Organize Your Math Centers

Recently I read a post from Amy Lemons about how she re-organized her math centers. She created some really beautiful labels which inspired me to create my own set that complemented my classroom decor. If you have a brightly colored classroom, you'll love these labels. Check them out HERE.

Here the lables are taped in two Sterilite (14 1/4" L x 9 5/8" W x 6 7/8" H) and backed with scrapbooking paper. 

Here I laminated the labels so I could adhere them to the outside of the box. I think I like this way better. And, the hot glue will peel right off the plastic if I need to change the label!

Happy organizing!

Classroom Flip

The official first day of spring was this week! Spring Break is over and the summer count down has begun. According to my partner teacher, we have 53 school days to go. Not that I'm counting or anything ;-)

Do you spring clean your classroom? Well, I did!I haven't touched my house, my classroom got re-do before Spring Break. My room really felt cramped. My firsties have grown, for sure, but surely they're not taking up extra square footage! Regardless, I decided to over haul my room. It's been great - a definite improvement. And, even though I was concerned about changing things up mid-year, the kiddies love it as much as I do. We have waaayyyy more space on the carpet now and we're loving it. Here's the BEFORE pics:

I had six groups located centrally in the room. The library, writing center, computers, and shelves were located at  the edges of the room. Then, I flipped it:

BAM! Look at all that space!!!! Now the writing center and storage shelves are in the center of the room. I reduced the groups from six to four and moved the groups to the outer edges against the walls. Soooo much more space for EVERYTHING. The writing center desks never move or get pushed out of place because they are lined up behind the shelving that holds our book boxes and math manipulatives. It's great. And the groups move less to because they are pressed against the walls. Whowouldathunkit? 

Have a great weekend!

CURRENTY and Teacher Block Party

Hey friends,

I'd like to give a shout out to Dollar Tree :-) I read all the time about Dollar Tree deals on other teachers blogs, but as a sixth grade teacher I don't think I every truly appreciated Dollar Tree. I just didn't get it. But now, that I am preparing to teach first grade, the Dollar Tree is my new best friend! I priced baskets for my classroom library at teacher supply stores (yikes $$$), and on Amazon ($$), and a few other websites, and then I went to Dollar Tree ($). Have you seen the wall of brightly colored baskets in all shapes and sizes that are there right now?! See below:

This is the stack of baskets I purchased for my library and for math /science tubs. $1 per basket = happy teacher! 

But my shopping spree didn't end there. Now, I've bought just about everything I need for classroom decor and organization purposes from TpT or Teacher's Notebook. Gotta support my blogging peeps :-) But I needed some borders, so I went to Teacher Heaven. Since I couldn't commit to birds or owls, I've decided to add a little of both to my chevron!

Next, I bought a laminator from Amazon because all this stuff plus the resources I've printed and cut out would amount to one HUGE laminating bill. The pic below doesn't even include everything!!! Anyway, the laminator was only $19.95, so I'll let you know how it works out.

Finally, I am linking up with Oh' Boy 4th Grade for my first ever CURRENTLY linky party.

And, now I'm going to check out her Teacher Block Party Linky! You can link up with your grade level and meet some new teacher friends who teach the same grade as you. Fun, fun!