Monday Made it- Center signs, curtains, desk skirt, and more!

This is my last summer made-it post! I am going back to school next Monday, where did the time go?!

 

On the bright side, I did get into my classroom last week and have gotten a big chunk of the set-up done. I hope to be able to post my 2015 classroom tour by next week. Here is a little sneak peak!

 

On to the made-it's!

 

My first made-it this week was something I didn't really ever plan on doing. It just sort of popped into my head while I was making some signs on the computer, so I decided to go for it!

 

In years past, I haven't really had specific areas of the classroom for centers. All center supplies are kept in buckets and the teams would bring their buckets to their table to work. I am changing it up a bit this year. They will still do the majority of their center work at their table, but I have a few dedicated areas of the classroom for some centers now.

 

 

 

For this project, I used wooden circles that I painted green, covered with Mod Podge, then added a bow and mini clothespin to. I used the clothespins so that I can change out the center sign if I need to.

 

 

 

Each center area will have one of these as a reminder of the expectations at that center.

Next up is my new desk skirt!

I came across this flamingo fabric in a Joann's sales flyer and knew I had to have it!

My mom designed and sewed the desk skirt for me (thanks Mom!).

I think it is just perfect!

 

 

This made-it is actually another Mom made-it. (as is number 4!) At the end of last year, a glider showed up in one of the pods that my room connects to. No one else wanted it, so I moved it into my room.

The only problem was the navy blue cushions that look like they were about as old as I am!

My Mom made these new green covers with turquoise piping and they really brightened it up!

The old cushions are inside and the covers open with Velcro, so they will be easy to wash.

 

 Now on to the most sparkly of my made-its this week: my curtains.

I was out fabric shopping for my bulletin boards when my mom brought over this sparkly fabric to show me. She had the best idea to layer it over turquoise fabric to make some curtains that would match my color scheme.

 

She made me two for my library windows, two for my door windows and one really long one for my gigantic front window.

I love how sparkly and pretty they look!

 

My last made-it this week is something I made to go with my black pocket chart that I will be using for my poetry and phonics sort centers.

 

I wanted a way to store the pieces for the center that was easy for the kids to work with. There is very little I dislike more than a messy center!

 

I cut some foam board strips for the bottom and sides. Then I used packing tape to put the pieces together and covered it with duck tape to make it sturdier.

 

 

The final touch was some green duck tape to cover my messy edges!

 

 

I attached it to the wall by putting a strip of painter's tape on the wall, then hot gluing the tray to the tape. I haven't tried attaching anything like that before, so I will have to see how it goes!

 That just about sums up my busy week. I have a couple of pretty big made-its that I am working on finishing up for next week. Our meet the teacher night is on the 14th, so they will need to be done by then!

 

Make sure you head over to 4th grade frolics and check out more Monday made-its!

Also, don't forget about the TPT back to school sale today and tomorrow!

 



Monday Made it and a QR Code Freebie!

I'm linking up with 4th grade frolics for another Monday Made It, and this one includes a freebie!

I only have one project this week, but it is a big one! I don't see myself finishing this project for quite some time, but here is what I have done so far.

My school started the BYOD (bring your own device) program last year and I was trying to come up with some quick and easy literacy centers I could pull without a lot of prep. I was using QR codes to link to read alouds on YouTube last year for my fast finishers, but I wanted to use them for a center.

Unfortunately, a lot of the videos I found for the stories we like to read have pretty bad audio quality and my little ones were always complaining they couldn't understand what the person was saying. So, I decided to record some myself!

In addition to recording the stories, I have come up with a couple of coordinating writing prompts for each story. This way I can give the students one to work on when they finish with the story, or let them pick one of the two to write about. I have been printing/cutting/laminating everything I make so that I can just grab a set for the day and be done!

I have a few sets up for sale in my store, but here is a freebie:

If you are interested, the rest of the sets I have finished so far can be found here. Each set is a group of 4 stories. They are grouped by topic, theme, or author. Each story comes with two different prompts (as seen on the cards above), two writing response papers, and some generic graphic organizers that can be used with any story.

In addition to my classroom books that I brought home with me for the summer, I have a huge stack of books from the library that are just waiting to be recorded, so I know what I will be working on for the next few weeks... Now if I could only keep Maggie the cat quiet while I am working!

Victoria