Binders, binders and more binders

Ok, call me crazy, but I think the older I get, the more OCD I am becoming or maybe it's just that I like things to match and look nice. I take a lot of pride in my classroom and strive to make it comfortable and homey. 

So, binders don't exactly make my room homey and comfortable, but every time I sit down at my desk to start lesson planning and I see my random colored binders with an eclectic variety of inserts I can't stand it!! It always looks so disorganized and messy! So this summer I decided I was going to invest in all new MATCHING, BLACK binders (my boys have been teasing me about how everything I've bought for my classroom the past 2 years is black- but everything goes with black, right?!) I also decided that I was going to make matching binder covers and spines to match my dog-themed room as well. 

Look how nice they all look together? They're going to look fantastic on my bookshelf. They make me smile every time I look at them... it doesn't take much to make me happy! Hmmm... looking at the pic made my OCD kick back in, I think I'll have to put them in alphabetical order on my shelf as well. LOL

Now I just need to find some time to get into my room and redo my files. After umpteen years of teaching, many are getting pretty ratty and dog-eared. To my benefit, the file cabinet effectively hides them~ Out of sight, out of mind! I hate to hope for a rainy day, but I think that's what it's going to take to go in and tackle that job.

PAWSitively germ free

OK,  PAWSitively germ free might be a bit of an overstatement but anything I can do to help prevent the spread of germs is a good thing, especially with 17 little munchkins bopping around the room.

I simply created these cute little labels to match my dog themed room and then printed them out and used packaging tape to adhere them to bottles of hand sanitizer. (You can get a set from my TPT store here.) When my kiddos ask to use the bathroom, they grab the correct bottle and leave it at their desk. When they return, they take a quick squirt (a great way to double protect in case any of my little sweethearts forget to wash their hands when they are in the bathroom). This has also been a great way to manage bathroom visits during Daily 5 time. I keep the bottles near my reading table and if kiddos need to use the bathroom they simply check to see if they pass they need is available and then leave it at their desk. This way I can see who is sneaking out of leaving the room and with a quick glance at the tables I can see who is still gone. 

I've been using this idea in my classroom for a couple of years now and love it!! 

Birthday board

The countdown is on... T minus 4 days til teachers have to report back to school. Needless to say, I had to complete just one last craft project... I have just had so much fun crafting this summer. 

Not too long ago, I came across "Birthday boards" when I was surfing Pinterest. The ones I saw were mostly for families but with a little creativity I transformed mine into a classroom birthday board to match my decor. Here's how I did it:

Materials:
- 6" x 25" board
- 1 1/2" diameter wooden circles (12 + enough for your class and a few extras)
- Acrylic paint colors of your choice for board and lettering
- Black chalkboard paint for class circles (I bought a 4oz craft sized bottle)
- Alphabet stickers
- Modge Podge
- E6000 adhesive
- 9mm jump rings (enough for 2 per circle- not including months)
- 12 eye hooks
- 2 Sawtooth picture hangers (optional)

I started by painting my board black. I used a latex-based black paint (I had left over from painting my bookcases) and gave it several coats to get a nice dark black. To do the word, "Birthdays!" I used my computer and found a font that I liked and then printed it out so that it was 4" high by 22" wide. After printing it, I used sidewalk chalk to chalk the backside of the paper, blew off the excess, laid the paper on the board where I wanted it and then traced over the letters so the chalk outline was left on the board. This left a great outline for me to follow as I painted the letters and when all done, any extra was easily wiped away. I painted my letters with Apple Barrel white acrylic paint

Next, I painted  the front side only of 12 of my circles in the color scheme of my room. After giving them several coats of paint, I added the stickers for the monthly abbreviations. (Many of the boards I found online did just the first letter for the months but I wanted by kiddos to see the abbreviations. I then gave these 2 coats of Modge Podge to give them a glossy appearance and to protect the stickers. After everything was dry, I used E6000 to adhere my month circles to the board. The next day, I then sprayed the entire piece with a clear polyurethane to just give some added protection. You wouldn't have to do this but I felt that it gave a nice overall sheen to the board as well. I used a satin finish polyurethane. I also drilled 1/16th inch starter holes in the bottom of the board at this time to make screwing the eye hooks in easier.

With the remaining circles, I drilled 1/16th inch holes in the top and bottom. I painted them with black chalkboard paint I want an easy way to change names every year. I gave them several coats and did both front and back. After a little experimenting, I decided to use chalk markers to write my students' names. These work great, come off with water, and made it easier to fit the longer names and birthday dates on the circle. They also come in some fun colors- I of course, used neon colors. Last, I added the jump rings to the circles and attached them to the board. I happened to have some blue cording that I attached with hot glue that really made the board "POP!" and Ta Da!!! there you have it, a reusable, unique, classroom birthday board!

Depending on how you are going to hang it, you can add 2 sawtooth hangers to the back, staple ribbon or in my case, I am going to use Command Picture Hanging tabs since I have cinder block walls. If you haven't seen these they look similar to velcro and work like the command hooks with the removable tabs.

It's the little things...

Summer is definitely beginning to wind down; always a double-edged sword~ I'm excited to start back to school and meet my new class, see friends and colleagues and get back into a routine, but sad to see my family time take a hit and to not have the flexibility and time to continue doing all the little projects that this summer has brought. I have so enjoyed being crafty- something I haven't done on this scale since before I had my boys and I'll be sad to put it on a back burner again. 

That being said, I FINALLY finished my Pinterest-inspired project that I blogged about last month. It has taken that long for the ideas to percolate, but it was so worth the extra thinking time as I am beyond thrilled with how it turned out and it looks fantastic in my new and improved classroom, not to mention it is going to be totally functional and easy to use for both the kids and myself. Instead of doing numbers or names, I chose to use my students' pictures to make it easy for them and for me to see who is out of the room quickly. I felt this would also be helpful for a substitute teacher. It was easy to do, I simply printed off my kiddos' pictures and then used packaging tape to adhere them to a business card magnet which I then cut to size. I was able to get 3 per magnet. The cookie sheet is from the dollar store and I modge podged some of my fabric on to it and then used E6000 ( my new best crafting tool) to adhere the lime green ribbon to the fabric. I found out after lots of trial and error that painting these pans is a pain as the paint chips and/or scratches of easily so instead of painting, I used colored duck tape for the outside edges. I also used a bit of my fabric for the hanger and glued that on with a bit of E6000 as well. All in all (not including the percolating time) this project took about 2 hours to make. 

Check out the my mountain of baskets!  I also bought all new baskets for my classroom library. I have been wanting to do this for some time now but either couldn't find the right kind of baskets, the right color or they were just too darn expensive (especially when you have 80 different baskets!  Yes, I have an addiction to books!) Well I hit the jackpot and found the right ones, the right color and the price was perfect- 2 for a $1.00!!! Wahoo! I'm excited to take my cracked, hodge podged baskets and replace them, not to mention they match my new color scheme too. I was one happy camper yesterday as i went from Dollar General to Dollar General to get enough baskets. Doesn't take much to make a teacher happy!!!

I'll try to post pics later in the week of my completed room. I am sooooooo excited about how it is coming together and how all the colors and BB's flow together. 

More classroom decorating

Where does one stop? I am still having a blast making and revamping items in my classroom to go with the new pawprint theme/fabric.

Ever wonder what to do with Crystal Light containers? Well, I repurposed mine into pencil holders for each of my table teams. I started by cutting the containers down by about 2 inches so that smaller pencils won't get lost in them. I also kept the covers but cut the center section out of them so that I could glue them back on the top edge to avoid any sharp edges and to give them a more finished look. I used black Krylon paint for plastics to spray the lids so they would blend into the fabric better.  I then cut my fabric to fit the containers. I didn't want to deal with edges fraying easily so I cut the fabric extra long so I could fold it into the container which also gave a more finished looks. I then used Modge Podge to adhere the fabric onto the containers and over the top into the container. I gave the overlapping seam and the bottom edge and extra 2 coats for durability and to help prevent fraying. Once this dried, I used E6000 to attach the cut lids onto the top of the containers. These turned out awesome and will complement the colored caddies at the tables beautifully.

I'm now working on creating a "Where are you board similar to the one to the right that I found on the Diary of a Second Grade Teacher's blog. Being an inclusion classroom, there are always multiple students out of my room in multiple locations throughout the day. I needed a better way to know at a glance who was out of the room. I'm still in need of adding ribbon to separate the areas and to get the labels on but it's beginning to take shape. I went to the dollar store and purchased a cookie sheet and the Modge Podged my fabric to it (I'm beginning to love this stuff- I've never used it before but have come to find a gazillion uses for it!). I then added lime green Duck Tape to the edges to really make it pop. I'm excited to finish this up and to put it to use in my classroom this year. I think this is going to be a great management tool for me.

I did Modge Podge some fabric on a few shelves of my writing center. It really brought it back to life as it was a trash to treasure find last year. I wish I had thought to take a before and after picture. I'll post a pic once it's all set up. I still haven't tackled the curtains... maybe week after next. I need to finish getting ready for a couple of presentations coming up. 

One of my presentation topics is all about great apps for K-3 classrooms.  I'll be sure to post it here for all to see when it's finished. 90% of the apps are new from last year's so definitely something to take a peek at.

PAWSitively cool crate stools

So this is not a technology post at all but I am so excited about some of the projects I have been working on this summer to give my classroom decor a bit of a fresh look that I just had to  post about them. My classroom has had a dog theme (hence, the name of my blog, The Dog Blog )for many years now and although it changes every year I've been wanting a new twist for awhile... Well it's happening and I couldn't be more excited! 

I found this fantastic dog print fabric this summer which is absolutely perfect! With it's blend of primary and neon colors, I have lots of options for accessorizing.

My first DIY project was to make crate stools. I saw these on Pinterst last year and couldn't wait to make a set. I bought the crates last summer but didn't have time to do them and couldn't find any fabric that I liked. Fast forward to this summer and I'm ready to go.


My hubby was a big help and cut some left over plywood we had laying around to fit my crates. I decided to put my plywood on top of the crates rather than on the file folder ledges in hopes that they will last longer and be more durable. More on that later.

Last fall we put new carpet in our home and had left over carpet pad. Knowing I wanted to do these stools, I saved the pad to use for the stuffing. I figured it would wear well (it has a 15-25 year life expectancy- my stools may make it to retirement! Ha ha ha!!)  and be easier to clean in the case of spills or accidents. It also made it very easy to assemble as I could cut the pad to the exact size needed and it didn't slip around while putting the fabric on.

Next, I placed 2 carpet pads on a piece of plywood (I had plenty to use and wanted them to be extra thick)  and then cut my fabric to fit.  I then used my husband's hammer stapler to attach the fabric to the plywood. 

When I was done, my husband cut 4 more pieces of plywood approx. 1 1/2" x 5 inches long and then screwed them to the bottom of the seat. He placed these in just far enough (approx 1/2") from the edges to keep the seat from sliding around on the crate. I may paint the bottom yet (hindsight) so they look a little better, but I might just leave them like they are- who's going to see the bottom anyway? 


An Viola! The finished product! I absolutely LOVE how these turned out. I made 4 of them and am now debating if I want to place them around my room for Read to Someone/ Listen to Reading stations (I can keep my CD players inside of them!) or if I want to put them all at my guided reading table.

My next DIY project was to recover my lamp shades with my new fabric. I had 2 to do and they both turned out great! I wasn't crazy about the way the white base looked but when it sits on top of my writing table it actually looks really nice as it tones the area down a little bit.







Next, (yes, I went a little crazy with my new fabric and color scheme- I'm still pondering what else I can make) I redid my learning target frames. The picture doesn't do them justice as the colors and textures of the colored paper just pop on top of the paw fabric. I can't wait to use these this year to write my daily learning targets.







And last but not least, I recovered these cups that I got from Highlights magazine years ago. I love this picture as it truly shows the color of the fabric. I also made wiggle eye reading sticks to match my color scheme.

So those were last week's projects. I think this week I may tackle using some of my fabric to make curtains for my room and maybe modge podge some fabric on my writing center organizer which is looking mighty shabby. I think a little paw fabric would be PAWfect on it! 

I think my hubby and kids will be glad when the paw fabric is gone or when school starts and the paw fabric gets put away - whichever comes first.