Seat Crates or Ottman Storage Seats..

Who loves pinterest?!  Well, this girl does!!  I like how we can share and post ideas that we find online.  It really helps me organize all of my pins and when I need it...it's there with a picture.  I've been searching and browsing through posts about how to make 'seat crates' for the guided reading table.  

I'm thinking that this may be my next summer project that I will be making...but wonder if they are easy to make and will they last all school year.  

There are so many creative teachers out there and each seating crate looks different!

One thing that did catch my attention was how Erica Bohrer used storage ottoman from Big Lots.  

I liked the fact that I didn't have to make it...they were colorful and you could use them as storage.  So I went out with my friend to find them at Big Lots.

They were a little hard to find but after I did...I sat on one to test it out.  I like that you could fold them when you weren't using them, but felt that these wouldn't last very long.

I then browsed at Target and found these...

They are bit pricey...but if I can't make the seat crates..then I just may buy these instead.:)

I'm going to change the topic for a bit before I end today's posting...I did also find these two things:

I would love to use these baskets to organize my math centers or school supplies! (Found it at Target) 

This is my friend Holly, holding a cupcake box.  This would be so cute to use to put small birthday prizes to give the kids when its their birthday.  How cool is that!? (Found it at Hobby Lobby)

Vinyl Dots!!!!

When I saw Jamie Maya's blog post about how she uses vinyl dots for her kiddos to line up...I thought 'Genius!' 

In my new classroom, I will have both carpet and flooring (can you say bonus)!!! Excuse the bad picture, but during the time I took pictures of the room...it still belonged to another teacher and I didn't want to expose to much of the room.

I don't know why, but whenever I find a great idea...I keep thinking about it constantly until I either buy it or make it!  Yet, I don't have circut or sillouette cameo and thought 'Bummer!'

But that didn't stop me!!  Are you ready to see how I did it!?  Alright, let's get started!  First I went to Joann's and searched for a circle paper puncher that would be big enough to cut a good sized circle and also vinyl sheets.  Luckily, Joann's always has their items on sale and I was able to get everything for 40 percent off...love it when I find a good sale!  Plus I used my teacher discount on top of that, woohoo!

I bought 6 different colors and cut enough to make 30 circles.  

The good thing about this paper puncher is that it holds the circles in place on the bottom and you can easily take them out without worrying that they will get ruined.

Tadddda...a perfect vinyl circle!

I was able to cut 3 circles in a row and still had enough vinyl left over to make more if I ever need them.

So here is my complete set of vinyl dots that I will be using to help my students line up, I am so proud of myself, lol. (high fives herself);)

As for the numbers, I was able to find some vinyl letters/numbers at Office Depot (they also have them at Office Max and Walmart).

But I thought I'd just use a black sharpie and wrote them by hand instead.

I will post pictures after I put them on our classroom floor.:)

*Update - I found the vinyl letters/numbers at Target for a great price!  They cost $2.99 instead of $5.99!  So I caved in and made my husband buy them for me, heehee.*

Dollar Tree Goodies

So, I went to the 'Dollar Tree' a few days ago...not to look for anything in particular but to browse through each aisle and see what I could find for my classroom.   

Here are a few goodies that I bought: magnetic clips, snack size containers, fly swatters, big clear accent gems, wooden clothespins, and foam wands.

Now I wasn't too pleased with the magnetic clips...I tested them on my refrigerator to see if they were strong enough to hold a piece of paper and they failed with flying colors.:(  

As for the clear gems and wooden clothespins...I'm planning on changing up my behavior chart.  I've been seeing a lot of behavior clip charts and love the idea...but I do like using my pizza pan tins...so I may combine the two.  I will definitely post pictures soon.

When I saw the snack containers, I thought 'Wooah, these would be great to use for glue sponges!'  If you haven't heard of these, pop on over to Mr. Smedley's blog!  He has a great tutorial and after watching his video I was convinced that I needed to try this out!  You might be like, 'But you bought snack size containers?'  I figured that I could cut the sponges in half and each student could then have their own individual glue sponge.  I love the colors and wished that they had yellow and orange containers too!  I would have soooo bought them if they did, lol.

There were so many colorful baskets, bins, and if you look closely you'll see the three comaprtment caddies!!  They had these in lime green, purple, red, blue, and white...

I almost didn't see these fly swatters, but I'm glad that I did!  I was tempted to buy all four colors (blue, red, yellow, and green), but told myself that I should only get 2 for now.  What I really like about these are that they stretch...they can stretch up to 29" inches.  I can't wait for the kids to use these for our read/write around the room center, or use them for a fly swatter game.:)

I also found these cute magnetic organizer holders.  I really, really, really wanted them...but told myself that I would only buy them if they had all the colors that I needed.  They were missing 'yellow and green,' so I had to walk away...more like in a quick pace so that they wouldn't magically appear in my shopping cart.  In the picture it looks big but they are pretty small.

I found these foam wands and only bought the stars...again I plan to use them for our 'read/write around the room' center and also as calendar pointers.

Well I hope you enjoyed seeing all the goodies that I found and if you happen to have a 'Dollar Tree,' what are you waiting for...it's time to go shopping! Heehee;)