Shopping for books anyone?

Hello there teacher friends!

This is Laura G. from Where the Magic Happens Blog and Where the Magic Happens TpT store.  I hope you guys have already started the school year in full sail, and  you are loving your kiddos as much as I love mine.
If you remember well, I teach in a year-round school and have been  in school since July 27th. Let me just tell you... it is painful to come and start to set up your classroom in the middle of the summer. It is so worth it though. Last Tuesday, for example, the radio morning show lady was just announcing the first day of school for everyone else and I was oh-so-glad that I had already crossed that bridge!

If you do the Daily 5, then you probably  are building some serious stamina and teaching your kiddos all about I PICK and such.  When I first started teaching at my current school, all the other teachers already had book boxes  in order for their students to store their "read to self" books and materials. They look like this:

They are cute, sturdy, functional, and EXPENSIVE! I could not afford 24 of these beauties for my classroom!!   Sadsville. 

You can buy them by clicking here!!

Well... I have been in my little classroom for three years  now and have not had the guts to buy them. Still. I have thought about writing a grant to get them,  but  at this point I am so settled in my classroom that I cannot find the space to put them.  So I had settled for reusable shopping bags from my local grocery store. This year my sweet teacher friend from across the hall, went and got them for me.

They were not functional or pretty at all! When it was time to do read to self, the kiddos basically took their shopping bags from inside their desks and found a comfy spot to read. They looked so messy and lame. 

That is until one of my wonderful classroom volunteers (who BTW is an instructor at the local fabric store) told me she had an idea:

How is this for plain genius??

These are the steps when making these shopping bags:

1. Cut one of the handles in half, and cut the other one completely. Measure the back of the chair.

2. Sew.

3. Add Velcro to the center of the reusable bag.

You are done!

 Practical, functional, inexpensive, and so easy to make! 

Thank you the lovely and talented Mrs. Shurtleff, I will use your idea for years to come. 

 I hope you are feeling crafty.  Until next time...