Monday Made it- Classroom Store Part 1

Today is the first Monday of summer vacation and I am so thrilled to be linking up with 4th grade frolics for my first Monday made it of the summer!

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen me post about flamingo bucks. My pod-mate and I are both going to be starting to use a classroom money system next year.

We are going to be switching classes for social studies and science. I will be teaching the social studies for both classes and she will be teaching the science. We wanted something that we could both use that would be consistent between both classrooms, so we will be using beach/flamingo bucks!

If there is one thing I love, it is a good theme, so... I am creating a storefront for the Flamingo Bucks Boutique (how cute is that name?!). The storefront itself will be a made-it for later this summer, I just need to work myself up to the effort I know will be needed for the construction...

In the meantime, I have started working on some of the accessories for the shop.

First up, the wallets! I used colored cardstock with some labels I made on the computer.

Once they were laminated, I folded them in half, stapled, and taped down the sides.

Then, I added two Velcro dots on the inside to keep the flamingo bucks from falling out.

I made them in a variety of colors so the kiddos can pick which one they want.

Next, the store signage. I made this two sided open/closed sign that will be hung on the front of the store.

The student who is the cashier for the week will flip the sign when they are ready for people to shop.

A few years ago, I had a warm fuzzy store in my classroom and one of the things that I found really helped with the management was a shopping schedule. I have the students shop as soon as they are unpacked in the morning, but I don't want everyone shopping at once.

With this schedule, the kids know which day their table will be shopping.

I used Velcro dots so I can change the order each week.

On to the shopping baskets! I am especially in love with these.

I used the mini plastic tubs from the Dollar Tree, added some ribbon for handles (also from the Dollar tree), and stuck some labels on the front (gotta have that branding!).

(even Maggie approves) :)

Total project cost: $3.00!

I made sure to print enough labels to have a couple to add to the cash register that I will be getting later this summer. :)

Last up, my new geoblock center. I made this a couple of weeks ago, but am super excited about it, so I just had to share it now! My kiddos are always really excited when we first start out unit on 3D shapes at the end of the year. Excitement tends to turn to boredom when they realize that it is all about describing shapes and matching footprints. So, to up the engagement level, I made these geoblock structure cards.

The kids seemed really excited to try them, so I left them out at the center let them go for it. They ended up having so much fun! Some of them chose to work on a card together, others preferred to work alone. If they didn't have the same block as the picture, they tried different blocks until they made the same shape. A few kiddos even decided to add on to the structures to make them bigger or taller.

Definitely going to be bringing these out again next year!

Well, that's it for my made-its this week. I'm off to a couple training/work days of writing gifted extensions for the district.

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday Made It- Table captain signs, labels, and a quiet solution for math games!

Happy Monday! I am linking up with 4th grade frolics for another Monday Made it!

 

 

 

 

 

I am pretty excited about my first made-it this week, I think it will be a big improvement over last year! I have table captains and table assistants at each table, and they change every week. I used to have the kids write their names on the whiteboard at their table when it was their turn, but the names were always getting messed up.

 

 

So I came up with this- these wooden plaques were on clearance and I could not resist!

 

 

 

I took some wooden tags that I got on sale (10 for 70 cents!) and painted them black.

 

 

Voila! Each student will have a tag with his/her name on it that can be hung on the hook when it is their turn. I plan on attaching the signs to the bookshelves in place of the whiteboards from last year.

 

 

 

 

Nothing too exciting for my second made-it, just some labels for folders and notebooks on the first day of school. I was pretty pleased about having this done until I remembered that I no longer wanted to have a homework notebook next year... sigh. I might have to do it anyway so that I don't waste the labels!

 
 

 

The labels are sized to print two per Avery 8164 label. You can get your own free editable set here. Just save the document to your computer to edit.

 

 

Last up for this week: something that will help with those noisy afternoons in math- dice trays! I got the trays last year (3 for $1 at the dollar store), but never got around to making them. You would think that with all the noise/hassle of dice hitting tables and/or suddenly flying across the room that this would have been a priority, but it somehow escaped my to-do list!

 

The little plastic trays are lined with felt that will match the table it goes with, of course!

 

 

 

 

I was hoping to have the 120 pocket chart I talked about last week done for this Monday, but it is turning out to be quite the project, fingers crossed for next week!

 

 

Victoria

 

Monday Made It- Nameplates, door decor, and QR code center organization!

I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for another Monday Made it!

First up this week I have my new desk nameplates for next year! I made a few changes to the ones I used last year, moving some things around and adding the shapes/ruler. We are not going to be focusing on measuring by nonstandard units for the first time this year (yay!), so I think the ruler is a perfect addition.

I just sent them to Staples for printing and they should be ready for me to take over to the classroom store for laminating by Tuesday! Last year was the first year I laminated my nameplates and what a difference it made! They stayed nice the entire year instead of just the first couple of months.

 I also made some changes to my front door display. My set last year was black and white and seemed a little too dark, so I brightened it up a bit!

I still have to cut out the circles (one of my least favorite things to do, but the kids wouldn't really by "spotted" in first grade if their name wasn't on a spot, so I will just have to do it!)

Next up, organization!

I made some binders to store the QR code listening centers I have been making, complete with polka dot covers. :)

Each set is in its own page protector pocket, with Velcro at the top to keep them from slipping out. I used scotch expressions tape to cover the Velcro so that it would look better.



I also printed out labels with the covers of all the books. I don't always remember what a story is about by seeing just the title, but the cover usually jogs my memory.

I recently ordered a 120 pocket chart from amazon, but the cards it came with are pretty boring and only came in black or primary colors, so I decided to make my own!

I have a 100s pocket chart that came with my grade level math kit, but our standard goes to 120 and I always have a few students who really get lost once they get to 110, so I thought this would be better. I want to have chart displayed all the time and have designated times for the students to pick a card and find where it goes.

The pocket chart itself is the usual royal blue, which obviously does not work for my classroom, so I am hoping to have made it black by next week...

 Will I be successful? Stay tuned!

Victoria