Who's Who and Who's New: A Few Of My Favorite Things!

Hi everyone, I can't believe another school year is coming to an end. Where did the year go? At the end of the year I always look at some of the things I am doing in my class and I decide what worked and what I might want to change for next year. I decided today to share a few of my favorite classroom purchases and management ideas from this year.

1. Ikea picture frames.

I bought these cheap picture frames last year at Ikea while I was in Florida on holidays. I made numbers to go in the frames and placed one of them on each group of desks. They were so easy to see and they made it easy when I wanted to call a group for dismissal at the end of the day.

2. Monthly storage bins

I found these great plastic containers at my local Walmart and felt they were just the right size to store extra materials for my monthly themes. Anything that doesn't fit into my binders goes in here. They are especially great for storing games and seasonal centers. My May/June one is empty but not for long!

3. Word Work storage

I love having all of my word work centers stored in one location in the classroom. I have the drawers labelled and it helps students when it comes time to clean up. They know exactly where everything goes. You can get a copy of the labels here.

4. Personalized stamp

The students at my school are given agendas to record their homework in each day. Years ago I used to go around and initial with my pen each student's agenda which proved to be quite time consuming. Then I read about a teacher who purchased a personalized stamp through Vistaprint. Three years later and I am still using the stamp I had made. After student's record their homework, I come around to quickly check their agendas and stamp them with my personalized stamp. It has been a huge time saver for me.

5. Class helpers

Over the years I have had many different ways to pick the student helpers. Many were way more complicated than they had to be. This year I wanted to keep this routine simple. To do this I simply typed my class list twice on a sheet of paper (I reversed the names on the list the second time I typed it) added some clip art and laminated. Then I attached two paper clips and each morning we just move the paper clips down the list. Easy peasy!

6. Magnetic sleeves

Another great purchase I made this year was to get some magnetic sleeves which can hold papers and attach easily to my magnetic whiteboard. I use one to hold all my extra memos that student may need if they lose the originals. I also like to use them to hold answer keys for sheets we may be working on. I put an answer key in the pouch and students go up to the board to self check their work.

I hope some of my favorite things from this year can help you as you plan ahead to next year. I would love to hear about some of your favorite things in your classroom. I am always looking for new and easier ways to do things in my class.

If you still need an activity to finish out the year you may like to try my School Year in Pictures accordion booklet. I am planning on having my students draw a picture in the photo frame and then write about the picture on the next page. It should make a nice keepsake for them to look at in years to come.