Hey everyone!
I am linking up today for Tara’s weekly Monday Made It!
I feel like my summer is slowly drifting away from me and I still have so much left to do! Thankfully today I got a few things done that I can share with you! One is a fun thing that I have been wanting to do for a while now and one is a very loooonnng (but colorful!) task that needed to be done for next year!
First, I saw this pin on Pinterest and knew I HAD to make one! I wish I knew who the original source was, but it doesn’t link back to a specific website. If you know who did it, please let me know!!
I like to have an area in my classroom with sharpened pencils, extra scissors, and other supplies that my students may need. Also, last year I had a small bucket for misc. items that students found on the floor (markers, pencils, erasers, etc.). I liked having a place for the found items, however it drove me crazy that they were all mixed together! This will be a perfect place for students to put those items for other students to use when they need them!
Here are the supplies I started with:
Lazy Susan: This is an old one that we used for several years and then decided we didn’t want it anymore! I think we originally bought it from IKEA. It was a little used, but I just sanded it down and painted it and it was as good as new!
Colorful Cups: I was SO excited when I saw these cups at Sears! I saw them earlier in the summer, but didn’t buy them, so when I went out shopping today I was really hoping that they would still be there, and they were! AND at 60% off! All of these cups (plus one more set) cost under $5!
White spray paint
I am so, so happy with how my supply caddy turned out and I can’t wait to use it in my classroom!!
My long task that I’ve been working on the past few days is typing up all of our vocabulary words for our word wall!
216 words total!
I color coded them all so that each unit has its own color, that way it will be easy to sort them at the end of the year! We will be putting them up on our word wall as we go so that my students can refer to them while we are working on vocabulary and writing! Also, my students love to point out when our vocabulary words come up throughout the year in other reading and writing that we do, and our vocabulary word wall is a great way to reference them!
I spend hours typing, cutting, backing with cardstock, cutting again, laminating, and then cutting a final time. So glad to finally be done and that they turned out so well!
Don’t you just love these long sheets of lamination?! I know I will be going back to Lakeshore many times before the year begins and bringing home many more sheets of this!
My last project that I made was actually for my husband for our anniversary! I have seen several of the “I love you because…” picture frame/dry erase boards on Pinterest and wanted to make one of my own! It was super simple and didn’t take a lot of time to make!
Then I found these adorable mini erasers at the Target Dollar Spot that are perfect for it!
I have been absolutely LOVING Tara’s Monday Made Its and all of the fabulous, inspiring ideas that everyone is posting! I know I will be spending this week checking out all of the neat projects to get more ideas for my own classroom… like I need more things to add to my list!!!
Everything looks great! I recently did the SAME thing with my vocabulary words. I went ahead and laminated the words for all 30 lessons. They took FOREVER to cut out, but I love knowing thats one less thing I have to worry about during the school year! =)
Ms. Smith
Adventures of Ms. Smith
I love the I love you because eraser board. I have been meaning to make one since I started pinterest forever ago. Yours turned out cute! Thanks for the reminder.
I love your supply caddy… it's such a cute idea!!!
Ashley
Fierce in Fourth
I am so impressed by your words for your word wall! How do you choose the words you will use?
We just created a new literacy curriculum for our district that aligns with CC and I have yet to finalize all of my literature lesson plans! I need to get started!
Jillian
LittleMissWhimsical.Blogspot.com
The supply caddy is so cute. Love it!
You don't do "Reading Streets" do you? I think this is a great idea and might go ahead and type up my vocab by unit as well!
Polka Dots and Teaching Tots
Hi there!
I hope you can join me in my first ever Linky Party on "Preparing for School" over at {6th Grade} All-Stars
Hope to see you there!
Mrs. Crouse 🙂
Your projects turned out so cute! Since your ideas were so inspiring, I'm hoping you can answer these questions when you have time:
1. The font you used for your word wall cards is absolutely adorable, what font is that?
2. Where did you buy that awesome turquoise flower on the "I love you" board?
🙂
Antonia @ forkin4th
rivas423@gmail.com
Which reading program do you use?
This all looks so great.
Layla
Fancy Free in Fourth
Wow this is adorable. I absolutely love the way that supply caddy looks! I also LOVE your words. Are they all for one subject? Or different subjects? You have officially inspired me to get to work on my words!
Mallory
I love your caddy!! I nominated you for an award, stop by and pick it up!
-Abby
Mrs. Saunders' Lovelies
The laminator at Lakeshore scares me… Is that weird?
Also, I've been searching the internet and can't find an answer. What do you use to secure your computer printouts to the cardstock wihout wrinkling either paper or cardstock?
Thanks!
Did you know you don't have to cut out the words on cardstock and then laminate and cut again? If you're using cardstock or construction paper, you can just laminate the whole sheet of paper and then cut it out. Because it is thicker paper, the lamination stays together. Just a tip in case you weren't aware. I didn't know this until last year.
Hi Molly,
I love all of your ideas!! You are so creative! I have a quick question for you about the color-coded vocabulary…where did you find/choose the fourth grade vocabulary words from? I teach fourth grade and I am struggling with developing grade appropriate vocabulary words since my school has begun using a new literacy program. If you could help me with this, I would really appreciate it! Thank You! Meghan
Hi Molly!
Love your blog! I'm new to fourth grade and have been gathering ideas all summer long. Question for you…where do you get your vocabulary words? As I type this I suspect you have a reading series or something. I'm in Canada and we don't have that but I'm trying to gather up some word wall ideas.
Thank you, Paula
Hi Meghan and Paula!
We use the Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary program at our school, which is where all of my vocab words come from! It's not connected to a reading series. Each student has a vocab workbook, and each unit is kicked off with a short, 2-page reading. A lot of the stories are non-fiction and actually really interesting! Everything from volcanoes to Greek myths! The vocab words are embedded in the reading, which we read on the day we introduce the words. I really like the vocab program, and my students enjoy it too. We also do fun things with the words, like come up with motions and sayings to help them remember the meanings. Wordly Wise is another similar vocab program and I know other 4th grade teachers who use it and love it! Hope that helps!
Molly