Ikea and Container Store Finds for Teachers

One of the most beautiful aspects of living near Atlanta is that we have awesome stores like Ikea and The Container Store so close.  I was so privileged to be able to make my first trip to The Container Store last year and I was in heaven.  If I ever win the lottery, a chunk of change will be spent on organizational stuff.  I am truly obsessed!  My first Ikea trip was about 2 weeks ago and it was heaven.  I loved every second of my trip and found some fantastic (and affordable!) treasures for my classroom next year.  Here are the goodies I found!

Lampan Table Lamp - $4.99

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20055421/

I am a huge believer in adapted lighting for all students.  My friend Ashley at Toughen Up, Buttercup sold me on the idea.  A classroom is so much more pleasant to be in when the lighting isn't so harsh.  I bought four of the babies to increase my lamp population.  They aren't insanely bright, but they will definitely contribute to the cause.

Toftbo Bathroom Mat - $9.99 (in turquoise and green)

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20163963/  (turquoise)

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10209339/ (green)

 I am excited to include these beautiful rugs in my classroom next year.  I am trying to create a homey feel and these will help so much.  They are so soft and I plan to place them around my board for extra seating.  The colors are really vibrant and they are washable which is always a plus.  

Fylt Magazine File - $1.49/5 files

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50022354/

The possibilities with these are endless! I plan to use them for my library for sure.  I also saw an awesome idea on Pinterest for them today for paper storage!  They are cardboard and would make great book boxes if the need was there.  I am excited about the simple color.  

Now onto my Container Store find (yes, just one this time!).  I will be teaching 3 grade levels next year and have been desperately looking for baskets to use to collect their homework and classwork.  As soon as I walked in, it was like the heavens opened up and angels sang.  I had found exactly what I was looking for.

Our Basic Stack Basket - $5.99 (I bought white, blue, and green)

http://www.containerstore.com/shop/storage/stackingStorage?productId=10006896&N=71232

I plan to label these for each grade level.  I wish they had purple, but white will suffice. I am excited about the size of these specifically.  They will hold more than just one stack of papers if need be.  I love how sturdy they are once stacked, also!

I hope you all found this helpful and beneficial.  Ikea and The Container Store can be a money pit if you're not careful.  However, with some restraint and planning, you will be one step closer to an awesome learning environment for your kiddos!

Monday Meet Up #4

Hello everyone!

We are officially about a month into our summer break and I am loving it!  I loved summer break as a student, but I have found a completely new appreciation for it as a teacher.  It is so nice to be able to work on all these projects I have been saving.  I have also been able to work a lot on things for next year (more to come on that later!)

I decided to link up this week with The Teaching Tribune.  I am loving the networking that I have already done through Twitter, blogs, and TpT.  I haven't started a store yet, but they may be in the works. I haven't decided if I am ready to jump off that cliff quite yet, especially with all the change that is on the horizon.

Anywho, this is my first link up of the summer (aside from the currently I did).  This week's link up is all about ME! Well, random facts you may not know.  Enjoy!

 

50 Shades of...

Now, I know what you're thinking.  What is a teacher doing blogging about that book.  You'll be glad to know I'm not! ;)  Completely different, actually!

As a first year teacher, everything is just a little more exciting.  Everything has been a "first." Between my first fire drill, Science Day, Artist Day, and field day, everything has been insanely memorable.  My first post planning experience surely did not disappoint.  Our school brought in the wonderful Jen Jones from Hello Literacy came and redelivered her 50 Shades of the Common Core: Critical Thinking and Text Complexity.  This PD surely spoiled me! I tell David all the time how much of a "teacher nerd" I am.  I just love to learn! Jen was incredible and it was such an honor to get to learn from her.

Here are the big take aways I got from her redelivery!

1. Bloom's Taxonomy Posters - Jen Jones showed us one of her awesome TpT products that I plan to use within my classroom next year.  Here is the link to the posters.  She uses a cell phone signal to demonstrate the brain power students use to get to that level of thinking.  One thing I loved about this was the stress she put on teachers holding students accountable for this.  In college, they taught us Bloom's, but not how to translate it into accountability for the kids.  I am so excited to explore this further this year.

2. ...because... - As Jen shared this, I wanted to scream, "How have I never thought of this?!" It is absolutely genius! I can't wait to implement this great and (SUPER EASY!) strategy next year.  To find out more, check out this blog post of Jen's.

3. Expect students to speak in complete sentences. - Again, so simple but so genius.  I love this expectation being set day 1 and I think it will solve a lot of problems, so to speak.  I love the sense of accountability this creates.  I think it is also going to really help our ESL and SPED population also.

4.  TBE Graphs - My last take away was her TBE graphs.  As a grad student, I did my capstone project on self graphing.  Super effective and super important in building intrinsic motivation for students.  Part of my summer is going to be devoted to developing a self-graphing tool to help students see their growth in mastering standards.  However, I do plan to use Jen's TBE graph as part of my student's data folders.  Again, with the accountability! I feel like text based evidence is imperative when it comes to deeper thinking. Having a graph increases desire to use text as evidence.  Check out Jen's post about her TBE graph's here!

As you can tell, I am so pumped up for next year. I can't wait to have all kinds of deep thinking going about Science and Social Studies!