Individual Supplies for Hands-on Activities

In the current situation our students can't have common supplies. Our team still wanted students to have hands on materials so we came up with a plan!

Indivudaly supply trays! The goal was to spend as little money as possible, but still give the kids items that could be used only by them. Many of the items we had in our classrooms, but some items we did have to purchase of Dolllar Tree and Amazon.

I had many skinny baskets for turning in papers, but I needed more so I ordered these from Oriental Trading. 

They fit perfectly in the one side of the students desk.

Inside the basket...

Small plastic conainer with 2 dice. You can always give different dice to students to differentiate.

Reusable makeup remover pad (From Dollar Tree) to be used as an eraser

Bag of 20 counters- used unifix blocks, foam squares, Target erasers erc. Each kid has their own object so if one falls on the floor we know who it belongs to and can return it without a problem.

Bumpy board- Orton Gilligham tool.

Play doh for word work.

Dry erase pocket with cardstock inserts for hands on math and reading practice.We have been able to use less paper because we turned a lot of the papers into cardstock inserts for the dry erase pockets.

Pencil Sharpener- works well for some students and others can't handle it so use your judgement here.

Magnet Letters

Number cards 1-20

Word wallet- we put our weekly word cards in here. To make: fold a sheet of cardstock in half long ways, fold in half the other way and stape the ends.

These items have become so helpful to us. 

If you have ideas share them in the comments below! We are better when we work together!

BTS in a Flash! Teacher Faves

Hello friends! Can you believe it's already time for back to school!? I know some of you are already in the classroom but I am still cherishing my last few weeks. Along with enjoying the time, I'm getting ready for my next crew! It's funny how a teacher's brain never really turns off. Your classroom & students are always in the back of your mind it seems. But now it's finally time to take action!
I'm so excited to be joining all of these FABULOUS bloggers to share a super fun Back to School linky! Hopefully I'll find some more items that will make all the difference this year.
We hope you'll join in the fun too!
So this week is Teacher Faves! When I sat down to write this post I tried to think of my favorite teacher things. You know the things that just keep you going. The things that make your life just a little bit easier. As first I couldn't think of anything but coffee. I know that's totally shocking here on this blog *sarcasm* but soon my list was really long. It turns out I like  A LOT of things. That might explain my issues with spending far too much money at Target.... Which is also one of my favorite things. Haha!
So I chose the very best of my favorite things. All the while humming that catchy song from The Sound of Music. Ha! I seriously loved that movie as a kid. But getting back on track here. :)

"These are a few of my favorite things..."

This past year was the first year I tried using interactive notebooks & glue sponges in my classroom. I mostly used them in math and I LOVED them! The kids were engaged when we used them. We were able to go back to older pages and refresh our memories. I also liked being able to complete a page on Day 1 and then on Day 2 the kids would look it over. They would talk about the topics and show that they understood it with an example using words or pictures. The glue sponges worked really well, One things I learned was the importance of using a good container to keep the air out!

These drawers kept me organized this year. It forced me to put things in their place. When I made copies they went in by subject & I was no longer searching through piles on my desk. These cute labels add a pop of color & fun. I also used a set with my writer's workshop drawers. The labels were fun to make so I ended up creating a couple versions. If you like a little clip art click HERE and if you like it simple & blue click HERE.

Post its! Sticky paper! Why didn't I think of this idea!? I just love these. I really like this size because they're great to use in reading group. The kids write notes about how they responded to the text and stick them in the book. I've also used them as a color coded book marks when more than one reading group is using the same book.

Lattes, machiattos, and frappuccinos! I like them all! These wonderful treats just keep me going. It's my Friday treat and sometimes my Monday or Wednesday pick me up. Haha!
Milanos just make working those evenings easier for me. I sometimes have just one as a treat for making it through a stack of papers. Sometimes I have more than one...
I know books seems obvious since I'm a teacher, but I just can't leave them out, and I can't just pick one. If I had a bigger home I would have a giant library. I'd even have one of those cool rolling ladders that you're never allowed to climb on in the store. You know like in that scene from Disney's Beauty & the Beast!? You know you want to try it! :)

Individual dry erase boards make my life easier.
Less paper = less grading = happy teacher & less paper usage = happy planet.
Plus their more fun than paper! They're perfect for teaching a skill in small group, student skills practice. and they're great for quickly checking on student's understanding of topics. They can be expensive at school supply stores. I was lucky to find these just last week at the local craft store for $2.00 each! Woohoo!

What are your teacher faves!?

An InLinkz Link-up

Monday Made It! Cute Containers

 Hello friends! I'm linking up with Tara for Monday Made It! I'm so excited to be participating this week!

Today I'm going to show you how I changed a baby formula container into a cute container for supplies!

I've been saving baby formula containers for MONTHS! I kept thinking to myself, "These are great containers! I'm going to cover them and make them cute!" It's taken about 8 months (Yikes!) but I'm finally following through on my idea.

So I started with my supplies. I used clean baby formula containers (Target brand), chevron contact paper (from amazon), scissors, measuring tape, and a plastic scraper (Bed Bath & Beyond I think).

The hubs helped with removing the labels (both layers) from the rectangular and cylinder formula containers.
 These came off easily for us so we didn't need to bust out the goo-be-gone thankfully!
Then I measured around the container and the height.
If you're using the Target brand container the measurements I used were 21 in.around & 5 in. tall for the rectangular one. For the big cylinder it was 17 in. around & 5 in. tall. This allowed for a little bit of overlap and some space on the edges.
*Note you can use any formula containers I just happen to have the Up & Up Target ones.*

I was so happy the contact paper had measurement lines on the back! Yessss!

Now you want to do your best to stick down the first edge of the contact paper on your container in a straight line. Then you slowly (seriously like a turtle-haha) unroll the backing to reveal the adhesive and press it evenly onto the container.

While I was ever so slowly placing the contact paper on the container I was smoothing it out with my handy dandy scraper. This thing was seriously a life-saver! The idea of using contact paper usually sends me into horrible flashbacks of grade school attempting to cover my workbooks & it sticking to everything except the book. Am I right!? But the plastic scraper really made this step easier. The cylinder container was easier on this step and I was able to just use my thumbs to smooth out the bumps as I slowly removed the backing.

Sometimes it didn't go as well...

But overall it was a simple little craft. I think these will look great on my classroom shelves. You could also use them for the kids' small toys, or a travel container for some little legos. I plan on putting a cute label on them so the kids can help themselves to supplies.
 I'm sure once my little guy gets a bit older I'll be using them for little cars and action figures.

Happy crafting & thanks for stopping by!