Monday Made Its

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"  Andy Williams may not have been thinking about back-to-school time when he sang his ever popular holiday song, but that's what I think of!  New teacher orientation started last week, returning teachers came back today, Open House is tomorrow, and my firsties come back on September 1st.  Yay!  :)

It looks like there's no Monday Made It linky party this week, but I figure I can still share my goodies with you!  Tara gave us all permission to link our classroom reveals to her (previous) linky party, so I'm hoping to do that next week!

This mess was my assembly area for the goodies that I give to my students at Open House each year.  All the little treats go in those colorful bags on the right (from the Dollar Tree).

Hopefully you can read this explanation sheet.  Each treat inside the bag represents a bigger picture.  For example, "The toothpick is to remind you to pick out the good qualities in your classmates and self."

You may have seen this chair in my last Monday Made It blog post, but I made another change.  The fabric parts were white and even though I flipped them over, you could still see the "Go, Dog, Go" image and words.  A sweet follower of mine suggested using fabric spray paint.  I didn't even know that existed!  Sure enough...found some at JoAnn Fabrics as well as Wal-Mart.  I love how it turned out!

I've had this rolling cart for over a year now, but I did some updating.  It used to be open on the top, but I needed somewhere to set my Mac when we are using the SmartBoard.  So I did some measuring, cutting, and spray painting on some pegboard I had in the garage...and there we go!

I also had these library sticks last year, but again I did some updating.  The number stickers fell off last year, so I put some new (and cuter) number stickers on the sticks AND wrapped some packing tape around the top.  Hopefully that works!

So every.single.time we had indoor recess last year, it was a bit of a headache.  I would write the students' choices on the whiteboard and my kiddos would pick what they wanted to do.  But it was always challenging for my Kinders to read / remember the words on the whiteboard.

Now I am moving to first grade and it may be easier for them to read, BUT I have even more indoor recess choices.  (The sweet and helpful teacher who was in my classroom before me left lots of indoor recess goodies!)  So I came up with a solution (hopefully).  I took pictures of all the choices, then print, cut, and laminated the photos.  Today I attached sticky magnetic tape on the back.  (Yes, that's me working in the car, LOL.)

I have this big, but lightweight oil pan I bought from an auto parts store last year.  During indoor recess, I will take it out of the closet.  All the indoor recess choice cards will be displayed on the oil pan.  After two students pick an activity (two students is my maximum), then that card will be removed from the oil pan.  I hope I am explaining this well enough!  I will be sure to take a picture of the completed project and include it in my classroom reveal.

Anyway, I hope it makes the indoor recess process run more quickly and efficiently.

That's all folks!  Thanks for stopping by!  :)