Morning Tubs

Today I am blogging about my favorite change to my classroom this year, morning tubs!

Before I get into how I am using morning tubs, let me quickly explain how the mornings go at our school.

The kids arrive anywhere between 7:45 and 8:20 and can get breakfast in the cafeteria or wait in holding areas (usually in the hallway outside the classroom). Teachers aren't required to bring the kids into the classroom until 8:20, which is when the morning news starts.

In the past, mornings has always felt rushed. The kids come in and are trying to get unpacked and ready for the day all while the news is playing. There was never any time for morning work as our math block starts immediately after the news.

This year, I decided to try something different. I wanted something that would get my students engaged first thing in the morning, so I decided on morning tubs.

 I got four of these plastic tubs from Wal-Mart.

 I got the 7.2 quart size, which allows for plenty of space for materials, without taking up too much space when we aren't using them.

 labeled them 1-4 with a flamingo that coordinates with a table color. We rotate bins each morning, so having the numbers and color code helps me to remember which bin goes where.

For example:

Green table always starts with bin #1 on Mondays.

On Tuesday, all bins rotate one place, so green table will have bin #2. This continues through Thursday.

On Friday mornings, we are shopping at our classroom store as we come in, so the kids who are done may be reading or taking a test on reading counts.

I wanted to make sure that my students didn't lose interest in morning tubs, so I switch out the materials weekly. 

A lot of the materials that I use are things that I already had around the classroom:

-pattern blocks

-snap cubes

-mini geoboards

-inch tiles

I have also been keeping my eye out for deals! I managed to snag a few things from the dollar spot at Target (lacing cards, alphabet and number puzzles, lego-type blocks) and the Dollar Tree (dominoes and lacing cards).

Here are a few other things we have been enjoying-

-brain flakes

-bar connectors

-pinblocks

-plastic bathroom cups

-bunchems

*the kids LOVE bunchems, but make sure to stress that they are to stay away from hair... I would say more, but I am still too put out after spending ages picking one out of a little girl's hair!

-clip connectors

I also made up some step by step drawing cards from tutorials I found online. I laminated them and put them in the box with some drawing paper.

I have a wish list going (what teacher doesn't?!) of some different things I would like to add as the year goes on. I am pretty fascinated by these plus-plus pieces. Has anyone ever used them?

I am always a little nervous when trying out new routines in the classroom. I usually have this idea of how I want it to work, but it doesn't always pan out!

In this instance though, I am honestly so glad that I decided to go for it! My mornings always used to feel so hectic and rushed with no real transition from arriving at school to learning. Now, we have a quiet time to explore classroom materials and be creative!

My kids are collaborating on bigger projects-

this massive wall was built by two boys out of plastic bathroom cups! (I was expecting a big crash when they started to clean up, but they meticulously took it down, cup by cup! Such a quiet clean-up!)

They are socializing in a positive way- trading ideas, sharing materials, complimenting each other's designs, working together on their plans. 

Yes, I have given up some of my time alone in the mornings, but I couldn't be happier with the choice!

Do you use morning tubs in your classroom? I'd love to hear about it!

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!

Classroom Elf Adventures- Part 3 of 3

We have reached the final week of our classroom elf adventures!

Dot was a very busy elf this week!

I had planned to switch my table groups for the last week of December, but then I had an idea...

The kids were so surprised when they came in and saw that Dot had wrapped our desks (and even more surprised when they unwrapped their desk to find that it wasn't theirs anymore!)

Monday was also the day that we read How the Grinch Stole Christmas. We got to write about how we would make the Grinch grin, which resulted in answers like: I would invite him to dinner at my house.

Unfortunately, we were also quite loud/chatty (which may have had something to do with the excitement of unwrapping desks this morning... oops!) When we came in the next morning, we found that the Grinch had shown up and captured Dot!

He had also started everyone on red! Oh dear!

We opened up Dot's mailbox to find that there was no letter from Dot, but there was a letter from the Grinch! He told us that he was able to catch Dot because we were so loud yesterday and the only way to free her from his trap was to work quietly today. He also bet us that we couldn't do it! Well, we were ready for the challenge!

The kids did their very best to work quietly and stay on task (which was still not quite as good as they usually are, but I took into account the excitement of the upcoming winter break). When we came back from lunch we found...

that not only had Dot freed herself, but she had caught the Grinch!

At the end of the day, we always pick a few compliments from our compliment jar to read before we line up to leave. I just happened to pull a compliment for Dot this afternoon- "Dot, you're funny and nice!" so I thought I would use that for the next day.

The little boy who wrote the compliment was thrilled to see that Dot was reading it to Sylvie the flamingo the next day! The rest of the kids LOVED Dot's new dress and were talking about it all day!

Thursday was field day, and in all of the excitement I forgot to get a picture of Dot wrapped up in the Christmas lights that hang around the board. Oops!

On Friday, Dot decided to go out with a bang... she toilet papered our classroom! I had hung a strip down the window in the front door so that the kids wouldn't see in, and I made sure to warn them that Dot had made a huge mess before they came in. They could not believe their eyes!

They were quick to find the culprit!

Dot was kind enough to send all of the kids off to winter break with a little stuffed elf of their very own. We ended up borrowing the elf on a shelf movie from my pod-mate and watching it at the end of the day, all of the kids brought their little elf to the rug to watch with them. It was adorable!

And so ends our elf adventures for this year!

Click here for Part 1 or Part 2!

Classroom Elf Adventures- Part 2 of 3

Welcome to the second week of our classroom elf adventures!

Last week we planted these magic seeds from the North Pole (see the full blog post here).

When the kids came in on Monday, they were so excited so see that our seeds had grown into candy canes!

Dot had decided to get in on the candy cane fun with a trip across the room on a candy cane zip line!

On Tuesday, we found Dot relaxing in her robe and slippers. We also discovered that she had sent us some pictures of her weekend hanging out with my pot-mate's elf, Tinsel!

I had come to school over the weekend and taken pictures of the two all around the school and put them into a photo album. It is the current favorite book in our classroom library! The kids have pointed out that there are a lot of blank pages, they are hoping that Dot will send us some more!

On Wednesday, Dot was hanging out in our READ sign in the library. The kids were more excited about her new boots though, they couldn't stop talking about them!

She also left us some special brag tags in her mailbox, the kids were so thrilled with the new brag tags that a lot of them brought their brag tags to show their 5th grade reading buddy on Friday!

Unfortunately, we were pretty loud and crazy on Wednesday. In fact, we were so wild that I found myself checking the calendar to see if it was a full moon! Poor Dot doesn't like a lot of noise, so she was in bed with a headache when we came in on Thursday. She told us in her letter that she stopped by the clinic on the way back from the North Pole to pick up an ice pack!

Our technology teacher is a good friend of mine and she agreed to help me out with our elf adventures this week. I took this picture of Dot-

and sent it to her. While the kids were working on their technology assignment on Thursday, she sent the picture out to their computers! They were so surprised and had to tell me all about it when I came to pick them up! Needless to say, Thursday was a much better day than Wednesday! :)

On Friday, Dot told us that she was practicing her ballet because she was going to be a sugarplum fairy in the North Pole's production of the Nutcracker. I have a little girl who is going to be in the Nutcracker, so she was very excited to see that she and Dot had something in common!

That was it for our adventures this week. Stay tuned for the final installment in my elf adventures series, coming next weekend! Dot and I have some serious elf mischief planned!

Click here for Part 1 or Part 3!