Teacher Organizer Laid Out For Ya

One of my most popular items that I've put into my classroom is my teacher organizer.  I got the idea from Pinterest, (obvious, huh?)  It's funny because I actually ended up doing this around 5am in the morning one lazy summer morning!  

So here's my journey...

The person who made their organizer I found got this specific organizer at Garden Ridge.  (There is one you can get at Lowe's/Home Depot as well but it's a bit different.)

 So ta-da!  Here is the shell I started from... The example I found on Pinterest they spray-painted the black part white but I prefer the darker.  To me it helps the drawers pop (on the finished product).

So I made small Microsoft labels of all the items I could think of.  These were the larger drawers.  I glued the labels on scrapbook paper I had left over.  (I am a HUGE scrapbooker!)  I then mod-podged them on the outside cover of each drawer.  I really did complete it quickly.

Then I color-coded the smaller drawers with scrapbook paper and mod-podged them as well to the outside of the drawers.

I just let it dry for half an hour and voila!!  I absolutely love it this year.  It's on my desk and I use it probably every day.

And there's my desk (at the beginning of the year-covered computers).  I wish my desk looked that nice but the organizer helps tremendously!!

First Week Activities

Remember to bear with me for a while until I get my blog really going.  I'm still learning how to take good pictures of the ideas I'm using.  And I'm still trying to find the time to do so :)  The beginning of the year is so fast!

The first activity I have to showcase is our Get to Know You Bags.  I have friends who do this from Pre-K to 5th grade and all over the country.  It's very simple.  Send home a little letter (I will try to upload a copy soon) and a paper bag.  The instructions are to load it with 4 items to share with the class that let us know about you.  I went ahead and colored mine and added some of my most treasured things like friends, family, scrapbooking and the LONGHORNS!

                                                  

I filled my bag with my passport, my Brighton charm bracelets, and my digital camera.

Then the kids showcased their items throughout the whole first week.  I usually started and ended the class with three people sharing each day.
Daphne was so cute, she brought her dog's leash and had to make sure she took it home to be able to walk her dog!  A lot of the kids showed off their trophies, too.  A very great beginning of the year project!

I saved Friday as our Journal Decorating day.  I sent home a parent note (will see if I can upload at another date) and asked kids to bring pictures, magazine cut-outs, and scrapbooking supplies.  Some did and some just wanted to draw.  Then I covered them with contact paper thanks to an AMAZING parent who came in and helped two days in a row!

These are my scrapbook divas!  Merrick brought in a lot of stickers and ended up sharing them with everyone.  It was so sweet to see the kids sharing only after 4 days together.

The mom who helped me wrap my journals also donated ribbon from Hobby Lobby that most of the kids decided to use.  We did a strip anywhere on the page.  It turned out REALLY cute.  And, as you can see from Brandon's journal a lot of the boys decided to just draw and color on their journals.  What a fun way to wrap up the first week of school!

Summer Pinterest Fun

This summer I traveled to Ireland, St. Louis (to attend a Whole Brain Teaching conference that I'll explain later) and just relaxed at home spending time with family and friends.  But before I blinked my eyes it was August and I found myself anticipating school starting!  Truth be told I was studying to get into my masters degree program at the University of Texas and doing Pinterest activities was way more fun than studying for the GRE! So here I've got my very useful activities I created using the help of others.

 My first project was this handy teacher/craft organizer. I found it here.  I used the one that was from Garden Ridge and used some scrapbook paper I had and Modge Podge.  The hardest part for me was definitely thinking of just the right labels I wanted.  Lots of other teachers at my school have now adapted it for themselves, too.  It was a hit!

Then I used the idea found here for my objectives wall.  Lots of people use their white board but I treat my white board likes it's gold!  So I decided to put them on the wall in cute (Dollar Store) picture frames.  I put scrapbook paper on them and scrapbook letters for "Writing", "Reading" and "Social Studies" frames.  Later on my friend's mom added bows on the white hooks so that it's a bit cuter.  A week after school started the school secretary made me take them down to put up the fire exit poster (ughhh) but I just took off the "Objectives" sign and re-stuck the hooks up to put the three objectives frames up.  I've gotten a lot of compliments on them.  I really love them!  The dry-erase markers work perfectly and I have been highly motivated to let people know our objectives each day!

I also made my Book Hospital found here with a FREE printable.  This really helps me out because the kids know to put all ripped/torn books here instead of come up to me while in a reading group.  This being my 6th year teaching reading, my books are starting to show signs of old age so it's pretty packed just after 2 weeks of school.  But it's definitely something that takes 2 seconds to print, laminate and stick on a box/container.  I found this one for $1 at the Dollar Store.

And my last Pinterest project before school started were these little cute Quiet Critters.  I got the styrofome sheets and googly eyes at the Dollar Store.  They also had small puff balls for a dollar but I'm glad I got the larger puff balls at Michael's, though they were $5.  My students keep asking me if they can use them, because I have them on my shelf, lol.  But I'm saving them for a more special occasion-benchmarks will be here soon so I may use them during those weeks.

And once I figured out I wanted to have a Dr. Seuss inspired classroom I found this adorable ribbon topiary idea here.  It took me a few nights to make while I just watched tv.  It was super fun, though and SO easy!  I put it on my bookshelf that you can see above.

Yay to Pinterest!  I love the resources on there!