IKEA Invasion!

A little over a year ago my husband and I made the decision for me to leave the classroom to come home as we welcomed our second little one. I wasn't sure if I'd be going back to the classroom or if I'd be able to stay home during our little ones' early years, but in faith I packed up some of my stuff but gave everything else away.  God knew what He was doing when He called me home and though it only lasted a year, I'm thankful for the time with my babies.

Having given away most of my stuff I'm starting fresh . . . and that's a GREAT thing.  The downside is that I'm having to spend some moo-lah in order to get my class ready again.  (But oh, do I love the chance to create a uniform theme in my room!  The classroom I dismantled before going home was 11 years worth of collection hodge-podge.)

Today my family and I raided IKEA.  I had 3 things in mind when I went, but I left with a whole lot more.  Wanna see what I scored?

 You know how I know teachers love IKEA?  Well besides all the stuff that my teacher friends and I buy at IKEA, I overheard comments from other shoppers around me that told me that I was not the only teacher shopping there.  I promise I wasn't listening in on other people's conversations, but when you're standing side-by-side with another shopper looking at the same product and they start talking you're gonna hear some stuff, ok?

 No, I don't hang my pants at school!  These hangers are AWESOME for holding chart paper!  The neck of the hanger swivels so you can hang it from any ledge or hook, and the open/close snappy lever design of the hanger makes it really easy to add chart paper or posters while you're teaching.  I got 4 so I can use them while teaching from chart paper and to hang anchor charts around the room.

 These boxes come in several sizes, but I got the medium sized boxes.  They're the perfect size for file folders and gallon sized ziploc bags.  You know what that means, don't you?  File folder games and bagged games/activities!  I've got TONS that need organizing so I got one for Language Arts and one for Math.  They have the clear ones too.

 I stick these on the side of my desk for easy access to paper clips, rubber bands, and whatever else.  The see through lid lets you know what's inside or you can make them all cute with a swatch of fabric or scrapbook paper in the window.  See that heavy duty magnet on the backside?  It's super strong, so don't worry about accidentally knocking the tin off the desk.  It's pretty hard to do that.

 Big, powerful magnets for my magnetic whiteboard.  You know . . . for those times you clip posters, chart paper, or whatever to your board.  The best part of these is the angled top design that makes the magnet go "clip clop" when you press on it.  Press the top of that angled magnet with your finger and the flat part tips open so you can slide your paper right underneath without removing the whole magnet.  It's the little things!

 Uh. . . . 'cause you can never have too many scissors!  Besides, they always go missing, AND they come in 3 different sizes!

 This big ol' plastic tray is supposed to be for flatware in your kitchen, but this baby is going in my top desk drawer to try to organize it!  Maybe things won't go sliding around in there and I'll find things more easily!

 Ok, so here's my idea for this - I want to use this as a dry erase board.This big frame has a plastic (not glass) face, so I'm not worried about it being broken and hurting anyone.  Plus, that makes it super light.  I've already tested it (just in case) and yes, you can use dry erase markers on it.  I'm thinking I can blow up graphic organizers or just put a piece of solid butcher paper inside that can be used when I teach and then used in centers or group activities.  My school has a poster maker, so I want to use that to create templates that can be switched in and out of the frame and used by the kids.

 I used to use these to organize workbooks and notebooks.  This year I got a ton of them so that each student can decorate their own book box.  These cardboard boxes are fairly thick and durable.  Maybe a strip of packaging or duct tape on the bottom to reinforce the closure, but other than that - fold and go! (At $1.49/5 that's about $.30 a box!  Ummm . . . I got 6 sets.  So that's 30.  And if I go back to IKEA I'll probably definitely get more.)

Lastly . . . my little glass spice jars.  SO CUTE!  Tons of uses in the classroom, but I didn't buy these for my classroom per se.  I won't say what I bought them for exactly because that would give away the little surprise.  =)  The uses, however, are endless!  (They also have that flat side at an angle so the jars can stand as you see or slightly tilted for easy access!)

You wanna go shopping at IKEA now, don't you?

Hey!  There are tons of other useful things there that I had to tell myself no to, but if you've got stuff you bought from IKEA please share in the comments!  Tell us what you got and how you use it!!!!

Tuesday Teaching Tip - Designate Spaces

When I found this baby at Costco many years ago I was psyched!  I was sure this thing would help create a little more desk space and organization for me.  You'd think it would, right?

Here's the trick to these great organization tools:  You've got to have a plan and purpose for them if they're going to be used effectively!

As much as I'd like to say that suddenly my desk was clutter free and everything became easy to find that would be a total lie!

The best use I got out of this thing was the file folder sorting rack on top.  I always kept my current skills file folders there for easy reference and activities.  I also kept copies to use for lessons that week.  THAT part I used effectively. (YEA for me!)

The drawers underneath were a totally different story.  I mean, the folder rack on top was a no brainer for me, but I never really decided what I was going to use the drawers underneath for.

Can you guess what I ended up using the drawers for?

Well you know how sometimes you get copies of resources from friends, but you're not ready to use them yet?  And sometimes you have extras of copies you use for your students and you don't want to be wasteful by simply throwing them away?  Oh, and the pieces to centers that you're done with but don't have time to put away right now.  Then there are those papers you get from meetings . . .

Can you see where I'm going with this?

Those wonderful organizational drawers ripe with potential ended up holding random stacks and stacks of papers.  All blended together.  Never to be looked at again until the end of the year (or a teacher work day if you're really lucky).

I ended up bringing this home and passing it on to my husband for his the home office he was organizing for his business.  Let's just say that organization is not exactly his forte, so he's enlisted my help to attack the aftermath of month after month of piles and stacks left unorganized.  I won't subject you to the horror a picture might depict.

Anyways, this is what I ended up doing for him with my organizer:

I used scrapbook paper to create the little labels for each drawer, securing them by folding each over in half with foam tape in between to hold it together to the wire drawer.  I used foam tape because the wire drawer creates a gap in between the top and bottom of the folded paper, so this makes for a cleaner label.  A hot glue gun will work too, but there's a bit too much tension for regular tape to hold it to the drawer.

How I wish I had thought to designate a purpose for these drawers while I still had them in my classroom!

Now if you're thinking what I'm thinking . . . just think of how much more organized you can get if you designated a purpose for other areas or organizing systems and labeled them for clarity!

Tuesday Teaching Tips - Tackling RTI

I've heard rumors about some schools having staff members that have the specific duty of helping teachers take data and do progress monitoring.  If those rumors are true and you're one of those lucky teachers who get help with their data and progress monitoring, then let me say that I am so jealous!

Every year you'll get a handful of students who need to be taken through the RTI process.  It's inevitable, so you might as well embrace it and find a way that works for you!  Now if you're like me you really appreciate the data to analyze and confirm your personal observations, but you don't necessarily enjoy the process of collecting all those numbers.  The best tip I can give is to take the time to organize your data collection materials ahead of time.

Two of the biggest assessments we use for RTI at my school are DIBELS for Reading and CBMs (Curriculum Based Measurement) for Math.  Here's how I organized it:

• I kept the hard copies of these assessments in a huge 3 inch binder I labeled for Data Collection.  In the front of the binder I kept the benchmark levels by grade for the assessments we used so I had easy access to them.  
• Then placed the DIBELS manual, teacher scripts/assessment pages, and other assessment pieces behind these reference pages separated with labeled dividers.  (For example: a section for DIBELS Nonsense Words, DIBELS DORF pages, hard copies of CBM computation pages, etc.) 
• In the back of my binder I kept hard copies of the DIBELS student recording books.  (Take a highlighter and mark the cover page with "Master Copy" so that you don't lose your hard copy.  When you run the book through the copy machine to record individual student progress, the writing done with your highlighter does not show up on your copy!)  This way your original copy doesn't go missing.

If there are any other assessments you use on a regular basis for RTI, add more dividers and give them their own section.  Setting this up ahead of time makes it easier and quicker to get started and keep going.  If it's all in one place and ready to go, you waste less time!  

I try to set aside one day a week to sweep through all the data collection with my RTI kids.  That way I'm on a routine and less likely to forget to assess.  The other perk is that my data is more consistent.  I just grab my folder, run through my assessments, and then it's back to business as usual.  No searching for forms - they're all right there!

(Oh, and I also keep individual student booklets in an accordion folder/plastic envelope tucked into the back of the binder, so I don't lose any of that precious data or forget to assess a student!)

Happy Data Collecting!

Blog Surfing Made Easy

Here's the good news: there are TONS of amazing blogs out there.

The bad news?  there are TONS of amazing blogs out there, so it can sometimes get a little overwhelming.  You find great stuff left and right but sometimes it's not quite right for your grade level.  Or maybe it's perfect but you don't need it until later in the year and by then you'll probably forget that you've got it!

Well there's an amazing new blog out there that makes it just a little bit easier!  Go check out





It's got lists and lists of amazing blogs grouped by grade level.  If you're a blogger and hope to get more traffic to your site, submit your blog to have it listed on Teaching Blog Central as well! 

As for finding great activities you want to use at another time, how about using the increasingly popular

Perhaps you could organize yourself by creating folders for different skills on Pinterest to "pin" great finds.  then when the time comes for you to use it, all those great ideas are stored away for you and accessible from home and school!