Removing Permanent Marker

Each year I label thing using a Sharpie marker.  I love Sharpies and use them all the time in my classroom.  But at the end of the year I need a way to remove the ink so that I can reuse the item again next year.

Here is my behavior pocket chart.  I have written all of the kids names on it with a black Sharpie.  There are a couple of ways to remove permanent marker from things.  I used to use nail polish remover.  That works fine, but sometimes I run out and have to stop mid project (and we all know how terrible that it).  So a friend of mine told me that dry erase markers will also remove permanent marker, so I thought I would give it a try.

Ta da!!  

Worked like a charm.

So there you go.  You can use a dry erase marker to remove permanent marker. 

Hope you find this little tip useful in your own classroom.

I'm here to help. (wink)

Leave a Comment Classroom Set Up, Organization

What Worked Well Wednesday- Center Tub Labels- FREEBIE!

I'm linking up with my friends over at Kinder Tribe for their "What Worked Well Wednesday" Linky Party.

Even though it is the middle of my summer break, I'm starting to think ahead to next year.  (Do we teachers ever really stop thinking about our classrooms??)

One of the things that worked really well last year was the addition of these simple labels to my math and literacy tubs.

Before I had these labels, the kids would try to work together on activities meant for one, or try to do a partner activity alone.  By adding the labels to the tubs, my kids gained independence and I gained some peace (and the ability to focus on my small group of kids).

I change the activities in the math and literacy tubs often based on what we are learning, or when I sense the kids are getting bored with the activity, or when I need to introduce a new skill or activity.  During my afternoon rotations, kids rotate through different activities.  One of their rotations is "Math and Literacy Tubs."  Although I direct WHEN the kids do the math and literacy tubs, the children can choose WHICH tub they would like to work on.  Some of my kids prefer to work alone, but some like to work with a partner or group.  By having these labels on the tubs, kids know immediately if it is an independent or partner or group activity.  This helps them get settled quickly and saves the wear and tear on my nerves.

You can grab these labels for FREE in my TpT store.  Just click on the pictures or on the link.

I hope you find these useful too!  They might be little, but they make a big impact.

5 comments Back to School, Classroom Management, Classroom Set Up, Organization

Oh Snap! It's Almost August!

Can you believe that it's almost August?  Where has the summer gone?

If you are like me, you are starting to plan for the upcoming school year.  Join this fun link up and find some great resources for the upcoming school year.

The wonderful bloggers at 

are starting a monthly link up where we can all share our favorite resource for the upcoming month.  Isn't that perfect?!  It's just what I need to stay ahead of the curve and on my game.  

Since it is almost August, I'm thinking about the start of the new school year.  I contemplate what worked well last year and what things can be improved.  

Last year I really LOVED my calendar wall.  Why, you ask?  Well, I took my old standard calendar and updated it with more math stuff.  I began with the standard monthly calendar where we turn the cards over each day to reveal the number and the pattern.  We do Yesterday was ____, Today is ____, and Tomorrow will be ___, (those are the teddy bears).  I also have the daily add a straw count that groups ones, tens and hundreds.  I have the months of the year (train) and the days of the week.  The teddy bears in the trains are the kid's birthdays (they each decorated a die cut teddy bear and I put them in the train far for the month).  And of course we have the 100 chart and the weather.

Most of the items were purchased at teacher stores, but I got the weather from here and the day, month, year strips and the days in school from this website.

The number of the day and the shapes are part of my Calendar Companion.  I also have worksheets that my students use to learn about the different parts of the calendar.  

I also have a daily schedule cards that we review in the morning so the kids know what things we will be covering that day.  You can grab these for just $1 for the next 3 days!  I laminated these and put them on velcro.  I can rearrange them based on the day and the things that we will be doing. (The schedule cards are the pencil shaped cards that are hanging under the clock).

I encourage you to browse around the links to see what things you can add to your calendar wall.

Click here for a FREEBIE!  It's just one small part of my Calendar Companion.

Just slide it in a page protector and staple it to your calendar wall.  Use a dry erase marker to count the number of girls and boys at school each day.  I have my calendar helper do this each day.

Check my Freebies section for more fun FREE stuff.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!  Hop on over to the next great blog and get more great STEALS AND DEALS for August.  Link up your own great product/tip for August.  Enjoy the rest of your summer!

An InLinkz Link-up

Leave a Comment Back to School, Bulletin Boards, Classroom Set Up, Common Core, Math, Teacher Deals and Dollar Steals

Teacher Deals and Dollar Steals- Get Organized

Hi everyone!

I'm joining the folks at Teacher Deals and Dollar Steals on the 10th of each month to provide you with a fun and amazing deal.  Be sure to follow both blogs!

This month I am sharing my absolute favorite system for organizing all my teaching units.  I have been teaching for over 20 years (I'm not going to say how many years over 20- I'll keep that my little secret) and I have tried many different organizational methods.  I've purchased big Rubbermaid tubs and stored all my things for the month in there.  That was great, but boy did it take up A LOT of storage space.  I ended up storing those tubs at home in my garage which meant that my car lost it's inside home. (Boo hoo)

I've tried to put things into filing cabinets.  Once again, this takes up a lot of space and it seems like stuff was constantly getting mis-filed or not filed at all.  I could never find what I was looking for until I found it weeks or months later in the wrong place.  My blackline masters were always getting torn and crinkled as well.  I currently have 3 filing cabinets full of stuff!

Last year, my coworker began putting her blacklines into 3 ring binders.  I waited to see how she liked it before getting my own binder system going.  Well, she LOVED it.  So mid way through the year I began to slowly organize my stuff by units into 1 inch binders.  I also purchased a few bigger binders for those huge subjects that needed more space.

As I finished or planned a unit, I would put my blacklines into page protectors and into the binder they went.  My blacklines stayed pristine and organized.  They were easy to find when I needed them and I no longer got them mixed up with my stuff when I was making copies.  I simply copied them and then they went right back into the page protector for safe keeping.  It was super easy to find what I was looking for, prep it, and then get the precious masters back into the binder.

I'm still in the process of getting rid of those 3 filing cabinets.  I'm going in to school one day a week during the summer and going through each drawer.  My goal is to have only one filing cabinet left at the end of the summer.  I will use that to hold the sample projects that don't fit into the page protectors.  I am so excited about the amount of classroom space I will be gaining!

So, if you are interested in getting organized using 3 ring binders, then head on over to Teacher Deals and Dollar Steals and get the monthly binders for free and the thematic binders for only $1.

Make sure to follow that blog because you'll get a daily Deal or Steal (or both) from fabulous TpT authors and bloggers.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Leave a Comment Back to School, Classroom Management, Classroom Set Up, Organization, Teacher Deals and Dollar Steals

Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis should also be called "The Long Wait."

Well, we just had our Open House last Thursday evening and our caterpillars finally went into the chrysalis stage.  We thought it would NEVER happen.  We watched those little caterpillars eat and eat and grow and grow for the longest time.

Here is our science table.  We always have something living to observe.  Right now we have a daffodil (which has just about run its course), some ladybugs, and our butterflies (in the chrysalis stage).

Now we are off for two weeks for Spring Break so I had to send the little guys home with a steward.  One of my very enthusiastic little boys is taking our caterpillars home for the break.  He will care for them and bring them back to school when break is over.  It was so cute because he left the room singing this song as he was carrying the precious cargo out the door.

If you like the metamorphosis song, you can purchase a similar one at Susan Paul's TpT store.  She has many other great songs.

1 comment Classroom Set Up, Common Core, Science

Five For Friday- First Week of School 2014

Well everyone, happy Friday!  TGIF!  I survived the first week of school, but I am EXHAUSTED!  If it is any consolation, my kids are just as tired- so that makes me feel better.  They are 5 years old after all and I’m... well, let’s just say that I’m older, so I feel MUCH better that I’m so tired. 

I’m linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for the weekly Five for Friday party.  Yea!  Happy Friday!! 

 I have a great group of kids this 

year.  Here they are.  Pretty cute, huh?

I invite the parents to attend the first day and I have them complete the very first project with their child.  I take a photo of them with their child and I use that for my Memory Book and I also put it in my sub binder so that a substitute teacher can make sure that each child goes home with his/her parent at the end of the day.  The parents LOVE this idea.  They feel so much better knowing that the substitutes have a photo ID of them.

I'm not sure if I like my room arrangement this year.  It is very kid centered (because they all can see the docucam screen) but it is NOT teacher centered (because I can't fit through the tables).  I really like that all the kids can see the screen, but I need to walk around and help kids and the arrangement leaves a lot to be desired on that score.  I have bruises on my legs that are exactly the table height  and that isn't acceptable (and no, I'm not posting a picture of the bruises-you are welcome!).  What to do???  As soon as the dust settles and I find out how many kids I will have, I might be able to eliminate on of the tables.  Time will tell.  Stay tuned.

I LOVE my calendar wall.  It has so many skills/standards included and we cover them each and every day.  Some of the things are from my Calendar Companion unit.  I have a "calendar helper" whose job it is to help me with the calendar each morning.  

Here is a random thing...  my daughter's dog Cooper.  He is a corgi, a fluffy corgi to be exact. He is the most awesome dog ever!  He lets Paige dress him up and he seems to like it.  He's really pretty, really cuddly, really sweet, really people oriented, and did I say really pretty?  He's not very smart, as far as corgis go- they are very smart dogs.  Our other corgis were/are SUPER smart.  Cooper is well... Cooper is pretty.  I have had 5 corgis and he is by far my favorite lap dog. Pretty and sweet- not so smart, but we love him anyway.  Isn't he pretty?

My last random thing for this week is that I am so very thankful for is my sister.  She is my best friend, by kid's best friend, and my go-to person.  She came in to help me in my classroom this week.

SHE ROCKS!  I wish everyone could have a sister like mine.  She's holding our friend's corgi puppy BTW.  We do love our corgis!

Leave a Comment Back to School, Bulletin Boards, Classroom Set Up, Linky Party

Life is good!

I have 29 wonderful and unique little kinders.  That's a lot of little bodies in one classroom, but the new and improved room layout works great!  There is good flow from one activity to the next (and you know how often kinders need to transition to something new).

Our first week was great!  We are getting to know each other as we learn the school and classroom rules.  We are off to a great start!

1 comment Back to School, Classroom Set Up

Room for 30

Well, I'm pleased with my room.  I squeezed in another table so I can accommodate 30 kids.  I also have a table for parents to work with a group and a horseshoe table for me to work with a small group.  We have a large rug area, a housekeeping center, an extensive classroom library, blocks, puzzles, and all the things a busy kindergartner needs to learn and grow.  Despite being packed to the rafters, the room feels open and spacious (or maybe I'm just getting used to cramped quarters).

Leave a Comment Back to School, Classroom Set Up, Organization

A Peek at Last Year's Room

Last year my class size increased from 24 to 27 kids.  You would think that 3 kids wouldn't make a huge impact in my room set up, but it did.  I had to convert my parent volunteer table (used daily for group work) to student desks.  This meant that I had to give my parent volunteers my horseshoe table and I moved myself to the floor during rotations.  You might be wondering why I didn't just put the parents on the floor working with groups, well, I count on parent volunteers to help me keep my group sizes small, so I wanted them to have a comfortable place to work to make sure that they would keep coming back.  This put me on the floor (not a comfortable place for my creaky old bones).  I decided that this year I need to find the space for another student table (each table seats six kids) so I'm rearranging my room once again.  Here is a look at some areas of my room last year.  I'm scouring blogs looking for inspiration.  I'll post pictures of my new room set up later.

3 comments Back to School, Classroom Set Up, Organization