Weekend Warriors: Pinspirational June- Classroom Style

I am so excited to be teaming up with some of my fabulous blogging friends to bring you a blog hop with incredible tips, tricks, and ideas the last weekend of each month! This month we are sharing inspirations from Pinterest to use in your classrooms and homes! Before I share some ideas, I have a confession....many of my ideas have been coming from Instagram. My posts this weekend will be a combination of Pinterest and Instagram inspiration.


I am always searching for new ways to organize myself and my classroom. Today, I am going to share some classroom organization ideas I found on Pinterest that I will be using this coming school year.
This is the first project I want to tackle once I can get back into my classroom. This brilliant idea of using ice bins from Walmart seems like a no-brainer to me! It looks so clean, organized and easy to use. I have NO idea how many I will need, but I am going to start stalking up! I wonder if they come in bright colors??? This picture is from Sara Ventrella of Miss V's Busy Bees.

this blog post has SO many tips for classroom library organization 
I also found this amazing blog post from the Kinder Craze Blog with a TON of great ideas of classroom library organization! I love the labels she used too! My main issue with my classroom library is it's size! It simply is not large enough to hold all my books. So, even though I LOVE the idea of using bins, I may only be able to use it for some of my collection. 

This idea is another life saver in my classroom. I took the idea from our own school library. The kids use "browsing sticks" when they are in the library. They hold the place of the book each student is reading. I would spend hours organizing my library. The next thing I knew, books would be shoved back into the shelves. They would get ruined and bent and my blood would boil. I had to come up with a way to help the kids keep the books organized. 
With the help of my mom, these little gems were created!

Materials needed:
-Wooden paint sticks (free at most home improvement stores)
-Spray paint of your color choice
-Decorative duck tape 
-Empty oatmeal container
-ribbon
-numbered circles

My dad drilled holes at one end of each paint stick for me. They we spray painted the sticks on both sides and sealed them with acrylic paint to give them some shine. While they were drying, we used the duck tape to decorate the empty oatmeal container. I also created and laminated the numbered circles (which can be found in my TPT store).  Then I hole punched each one at the top and tied it with ribbon to each stick. Ta-dah.....classroom library sticks to help my students stay organized!

My last tip was found on Instagram from Clutter Free Classroom.
I found these in the Target Dollar Bins this week. Now my sweet little kiddos will have adorable white board erasers. Brilliant, right? I will give each student one sock to use. No more shredded Kleenex, wasted wipes or paper towels. I can wash these babies throughout the year if needed and use them over and over again. I can't wait!

Now that you have a few new classroom organizational ideas, make sure to hop along and gather as many new tips and tricks as possible from my other blogging friends.

9 comments :

  1. Those socks are ADORABLE! What a great idea! I love the idea of the browsing sticks - it unnerves me to see books out of place. *sigh* #firstgradeteacherproblems

    Slainte,
    Molly
    Lucky to Be in First

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  2. OMGoodness I L.O.V.E. the socks!!! My kiddos bring in their own socks as part of their supply list, but I have several felt squares for people who lose their socks. I think I will be running to Target this afternoon to pick these up!!

    Pinning this for later... of course!
    Angela :)
    Hippo Hooray for Second Grade!

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  3. Jaime, those pink and blue socks are adorable!! I have to go hit my Target dollar spot and see if I can find any. Love it!

    Heather
    Second Grade Perks
    Follow me on Bloglovin'!

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  4. Those socks will be perfect! Great find! I'm going to have to stop by the Dollar Spot soon and snatch some of those up!

    Aimee
    Primarily Speaking

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  5. Those browsing sticks have been on my loooong to-do list too!! They came out super cute, friend!!
    -Aris
    Sailing into Second

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  6. I, too, have way too many books and my class library was constantly making me crazy! This year I'm tackling that.... one area has smaller books, in clear plastic, labeled shoes boxes, with the GR level on the front. Another area has different books, also in clear plastic shoe boxes, but sorted by AR Level and points. Finally, the actual library has books sorted by genre stored in heavy duty (read expensive) book tubs. No one area is too overwhelming or big and the color dot labels, AR and GR labels make them easy to sort. Oh, the ice bins? Pretty sure a little spray paint could make those very cheery :)

    Cori inTX

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  7. I've been thinking of buying some plastic book bins for my students' browsing boxes and now I might try ice bins instead. I remember seeing that at some point but has forgotten about it - so thank you! The socks are super cute too! :)

    Melissa
    First Grade Smiles

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  8. What a fun and full post Jaime. I love those socks...I saw the same ig post this week and now I for sure need those!
    Deirdre
    A Burst of First

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  9. I've been using my husband's holey socks for years! Drop the marker in it, so then they only have to grab 2 things (the white board, and the sock) while they are at the basket!

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