Guess what was delivered to our lovely little classroom on Friday!
My kiddos were super excited to get them and they all wanted to put them on right away!
I am soooo happy with how they turned out!
We will be going on a field trip on Tuesday, and we will out be decked out with our fun new shirts!
They are from Whitney Daniels Designs and you can order them here!
Do you remember using paint sticks in the library back when we were kids?
Maybe your library still uses them! Well, my students worked really hard to put our fiction books in alphabetical order and I wanted to make sure that they stay that way. When students are looking for a good fit book and pull a book off the shelf, sometimes they don’t remember exactly where they got it from, and, let’s be honest, some of them just will not take the time to figure it out!
Enter. . . library sticks!
Of course I didn’t want to just have the plain boring paint sticks, so I glittered and colored them up a bit! I picked up free paint sticks from our local hardware store and drilled a hole in the end of them. Then I took them outside and sprayed them with glitter spray paint (the same spray paint I used for my book recommendation tree!) After both the front and back had dried, I sprayed them with glitter sealer spray paint so that the glitter would not come off! Then I tied some fun colored ribbons through the holes that I had drilled, making sure to leave a loop in the middle that I could hang them from!
Next, I needed a hook to hang them on, so I attached a Command strip to the side of my bookshelf.
Then I hung the library sticks up and showed the kids how to use them when they are looking for books! They have definitely helped keep our class library books in order and the kids love using them!
Love the shirts!! Where did you order them from and how long did it take to get them in? Thanks!
heathernnance@yahoo.com
Love the t-shirts and the library sticks!! Sooooo creative!!!
4th Grade Frolics
Love it Molly! Did you purchase the shirts yourself or did each kid purchase their own shirts?
~Lorraine
Fabulous 4th Grade
Our librarian uses the library sticks but they aren't as cool as yours! Lovvee the glitter and colorful ribbons!
Sara 馃檪
Smiling In Second Grade
Hi Molly!
I love the shirts! They are so cute. I love the glittery library sticks.
Krista
stellar-students
I love those shirts too! Maybe I'll get them made for next year since the minimum order is 15 and I only have 12 kids… haha!
I love your library sticks too!!
Marvelous Multiagers!
I LOVE those shirts and may have to do that next year. So cute! Did the kids design their own character?
I used to use library sticks, but I didn't teach my kids how to use them well enough and gave up. Now I want to make newer, prettier ones again for next year to try. Have you ever used booksource? It's an online database for your library for students to check out books. I just started it a few months ago, but I love it! My books don't walk away quite as quickly anymore.
Anyway, I'm your newest follower! Found you on Teaching Blog Central.
I would love to know more about booksource…
I am still trying to figure out a way to keep my books from walking away. This year they had a checkout system, but they had to keep the books in the room. While it worked this year, i know a lot of them would have liked to of taken them home to read that night. So I need something…
Hey Molly! I have the same question as Heather. I want to promote the shirts during parent teacher conferences. About how long did it take to receive the shirts ones the order was submitted?
-tania
Live, Love, Laugh in 2nd Grade
Heather and Tania,
I ordered the shirts from Whitney Daniels Designs and it took a few weeks to get in. If you call them they can give you an estimate… I think it depends on how many orders they are currently working on!
I am in love with those glittery sticks! My classroom library wouldn't benefit from them (the books are sorted into tubs), but I am totally racking my brain for another use!
The shirts are way cute too-another thing to think about! Thanks for sharing your ideas!
Aimee
Primarily Speaking
They look great!! Do you only have 14 students??
Well OMG I just found my new summer project… LOVE the glitter sticks… and I have an odd obsession with spray painting things lol!
鉂eri
A Cupcake for the Teacher
Super adorable! Thanks for sharing!
Those t-shirts are adorable! Thanks SO MUCH for posting those!!! 馃檪
Tracy
How do you only have 14 kids?? I teach 3rd grade and over 40 students! I need to move to your school!
Adorable shirts. I always dreamt of having my own customized shirt or even custom polo shirts with logo of me and my friends.
I can't believe I've never seen these! Thanks for sharing and we now have a new preschool t-shirt!
I made the glitter library sticks for my classroom library but used hot pink glitter spray and sprinkled hot pink glitter and it came out awesome. Thanks for the idea!
Did you use the small paint sticks or long ones? I can't get into my classroom because of summer school, but I have the longer paint sticks, you know the ones meant for the big buckets.
Last year I used rulers, but I found when we needed rulers in math many of them were in the bookshelves.
Oh, also, do you number them? Or I should say do you give your kids a number and that is the stick they should use? So only one book out at a time, or can they take however many they want as long as there is a stick in each books spot?
I did not know glitter sealer spray paint existed! Thanks for the great tips!