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!  

Are Anchor Charts Weighing You down?

Hello.  My name is Tammy and I'm an Anchor Chart Addict.  Reading charts, writing charts, grammar charts, math, science, social studies...  you name it...  I've got an anchor chart for it! If you are like me, by the end of the year, you're drowning in a sea of chart paper!

Before I throw out the life preserver, here are a few anchor chart tidbits I'd like to share:

I'm artistic by nature and I think making anchor charts taps into that creativity.  Not only do anchor charts brighten my classroom, but they are also meaningful teaching and reference tools for my students.

I almost always make my anchor charts with my class.  I believe that there is more buy-in and ownership for the content if students are active participants in the creation of the charts.  When we make our anchor charts, I start with the title and design a border around the edge of the paper.  I read something, somewhere, a long time ago that said when you add a border, you keep your reader's eyes focused on the information within the frame.  If you don't have a border the eye may, more easily, drift from the page and we don't want that!

Colors are also important.  I don't pre-plan a color scheme, but that might be a good idea for the future.  I usually just pick colors I like, colors that fit my classroom, or colors of markers that actually have some ink in them (I need to get some new markers!).

My favorite markers for anchor charts are the Sharpie Flip Chart Markers.  They have a bullet tip and put out a lot of pigment onto the paper.  I also like Scentos markers because they... well...  smell good and in a fourth grade classroom, that means something!

In my classroom, anchor charts that are currently in use are pretty much displayed all around the room.  My math anchor charts are on the math wall.  My science or social studies charts are in that area of the room, and my ELA charts are on my ELA wall.  Charts that we are currently working on are usually displayed on our white board at the front of the room so that we can continue to add information to them.

Once an anchor chart is completed or we have moved on to another topic, I move that anchor chart to the reference section of our classroom.  The anchor charts are stacked and stapled, one on top of each other, but still accessible for my students.  It is not unheard of for a student to go to that wall and look through the anchor charts to find some tidbit of information that they need for an assignment or project.

Here are some other brilliant display ideas from Pinterest Pinners:

Needless to say, but by the end of the year, I have a ton of anchor charts to deal with.  I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of paper.  Since I prefer to make my anchor charts with my students, I usually end up recycling all of them.  The last year or so, I've gotten a little bit smarter and started taking pictures of the ones I'd like to repeat with my class the next year.  I save these photos in a file name Anchor Charts on my school computer so that I can reference them the next year.

I've also seen a lot of great storage ideas on Pinterest.  Here are a few smart storage suggestions:




Here are a few more of my MANY anchor charts:

I hope you found some great ideas for your classroom.  Thank you for visiting!

A Letter to the Invisible Teacher

Dear Invisible Teacher,

I'm sharing some honest talk with you today because I have something on my mind, but first let me tell you a story:

It is a bright spring day and I am standing in front of my math class teaching something really important, I'm sure. I hear a knock at my door and there stands three suit-and-tie, skirt-and-heels, smiling-stranger faces.  They come into my classroom and stand next to me and start addressing my students.  They tell them what a wonderful teacher I am and how happy they are to inform me and my students that I have been nominated for a local teaching award.  I am so surprised and a little teary eyed.  I happen to glance down at the paperwork Stranger #1 is holding in her hand as she is beaming at my class and there, in black and white, is another teacher's name.  Another teacher...  in my school...  with the same first name.  A lot of thoughts run through my head.  Oh my gosh!  This award isn't for me!  Do I tell her now, in front of my class?  Do I just not tell her and accept it and tell them later?  Do I wait until she is done and then privately explain to them as they leave?  

It sounds like one of those bad teacher dreams we all have before the first day of school, but in this case it wasn't a dream.  It really happened...  to me.

I turned to stranger #1 and said, "I'm sorry, but I have to interrupt.  I think you have the wrong teacher."  I explained what my name is and that the award was meant for someone else.  The Three Strangers were embarrassed. I was embarrassed. My students were confused.  I tried to laugh it off, but still, to this day about 10 years later, it hurts.   It was an awful, awful moment, that moment I went from feeling recognized and valued to being a mistake.

I bring this up now, because its award season.  Not just the Grammies and the Oscars and all those other Hollywood ones, but it is also the season of teacher awards.  National awards, state awards, and district awards.

Awards were announced at our school this week and, while I couldn't be more happy for the recipients at our school (They are totally deserving and amazing teachers!), it always brings back that moment when the award almost went to me.

I've been teaching for over 16 years and have never been formally recognized for my dedication and hard work.  I could go into all of the different reasons why I think I deserve an award, but that would be stupid because we all deserve an award.  There are millions of teachers in the world and we all work hard and give our hearts to our job and our students.  We don't choose this career for the accolades, which is a good thing because most of us will never get a plaque with our name inscribed on the front.

I wanted to share this with you, because as teachers, we can sometimes feel invisible in our own little classroom worlds.  Even though you are at school early.  You leave late.  You run after school clubs or sit on committees.  You take on more than your share of responsibility...  even though you care and cry for your students, it may feel like no one notices and when you start to feel like that, you start to lose your momentum, your fire, your passion for teaching.  You start to fade.

So how do you get your spark back?

Here are some ideas:

1.  Remember why you chose this career in the first place.   Find joy in your students.  Smile with them, laugh with them, play with them.  Venture out to recess and swing on the swings. Build bonds with these little treasures.  Their joy will rub off on you.

2.  Remember that you may not be the only one feeling invisible.  Spread some joy.  I plan on putting some cards in staff members' mailboxes, maybe buy coffee for my team, sneak heart sticky-note pads to staff members, anything that lets my colleagues know that they are seen and they are important to me.  Make other people feel noticed and they will spread the love.

3.  Remember that, in the end, this is just a job.  Put that bag of take-home-work aside and have some fun.   Build up your relationships with others and with yourself.  Go on a date with your significant other.  Ask a friend to go shopping and buy a new pair of shoes (that always brings me joy!)  Go see a movie by yourself. Take your dog for a walk.   Do things non-school related that bring you joy.

4.  Pursue your other interests.  Find another Tribe.  Take a class or join a club.  Sometimes it is nice to take the teacher hat off and just be the student.  Let someone else run the show.  Let someone give you positive feedback and tell you you're doing a great job.  I especially love taking art classes because, for the most part, you can be creative and there is no "wrong" way.  If you have a hobby or another interest, find people who share that interest.  Cultivate relationships in that circle by participating in events, Facebook groups, conferences, and get-togethers.  A couple of years ago I started creating and selling resources on TeacherPayTeachers.  Now, every time a buyer leaves comments on a product letting me know that I saved them time, helped them teach a difficult concept, or made learning engaging for their students its like getting a little award and my light shines a little brighter.

And last but not least...
5.  Have your own awards ceremony.  On that terrible day, so long ago,  I tried to laugh it off, but my students must have known how disappointed I was.  Later they gave me cards with their own versions of the award drawn on the front.  The words written inside were kind and compassionate. I keep a stash of cards and notes from former students and families.  I get them out every now and then and read them.  They are uplifting and funny, and fill my heart with joy and my eyes with tears.  They remind me that I matter to who matters most.

So, Dear Teacher, during this awards season remember that you may not get the trophy, but you've already won the prize.  You are loved by your students and cared for by your colleagues.  You are not invisible. And when you start to feel yourself fade, shine a light on yourself and be your own biggest cheerleader!

With Joy and Love,

Interested in DIY gifts for colleagues and friends?  Check out my Pinterest board:

What I've Learned: Quick and Easy Square Product Covers

Hello and welcome to Literacy Loves Company blog!  I wanted to take a moment to share with you a little bit of what I have learned as a TpT seller.  When I first started on TpT a little over 2 years ago, I didn't know a thing.  It was SCARY!  I felt like I had great ideas for resources, but I had no idea how to make a product, handle copyright, clip art, use PowerPoint....  the list of what I didn't know is endless.

Over this two years I have learned so much and I learned it from fellow TpT'ers and bloggers.  I read, watched videos, tried and failed many times and, in the end, I feel like I have learned more in the last 2 years than I have learned in the 10 years before that.

Because other sellers have been so helpful to me, I thought I would branch out and share a little bit of what I have learned in this TpT and blogging journey.  For my first video (Yikes!) , I'm sharing with you how I quickly and easily make square product covers for my TpT products.  After watching the video, please leave your own tips and trick in the comment section!  We can all learn from each other.

(This is all a learning process for me, so I'm trying to figure out why the video is blurry. Eeek!  You can watch a much crisper version by clicking HERE.  It will take you to Youtube.)

I hope the video was helpful!  If you have questions or would like me to make other short videos on TpT topics, please let me know in the comments.

As the video indicated, click HERE for a free download of not 2...  but 6 free borders (3 matching pairs)!  If you like the borders, please take a moment to leave feedback for the product on TpT.

Free from Peek-a-Boo Borders!

Free from Dot-Dash & Swirl Border Set!

Free from Cozy Corner border set!  

If you are interested in the full border sets, you can click on them here:

Thank you for visiting Literacy Loves Company!  I hope you will take a moment to follow me here, on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram where I share classroom ideas for lesson, organization, and management!

Until next time...