Hanging Anchor Charts {A Bright Idea!}

Hey yall! Happy Saturday!

 

I'm actually in Fayetteville for a regional Jamberry conference, but I couldn't miss the opportunity to bring you another bright idea!

 

 

This month, I wanted to share how we are hanging our anchor charts this year.

If you're like me, anchor charts are happening....multiple times a week!

 

Where in the world are you supposed to put all those lovely charts???

 

Last year, I hung them up with hangers on a rolling cart.

It worked okay, but they were really in the way...like, big time.

 

So this year I wanted to designate a specific spot to hang our charts, so I decided to dedicate a whole bulletin board just for our charts. But they needed to be able to be removed or added to, so I decided to use clothespins to hang them up.

 

However, gluing clothespins to a bulletin board?

Not an option for me.

 

Instead, I did this!

 

 

I hot-glued some pushpins to the back of my clothespins.

 

 

 

Then I just pushed them into the bulletin board and hung up my charts!

 

Done!



 

 

Please note:

1) I went back and added the "or" after I took this picture

2) The chart on the right was NOT drawn by me! I asked the para to make a chart about irregular plural verbs and this is what I got...the kiddos didn't seem to mind, though :)

 

Check out the link-up below for even MORE bright ideas!

 



An InLinkz Link-up

Organize Those Supplies

Hey yall! Happy Monday!

 

I wanted to share some simple ways that I organize supplies and materials in my classroom.

I am ridiculously slightly OCD and need everything to have a set place. I don't like my classroom to be messy {my house, on the other hand, is a whole other story!}. I'm also a fan of clean, neat lines.

 

Last year, I picked up these slim rolling carts at Big Lots. They were perfect for my classroom! I used them back then to organize my math manipulatives {check out that post here}, but since I'm not teaching math this year, I thought I would use them for something else.

 

Cue school supplies.

 

I decided to use these beauties to hold all those pencils, markers, scissors, etc. that we use on a daily basis. Actually, each of my students house their own supplies-these supplies are the overflow!

 

 

The green cups on top are from Ikea and those hold more supplies: highlighters, mechanical pencils, more dry erase markers, and whiteboard erasers.

 



 

I don't keep any crayons in this area, because I decided to sort them by color this year.

Since every student has their own set, I figured this would be easiest when they just needed to borrow a specific color.

 

 

Construction paper is another supply that I sort by color. I love this 10 drawer cart that I also picked up at Big Lots. It's perfect for our construction paper.

 

 

This year, our third grade classes are departmentalized. I'm teaching Social Studies to 3 different classes, as well as ELA to my homeroom. I needed a quick and efficient way to organize papers for 65 students, so I came up with this system.

 

 

It's pretty basic, but it works for me!

Each class has their own basket for papers. I keep any copies that I will need for the 4 classes in the paper sorter below the baskets.

 

One of my classroom jobs is the Paper Sorter. At the end of the day, this student sorts through the turned-in papers, paperclips them for me, and adds a sticky note with the class name. That way, I can quickly grab each stack to grade.

 

Even though Teacher Week was last week, I'm linking this post with Blog Hoppin' :)

Go check out their Why post to see other organization ideas!

 

 

Have a blessed week, yall!

52 card pickup? Not in this classroom!

Hey yall!

 

It's time for another round of Bright Ideas. My favorite time of the month!

 

 

Now, I know that we're all blissfully enjoying summer break.

But.....school is right around the corner! At least, it is for me.

 

So even though you might not quite be ready for all the back-to-school yet, its coming your way...ready or not!

 

When I was organizing my classroom for summer and packing up all my belongings, I ran across the decks of cards that we used this year. Cards can be such great learning tools, but can also be a pest to keep organized.

 

This year, I tried something a little different and it worked like a charm!

This is one of those oh-so-simple, why-didn't-I-think-of-this-years-ago ideas.

 

 

For each deck of cards, I used a different color Sharpie and made a little dot on the cards. Then I used the same color Sharpie to dot the bag they came in. Anytime the cards got mixed up, my kiddos could easily sort them out and put them in the right bag.

 

I think this year, I'll try to find some soap containers from the dollar store to store them in. I hear these little guys hold a deck of cards perfectly! And I could easily match the color of the Sharpie to the color of the container :)

 

 

To see more of my teaching ideas, please check out my FB page or follow me on IG @teacherytidbits.

 

Check out these links below for some more bright ideas!

An InLinkz Link-up



Bright Ideas Blog Hop

Hey yall!

 

It's that time again...time for the Bright Ideas Blog Hop!

 

In our classroom, we have books. We have lots of books.

We have baskets upon baskets upon baskets of books.

 

And I love for my kiddos to have access to all those wonderful books.

But there are some books that I like to keep hidden away in a little drawer...

 

That's right...I hide some of my books from my students.

Why?

 

I hide them because they are special...they are books that I use to teach!

And I want to keep them in nice condition, hence the need to hide them from those eager little fingers.

 

I have a very simple system that I use to organize all those wonderful books for teaching specific lessons.

 

 

I keep them all in this little filing drawer in my teacher cabinet. I organized them by topic and put them in hanging file folders.

 

Need books on plants? Check the drawer.

Need books about Earth Day? Drawer.

Need books to teach nouns? Yep....they're in there!

 

Here's some close-ups of the tabs.

 

 

Each file holds books that I will want to use when I'm teaching a specific topic or holiday, so I don't have to spend time looking through the shelves.

Notice how they are not fancy or cute....just simple, yet effective.

 

Here's an example of some of the books that are in my "1st Week of School" file.

 

 

I meant to snap a few more pictures of books that are in other files but it was Friday afternoon and....well, you know how that goes!

 

I told you it was a simple system! I hope that you might find it somewhat useful.

 

Now, for more useful teaching tips and bright ideas, check out Kindergarten Smorgasbord!

Greg is going to show you how to make something that is a must in every elementary classroom...glue sponges!

 

 

Or you can just use the linky below to find another bright idea!

Happy hopping, yall!

 





An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

Clipart Organization

Hey yall! Happy Sunday!

 

Isn't it glorious that the Sunday night blues are a thing of the past?

Summer lovin' :)

 

Today I wanted to share how I organize all that adorable clipart that I've purchased over the years. If you're anything like me, the collection has gotten quite large...I know I'm not the only clipart addict out there!

 



So here is the very simple way I organize my clipart:

 

All of my clipart is in a folder titled Clipart and Borders. In that folder, I have separate folders for each of the clipart artists that I purchase from. These are just a few of the files!

 

In each separate folder, I have all the files of the different clipart I've purchased from that person. I also keep a copy of their terms of use in that folder as well. I usually change the name of the file to something that will help me remember what type of clipart it is.

 

These are some of the clipart files I've purchased from Scrappin Doodles.

 

 

I also have a separate folder that has all the credit buttons. It is highly important to give credit where it's due, so these come in handy when I'm making my credits page. Every artist has different TOU, but most of them require some kind of credit.

 

 

So that's it! Simple, yet effective.

How do you organize your clipart???

 

 

Paper to PDF



Hey yall!

 

Sorry I've been somewhat MIA lately.

I'm working on my gifted endorsement this summer and it is a ton of work!!!

But, to be honest, I don't have much to blog about lately, because I am not thinking about school at all. I'm just trying to keep my head above water with all this work, so come July, I'll be back on the bloggin' bandwagon :)

 

I did want to tell you a really cool app I discovered the other day. Its called Cam Scanner and it allows you to turn anything you take a picture of into a pdf file. Cool, right? The whole process takes about one minute and is way faster than scanning a document onto the computer.

 

 

I used it to take a picture of an assessment I needed for my classes. I took the pic, cropped it, and voila! It was a pdf file! Then I just emailed it to myself and now have a digital copy of the assessment.

 

I'm thinking this will really come in handy when trying to digitize some old teaching files. I mean, we all have those random papers that we file away and pull out to make copies of, right? Now all those papers can be stored digitally! I know that I have a whole file of papers that I keep on lock down, because those are the only copies I have. Well....no more!

 

It will also come in handy with all those receipts that pile up in the bottom of my purse. Now come on ladies, I know you do the same thing. Buy something, toss the receipt in your purse, and about 6 months later clean them out......right???

 

Now all those lovely receipts can be stored digitally! I'm not sure about you, but I try to keep all my receipts on purchases I make for my classroom, so I can write that stuff off at the end of the year. This app just made this task much simpler!

 

Also, I'm sure you all know by now, but Google Reader will be nonexistent come July 1st (along with Google Friend Connect). So, in order to keep up with all your favorite blogs, hop on over to Blog Lovin'. Just about every blog I follow is headed that way, including myself! Please, please, please come follow me on Blog Lovin'! I'd be super sad to lose any of you wonderful followers.

 

Click here to follow me on Blog Lovin'.