Target Always Comes Through

I posted about not being able to find the blue saucer chair I wanted a few weeks ago and sent out an SOS here. Well, someone suggested trying Target. Leave it to Target to have what I wanted.

I saw it advertised a couple of weeks ago and headed straight to my nearest Target. Even though it's not the same color as the one I originally wanted, I still love the chair I found there and think it fits in pretty well with my classroom library. Plus, $17.99 can't be beat. {Even the ones I saw at TJ Maxx were $30 and they weren't even the right color.} Thanks to those who suggested Target in their comments. I should've checked there first. :)

My kiddos love getting to sit in it and curl up with a good book. Happy Saturday, friends!

Saucer Chair Blues

I'm bummed. Yesterday I posted a picture of my classroom library and mentioned that I'm looking for a cozy chair for it. I have visions of my helper of the day curled up in it quietly enjoying a good book during DEAR time. I'm thinking something like this saucer chair would be *just* the thing:

See how it is displayed with my rug and matches perfectly?! The only problem is that I'm pretty sure this is the one Walmart had last year. I could kick myself for not buying it back then when I got the rugs. At the time, I didn't have the space for it though. They still have this chair on their website, but it's apparently not available to order right now. :( Please let me know if I'm missing something here.

They currently have some similar ones in store at Walmart, but they are more of a navy blue. They also have lime green, but the practical part of me says that it wouldn't stay lime green long in a room full of nine year olds. Plus, I have my heart set on a blue one! I went to Ross and TJ Maxx yesterday and found a red one, but had no luck in the blue department. Have you seen any blue saucer chairs like this anywhere? Or do you have a suggestion of a different type of chair I could purchase for my classroom library area? I figured there was no one better to go to for help than my wonderful teacher bloggy friends. :)

A Work in Progress

I've so enjoyed seeing the wonderful photos of classroom progress in the bloggy world lately. This week has been crazy busy. We have a new nephew who was born late Tuesday night. He's a total cutie pie! I kept his sixteen month old big sister the night he was born and on Wednesday so I didn't get to work at school that day. However, I've spent nearly every other spare minute working in my classroom this week. I still feel like there's tons to do, but here are a few pictures of the progress so far. I really should've taken some before pics because it was a mess! It's still somewhat of a mess, but at least it's starting to look more like a classroom these days.

As promised in a recent post, here is a photo of my classroom library or more appropriately, part of it. I prefer to spread it out a little around the room so there's another section on the opposite side of the room that I'm still working on.

I'm going to look for a cute little cozy chair to replace the boring blue one. I already had my chapter book baskets on the tall bookcase as mentioned here, but I added the short bookcase for picture books. I purchased new picture book baskets for this year {Dollar Tree is most definitely my BFF!} so I haven't labeled them yet or finished reorganizing my picture books which is why the three baskets on top are empty. My plan is to display books for a featured author each month on top of taller bookcase. The dots poster will contain info for choosing books. 

My sweet momma helped me redo the long bulletin board above the white board. Loving the dots on black border and poster. I'm still working on organizing the bookcase behind my desk area. It looks kind of dark in this photo, but can you see the colored drawers next to my filing cabinet? Love them already!

My smart board is my pride and joy! I just got it at the end of last year and adore teaching with it. The doorway in the back corner is the entrance to my cloak room and closet. I'm lucky to have tons of storage back there. Still need to finish my reading focus bulletin board. (It's the green one.) I have a banner to hang above the bulletin board. I use the table in front of the bulletin boards for reading with small groups. My media cart is in the far corner next to the flag. Also, I usually arrange my desks in groups, but decided to try something different and I don't know if I'm going to keep them this way or not.

Our door is to the left. The apple pocket chart you can see part of on the right is used to do our attendance and lunch count. Our calendar and daily schedule are on this bulletin board. There's a gap in the pocket chart because my math schedule card is MIA since I didn't teach math last year. I've looked everywhere for it! This board will also have our related arts schedule below the calendar once I receive it. The makeshift table contains the necessities including assignment trays, lunch count forms, extra schedule cards, and hand sanitizer. Underneath the table is our recycle box. I laminated my new dots on black alphabet and added it above this board. Sorry for the glare.

Those of you who work in old buildings like mine {think 1890's} know the challenges that come with it. I love all our windows, but they limit classroom arrangements. I have three different radiators to work around. Also, the ceilings are extremely high. The fire marshal will not allow us to hang things from the ceiling. It tends to make me feel like the room is always empty. I don't like bare walls, but I don't like overkill either so I usually choose not to hang things super high....not to mention it would be hard for students to see. 

So that's it for now, folks. I will try to post more pictures once it is finished. T-minus 6 days until back to school night so it has to be ready to go by then.

Classroom Library Organization

Since I thought I was meant to teach primary grades forever, I had spent lots of money years collecting oodles of picture books. However, last year when I moved to fifth grade, I had to go on a chapter book buying frenzy. I visited tons of yard sales and thrift stores to fill up my classroom library. Between that and some generous donations from friends and family, I was able to fill up my classroom library pretty nicely.



I knew right away that I wanted to find some cute and sturdy containers to house my books. I found these inexpensive baskets last summer and L-O-V-E them! The dot cutouts are adorable and go well with other dotted items in my room. They are sturdy and the perfect size. I bought several of them in each color. These colors sort of developed into a theme after that. I found two rugs with the same colors and bought storage containers in the same lime green and blues. It worked to create unity in my room.

I chose to organize my books by genre or topic because it has been my personal experience {not saying this is always true. at. all.} that my students tend to choose books by interest. I stumbled across Beth Newingham's awesome website! I printed her labels (view them here), laminated them, and hot glued them to the front of the baskets to make it easy for students to find books they enjoy. I do have some picture books set out, but I don't have nearly enough room for them all. Sigh. All I know is that my future children {personal kiddos, that is} will have plenty of books to read one day! :)

Anyhow, I will try to post some pics of my library once I return to my classroom to get to work. How do you organize your classroom library?

Wish List

Don't get me wrong...like most teachers, I spend a ton plenty of my own money throughout the year on classroom stuff. However, our school received our classroom allowance money this week so I have $100 to spend - like soon {plus a little fundraiser money left from something else}. Yay! I've gone over several possibilities on which to spend this money and am trying to narrow it down.

1. Lakeshore Learning All Purpose Teacher's Organizer - I can only imagine how wonderful this would make life and planning/organizing each week!

2. chapter books from series that my kiddos will not put down right now including The Magic Tree House, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, etc. I already have several of these books and want to fill in gaps in my classroom library because my students can't get enough of them! Love it!



Fresh scent Clorox wipes are my favorite! 

 3. practical items we are currently running low on like tissues and Clorox wipes - not as much fun, but necessary so it will probably come first


 4. some goodies from our local teacher supply store -
I can ALWAYS find something in there I "need" for my classroom!

5. Ok, the next one is not even a real contender, but I'm seriously dreaming of this! {Too bad $100 doesn't come close to covering it.} I've taught with them in my previous jobs before I came to my current school and they are such amazing interactive tools that keep students engaged!



Would love to have a SMARTboard!



Most schools in our system have them, but then again most schools are also Title I schools and receive additional funding that can provide these. We, unfortunately, are very borderline-ish when it comes to meeting Title I guidelines and miss it by just a little which means we do not receive this funding. Sigh. It would mean hiring aides which could make a huge difference for our struggling students. I've been working on raising funds for a SMARTboard, though, so hopefully more to come on that later. :)