Classroom DIY: Crate Seats

If you've been anywhere on the internet you know what a crate seat is... an ingenius combination of crate for storage and cushioned top for sitting.  They are a perfectly clever addition to the classroom.

Although I've always admired them, I never really had the need for these stools in my own classroom until recently.  Right before spring break my 4th grade students and I did a one week "trial" of flexible seating.  It was a wonderful way to see if flexible seating was going to be beneficial for my students and do-able for me.  For 5 days, we adjusted our tables so that we had 2 standing tables, 2 floor tables, a stool table, and a regular table and chairs.  Throughout the week, the stool table was by far the most popular!

At the end of the week, students wrote to me and shared their experience.  They also got a chance to privately vote on whether or not they wanted to keep flexible seating for the rest of the year. Overwhelmingly, students voted yes...  thus the need for crate seats!

This week was spring break for my school district, so I had a bit of time to take on a Classroom DIY project.  The Great Crate Seat Construction project was underway!  

I bought my crates from The Container Store.  They were $9.99 each, but are heavy duty.  I purchased a sheet of plywood from Home Depot for $19.  I love that Home Depot will cut the wood for you.  That really sped up this project!  I had the nice man at HD cut 14" x 14" squares for the seats.

 While I was searching for a heavy duty fabric to cover the seat cushions,  I came across this pattern.  It was love at first sight!  The fabric was a little spendy, but all I could think about was how much joy I would get by seeing those colors everyday.

I decided to buy the 2 in. thick cushion.  There were other choices that were much thinner, but I wanted to make sure my kiddos were comfortable sitting on these seats all day. I ended up having to piece together some of the foam because I didn't have enough for 6 complete squares.  I cut the pieces and, using some spray adhesive, attached them to the board.  Once the fabric was on you couldn't tell that it wasn't one complete square. Yay!  

  

 After layering the plywood, cushion, and fabric, I used a staple gun to attach the fabric to the wood.
 

Here is one of the finished cushions.  My technique improved after the first few. 

Once the fabric was attached, the hubby screwed a 12" x 12" square of wood to the back of the cushion.  My milk crates don't have an inner lip for the cushion to sit down in, so the cushions will sit on the outer rim of the crate.  This 12" x 12"  will keep the seat secure on the crate.  

 This pic shows how the seat fits on/in the crate.
 

Voila!  The finished crate seats!  A little pop of spring for my classroom!  They make my heart pitter patter a little bit.  

 

Here they are all stacked up and ready to take to school tomorrow!  Another Classroom DIY project completed!  

I hope you'll stop back by to check out my next blog post!  I'll be sharing my new classroom seating arrangement!  I've been working hard this week to get my classroom ready for our "Foray into Flexible Seating!" and am excited to share the process we went through, seating choices, and lots and lots of photos!  

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Another project I worked on and completed over my spring break is my seventh Word Problem of the Week set.  If you aren't familiar with this resource, it is a set of word problems that supports the teaching, development, and use of the 8 Mathematical Practices while also supporting 4th grade CCSS.

The resource includes a PDF and PowerPoint slideshow of 5 real world word stories/situations that connect to special days or events during the month.  Each story has 3 mathematical problems associated with it (each varying in difficulty and skill),  as well as an opportunity for students to "Critique the Reasoning of Others".  

 There is much more to this resources so, if you are interested, please click on the product cover above to take a look at the  complete product description, thumbnails, and preview!

If you are not yet following me on TpT, you are missing out on an opportunity to get my resources for 50% off!  All new products are 50% off for the first 48 hours!  You could also get access to follower-only-freebies in your TpT inbox when I send out special notes to my followers.  Click HERE to open my TpT store in a new window.  Click on the green *Follow Me tab under my store name, Literacy Loves Company.

Thank you for stopping by!  If you have an idea for another Classroom DIY project, one you've done or one you'd like to see done, please share it in the comment section!  Also, if you have ideas for my readers on how to improve the seat crate construction, please feel free to share that also!  I appreciate your comments and ideas!

Until next time,

Multiplication Ninjas

You know the look...  the look a student gives you after you've asked them what 3x4 is or 4x7...  that eyes-up-to-the-right, head-bobbing-count-in-your-head look.  We tell our students over and over again how IMPORTANT it is to learn their math facts.  How much EASIER multi-digit multiplication, division, and fractions will be if they just learn their times tables.  For most students, our supreme knowledge and crystal-ball insight doesn't inspire them.  I tell my students over and over again,  "Your times tables aren't just going to suddenly come to you.  Just because you are in fourth grade doesn't mean you will now magically know your 4's.  You have to study!"

So, what inspires students to study their facts?  In my own experience, the average 4th grader isn't inspired by the thought that it will make math-life easier.  They need a challenge. They need a little bit of healthy competition, they need a PRIZE!

I've seen a lot of multiplication motivators in my time.  The third grade team at my school does a great job of inspiring their students with a Multiplication Sundae Challenge.  For each level students pass they get a topping on an ice-cream sundae in June.  This is very inspiring to those 3rd graders!  I've done a solar system theme where students each have little rockets and travel from planet 2's to planet 3's and on.

All of these ideas have been great, but this year I decided to try something different.  To be honest, I wanted to inspire my kiddos in a way that was less messy than sundaes and took up less wall space than traveling in outer space.

So, I came up with Multiplication Ninjas!

THE SUPPLIES

The idea is pretty simple.  Students pass their 2's and 3's to get their Ninja, a Black Warrior pencil. (Get it.... Black Warrior?!  I thought I was being pretty clever.)

Once a student has their Ninja, they earn "belts" as they pass each level indicated on the Ninja poster. The belts are simply Loom Bands.

I bought a package of Loom Bands in each of the belt colors indicated on the poster.  I got them on Amazon.com for between $3 and $6 each.  There are 500 bands in each package, so they will last a very long time!

The belts go up through the 12's facts.  Once students pass their 12's they've earned all of their belts and their pencil.  If a student passes their 13's, they get the ultimate prize...  wait for it...

A HIGH FIVE ERASER!  What kids wouldn't want that!  Am I right?!

THE NINJA HOLDER

To make a ninja holder, my husband drilled holes in a 4 x 4 and I painted it.  I used white chalk marker to write the letters and then sprayed it to keep the chalk paint from smearing.

  

THE TESTS

Now, you may wonder how I test my student's facts and I have to be honest once again, I hate scoring multiplication quizzes.  So I asked myself, in this day and age, why on earth would I print a bunch of paper tests and spend hours scoring them...  We have TECHNOLOGY people!  This is where multiplication.com comes in.  

The website is free and easy to set up a class. Students have access to timed quizzes, games that help them practice, and videos that help them study.  That is only the tip of the iceberg.  I haven't even had time to play with all of the great features.  Right now I'm just happy that I can put students on an iPad and have them quickly take a timed quiz on the level they are at.  They get instant feedback and I can see which facts they know quickly, which facts they had to think about, and which facts they don't know.  It makes life a TON easier.  

To start Multiplication Ninja in your own classroom, I'm offering the poster for free in my TeachersPayTeachers shop.  Just click HERE to download it.   (If you download, please consider leaving a bit of positive feedback on the product at TpT.    :)  )

The poster comes in 4 pages.  To make the colors POP! I printed on photo paper.  I taped the pages together using double sided tape and Voila! 

I had thought about this idea for weeks and was super excited to share it with my students, but I wasn't certain if they would be as excited as I was.  My class did not disappoint!  They are such good sports.  I've had students wanting to stay in at recess to practice and take their tests.  It makes a teacher's heart happy.  

Today we had our second "belt ceremony".  I proudly announced the ninjas and the belts earned.  My students made ninja moves which brought applause from the audience.  It was great fun and inspirational for my other little soon-to-be ninjas!  

Do you have any great ideas for motivating your students to learn their math facts?  Please share them in the comments!  

Thank you for visiting!