My first two projects were from last summer. I saw the cutest fabric strip table skirt from Marsha at A Differentiated Kindergarten. She has an amazing tutorial that you should check out if you want to do one!

 I started out picking some cute fabrics from Hobby Lobby. These matched well with my newly covered teacher chair (coming up next!)

 I then used fabric scissors and cut the fabric in strips.

The fabric is then tied around a ribbon the length of the table you're covering.

Ta-da! Final product! Again, check out Marsha's tutorial for instructions.

Next up is a project that I blogged about here: my comfy, cozy teacher chair! I've now had this chair for a year, and it has held up perfectly!

Check out the blog post for specifics!

Now onto my current summer projects.

My first project of the summer was a new eraser storage organizer.

I love everything about Target erasers. It's a problem. My kiddos love using these seasonal erasers as manipulatives with our math centers. I started to realize I had WAY TOO many erasers, so I ordered this toolkit drawer system from Amazon. I sorted the erasers and then hot-glued one eraser on each drawer for easy access.

What I love the most is that I still have room for more erasers! Ha!

You can check out how we use these erasers here.

 I am all about a deal, and when I saw these ikea stools (6) on Craigslist for $20, I jumped on the deal. Of course, I couldn't just leave them the way they were!

A little light sanding, some spray paint from Target, and voila! I used trash bags around the legs to protect the legs from the paint.

 

I just love everything about them. They are super-sturdy, and those green handles...perfect. I use them for any and everything. Storing group markers, word work bins (the ones with the random play-doh in them), and now storing my seasonal books! (See #2)


Last year I started using these monthly drawers to store things: math tubs, décor, books, etc.


While reorganizing my library this summer, I started thinking about my holiday/seasonal books. I only take them out during that month (which frees up lots of space in my library AND gets the kids excited when the new books come out.) I like keep them separate, but my drawers were getting super-full.



It's not rocket-science, but it took me a few years to get this going! I keep it right next to my printer, and I can easily switch out paper when I need to.
I also wanted to share what I use in place of my filing cabinet. Now, this does not mean I've gotten rid of the cabinet yet, but it's on it's way out!



I keep a binder for my team and try to stick one copy of everything that we do in the binder (in order.) We meet weekly to plan our lessons, so I bring the binder to the meeting and we can go through and see what we did previously and make copies. I also try to keep my examples and books used. It is not a perfect system, but it's a little easier than pulling out files.


Now...my library. Whew! That was quite the task! I'd been looking for some labels for a while now and contemplated making my own, but then I saw these kindercraze labels and KNEW we were meant to be!






I was so pleased and ridiculously excited that the labels matched nicely with my new chalkboard alphabet décor! Love, love, love!

You may have noticed a tiny gap of space, and you may also be asking yourself..."Where are the random fiction books that don't fit into a theme?" Yes. Good question.