U" only has one. If you like my word wall cards, check out my store! If you like the bulletin board letters, you can find them here! *I warn you to not use them on a black background however. Hah! I wish I would've thought that one through! PROJECT ORGANIZATION/STORAGE Like I mentioned before, I see my students a few days in a row before getting my new rotation, so the way I organize and store artwork may not be applicable to your situation. When students are working on dry artwork at their tables, I have them put their work into their table folder at the end of class. The table folder consists of a sheet of 12"x18" construction paper folded in half with the grade-level written on the front. These folders are then stored in my labeled grade-level drawers. So the next time students come to class, I can just put their folder on their table so they can pull out their work and get started (no time wasted calling out names). If their work is wet and needs to be put into the drying rack, I have them place their work on a 1/4 size sheet of posterboard and then slide it into the drying rack within the their table color band (added with colored masking tape). That way work is easily accessible for students to get from the rack or if I want to put stuff up into their table folders once it's dry, I'll know which folder they go into. To help me tell my grade-levels apart (in case they're doing similar projects) I have clothespins with grade-level tags on them that I just clip onto the top of each drying rack. MATERIALS STORAGE Aside from my table buckets (which contain pencils, erasers, colored pencils, color, sticks, and crayons) I have a couple of other ways of storing ready-to-go materials. First are the color-coded baskets I have. If I'm doing a project with a class that has a LOT of materials, I will often use these buckets to pass out supplies for each table. Otherwise I would just call table numbers (how I distribute jobs) and have them come pick up various things. Last year I also started taking advantage of the cabinet storage I have under my countertops and started prepping paints for different classes and storing them under there in copy box lids. At one point I had all this stuff spread out all over my countertop and knew there HAD to be a better way. Using the copy box lids allows me to quickly take out and put away supplies without the giant mess. Last year I also started storing my paintbrushes in labeled drink pitchers. Why? Because it is WAY easier to walk around to distribute them when the container has a handle! And finally - paper storage. I used to have a cardboard holder like this when I was at my old school, but then neglected to bring it with me when I changed schools. This one isn't a revolutionary storage tip - unless you've never used one before. In which case - BOOM! Just blew your mind with its awesomeness! I'm so glad I got one again. :) HALL PASSES Over the past few years, the teachers at my school had been using laminated paper hall passes for our students. The main problem with those though were that they would come back from the bathroom with wet spots on them (is that water or something else?). Eww. So this year our principal had us make our own instead. As she was telling us about this during our staff meeting, she happened to have an example picture of a hall pass on a paintbrush on the PowerPoint slide. Obviously I immediately fell in love! To see my how-to on these paint brushes click here. Now they hang on the back of my door! GENERAL CLASSROOM DECOR These are a few of the other things I have hanging up on my walls. I made these color posters to complement the bulletin board letters I made for my word wall. :) You can get a copy of them here! I moved my shape and form posters from last year onto my large metal storage cabinets so they wouldn't just be wasted space. I also repainted these color mixing posters that I had originally created a few years ago. My old ones were looking pretty worn down. If you don't want to paint your own, consider checking out my TPT store for some smaller printables. CLASSROOM PICTURES If you have questions about anything else you see, please feel free to leave me a comment and I'd be happy to talk to you about it! :) Hope you all have a great school year! Simple Elements/Principles Posters | Art Genre Posters
OneNote has powerful built-in tools and wide availability across devices, making it my go-to tool to take awesome notes in one central location.
15 Family Command Center Ideas To Help You Organize Like A Pro. A family command center is a perfect way to organize a busy family!
If you're trying to get kids to do chores, these are the 5 biggest mistakes parents make that you definitely want to avoid!
These dishwasher pods are easy to make and they really work to get your dishes clean! Save money buying the expensive dishwasher soaps and make your own!
This character-building lesson is a play-doh activity that teaches patience to kids. Kids learn through fun. When teaching character to kids, I like to use a variety of learning experiences. This lesson on patience focuses on music (building into auditory learning) as well as hands-on experience (accommodating tactile learners). Want more lessons on patience? Check...Read More
Zit jij thuis en verveel je je? Ik heb een leuke lijst opgesteld met dingen die je in je eentje vanuit huis kunt doen.
Make a Special Book for storing kids artwork & ditch the piles of paper for good. It's the best way to preserve + store memorabilia in an easy, compact way.