Sweet friends, It is that time of year that many of you have been anxiously waiting for! The TpT site wide sale is here!!
Happening Monday, August 1st and Tuesday, August 2nd. Are you excited? Is your shopping cart busting at the seems? Well, I can help with that!
Enter below for your chance to win a $10 TpT gift card!
The contest ends tomorrow so you can use the money towards your purchases on THIS SALE! Hurry and enter for our chance to win! Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
So about 10-12 years ago, I took a class during the summer to earn credits above my masters. The class was held in the basement of an old church. I don’t remember much from the class other than this idea that I got from it ---->CHIT CHAT STICKS!!!
So you may be asking yourself, what are Chit Chat Sticks? Well, it is quite simple. They are sticks to help you partner students up in a fast, fair, and effective way. In first grade, I cannot simple say, “pick a partner”. It just does not work at this age. Someone is always left out. The same kids go with the same kids. The anxiety for some of the kiddos being chosen last, is just too much. Hence, the Chit Chat Sticks, a fun an effective way to partner up your students!
For literally $2, yes $2 you can make Chit Chat Sticks and they will last for many years. You can get the supplies at the Dollar Tree, or you might already have popsicle sticks and small round reward stickers in your classroom!!! You need one stick per student and enough pairs of DIFFERENT stickers for groups of 2.
Just match up pairs of stickers. This year I used alphabet stickers. When I need my students to work with a partner for a game or buddy reading, I mix up the sticks and pass them out. The children find the person who has the same stick as they do and wahla, they are a group! So A goes with A or green frog with green frog...simple. You can use any stickers you want. You can match it to a theme in your classroom. You can even write sight words right on the stick and students have to match up the sight words (oooohhhh, that’s a good one!).
I can’t tell you how much this method is appreciated in my classroom. Students ask to use Chit Chat Sticks when they know they will be working with a partner. By the luck of the draw, kiddos will work with almost all of the students in the class.
I hope you like this idea and can use it in your classroom too :)
I saw a fabulous pin on Pinterest from We Heart 1st on using a shoe organizer as a supply organizer! I ran with this idea and made my own and decided to show you how I went about making it. I did not think of this idea on my own. I give complete credit to We Heart 1st who inspired me to make one like theirs!
Here it is!
In just a few simple steps, you can make one too! I was surprised with how many supplies I actually had at home. Pardon the pockets that are empty. Once September comes, they will be stuffed!
I ordered this shoe organizer from Amazon. It has 24 pockets which seems like a lot at first until you start thinking about all your stuff! I had to scale back! The organizer measures 64 inches x 19 inches and fits perfectly on a door!
Here is a link to it on Amazon.
I first thought of all the things I wanted to get off of my desk and out of little buckets. That consisted mostly of markers! I have a ton of them! I also wanted to keep a better eye on my Expo markers. My students bring them in an I hand them out as needed. Same with glue sticks which I always seem to run out of!
Each rectangle on my sheet measures 1.5” x 4.5” and the font I used was KG Drops of Jupiter.
Once the labels were made, I printed them on card stock and laminated them.
Then I used my handy dandy how did I ever survive with out paper cutter to cut them down.
Next, I spread the shoe organizer out on the floor and arranged where I wanted everything to go by placing the labels down. I figured that the heaviest items should go on the bottom.
Last, I used my handy dandy, I have about 5, glue gun, to hot glue the labels right to the fabric on top of each pocket. I used a generous amount around the edges.
And there you have! Pretty easy! I can’t wait to hang this up on the back of my closet door at school. I hope that each time my kiddos see it they gasp in awe. I know I will!
In case you are interested, here is a pic of the one posted on Pinterest by We Love First. Click on the pic to head on over to TpT to download the labels for FREE! Thank you We Heart First!
This post contains an affiliate link.
Look at how cute these firecracker cupcakes are! I don’t know if I am talented enough to make them! I don’t even know how they got the frosting to swirl like that haha! The red part is a marshmallow covered in red chocolate! Yummy!
Do you have a lot of washi tape lying around? I do. I saw this and fell in love! What a great a way to decorate the average yellow pencil?? And guess what? You put the tape on the pencil horizontally. You don’t wrap it around like I thought. This saves so much tape! And from the picture, it looks like you can still sharpen them without a problem (oh please let this be true)! Super cute, fast, and creative!
This is my favorite pin! I already ordered the organizer from Amazon for $7. I have SO MANY markers! SO MANY SO MANY SO MANY and I love each and every one! It is a sad day if I have to throw one out because it has dried out! I don’t want to keep them on my desk anymore. Don’t get me wrong. I have cute containers to house them. Chevron, polka dot, striped, but there are just too many. I am going to hang this on my closet door behind my desk. Each time I open the door, to get something, the oohs and aahs will fill the air! I can’t wait!
Click below to see other great Pinterest picks for the month of July!
