Operation Organization #1: Joann's/Dollar Tree Haul

I am BEYOND thrilled to announce that I have accepted my first full-time teaching position as a Second Grade Teacher! :) This is truly a dream come true and I am still waiting for someone to tell me they were just kidding and it's not really mine. Ha! 

Of course, one of the first things that popped into my head, when starting to brainstorm for next year, was my classroom theme. What color(s) did I want the room to be? What color(s) were already in the room that I would need to coordinate with? What am I drawn to? What would my kids be drawn to? What colors are calming? What do I already own that will help me to not go 100% broke before starting my job, but only 99% broke instead? 

My answer: Blues & Greens! I used a lot of blues and greens in my fourth grade classroom, so I already had a few different things I knew I could repurpose for my second grade room. I also happen to L.O.V.E. these colors together, AND it is proven that these are calming colors. 

Calmness = less behavior probs? Maybe? Hopefully? Alright. 

Anyways. I started going through all of my loot in my basement, I still have 2 other rooms filled with stuff. Ahhhh. I realized before I could really tackle anything else, I NEEDED bins and containers to help me organize all of my materials, books, games, etc, to see what I really had and what I would need to buy this summer. 

Here are some of the things I picked up at Joann's and Dollar Tree.

I also grabbed two of the items from Big Lots and Wal-Mart.

I was SUPER excited about this find!

I have been wanting a 10-drawer cart like this from Really Good Stuff forever, but at $95, I could never justify the purchase. Joann's does sell one of these, as well, but it is still $90 {right now, marked down to $49.99}. 

I found my cart at Big Lots for $28! Such a steal. The quality of the drawers is not AS great as the RGS cart, but for the price, I'm sure it'll work just fine. I plan to use the first 5 drawers for my M-F bins, and the last 5 for guided reading group materials or projects, etc.

Next up, I went to Dollar Tree to see what different storage solutions they had. While they have a large selection out right now with blue and green bins of all sizes, my particular store was running low on the sizes I was looking for, but I was able to find a few things.

I found these ADORABLE polka-dot paper lanterns that I plan on hanging in my reading nook. I have a few solid colored poms in blue and green that I will hang along with them in varying heights. 

Adorbs.

 These are a few of the different sized bins I was able to grab at Dollar Tree in my colors. 

I see these working well for centers/project organization, as well as Daily 5 storage.

Second Grade sight word cards from DT! 

I will laminate these so that they can be used {at least} throughout the whole year. 

I plan to store these in one of the smaller containers for students to use during Word Work.

*Containers for above-mentioned sight words. ;) 

These will also be used for math manipulatives and other supplies.

I was having a hard time finding the right size bin for my picture books, but came across the perfect size at Joann's! AND to make it better, all storage solutions were 50% knocking the price down on these. The original price for these bins was $5.99/bin, I got them for $2.99/bin. Yay! 

I plan to have a few bins out year-round with our "favorite picture books" or "favorite authors", but I will also have rotating seasonal bins that will contain different books for holidays, seasons, events, etc.

Unfortunately, these bins only came in white ... I'm debating using a spray paint made for plastic to change the color of the bins, but I haven't decided yet. 

I suppose I could have a couple of things that aren't blue or green, but it might drive me insane. :)

I found these two math items at Joann's in the teaching supplies section. There were a TON of items marked down on clearance, so I decided to browse and see if there were any second grade materials.

Money is a topic covered in second grade, so I picked up a Money BINGO game {on clearance for $2.97} and a money bulletin board set, that I will probably not put on a BB, but may use as a math center {on clearance for $0.97}.

{This is what happens when I try to get anything done around here ... such big helpers ...}

This isn't the cutest item in the world, but for $0.50, I grabbed this tooth chart, incase I don't end up making or finding something along the way this summer.

 I found these ADORABLE craft sticks at Joann's {$2.99/18 pc set, I used a coupon bringing them down to $2.00/set}. I plan to have my students decorate their person as one of our first day activities! These will be used throughout the year when we are not able to choose things fairly or friends are not participating. ;)

I also picked up this set of word tiles for $1.97. I thought these would make a cute Word Work center for Daily 5, tossing them in a little bin with directions on how to build sentences, etc.

This is the calendar set I ended up buying for my classroom this year. It's the "Dots on Turquoise Calendar Set" {available online here} I actually got my calendar set off of Amazon, I didn't know Joann's sold this, but I recommend grabbing it at Joann's where you can use a coupon! It's still pretty affordable at $11.99, even without a coupon. 

I'm bummed I paid $16 on Amazon!

I also grabbed 2 sets of bulletin board borders that were on clearance for $0.97/each. 

We will be doing 'Star Student' in second grade, so I thought these would be cute for the BB that will feature our special kiddo each week!

I picked up this deep turquoise rug at Wal-Mart for $29.99. I'm not positive if I'm keeping it or not, it's not very big and I'm not sure if I have a spot for it. I was thinking of putting it in my reading nook, but I'm not sure if the size is right for that either ... I guess we will see!

 Finally, I have these bins {from Dollar Tree like 2 years ago, given to me by a friend who updated her book boxes} that I plan to use for my Daily 5 book boxes. I am going to spray paint these with the Krylon Fusion plastic spray paint {unsure what color yet} and add a label to the front with my students' numbers, so they can be used year after year.

 I will keep you updated as I organize, decorate, and create lots of different things for my second grade classroom! :)

Happy Shopping! :)

- Kristen

June: Favorite Picture Books!

Can you believe it's almost the END of June?! (Can you also believe I'm still in school for 2 more days ... never-ending month!) As always, I have selected a few favorite picture books/nonfiction texts to share with all of you! Many of these books make great read-alouds, as well as being great recommendations for your kiddos to pick up during summer from their local library! :) 

Let's get started!

1. "Bad Kitty" by: Nick Bruel

Available on Amazon here.

This book is HILARIOUS, plain & simple. 

The kitty in this story starts getting angry at his owners for the types of food they are trying to feed him. He goes on a rampage through the house destroying everything in his path (listing the items in A-Z order), until his owners come home with something delicious. He quickly tries to make-up for what he's done so that he can get a treat.

Super cute read-aloud and a great book for kindergarteners on up. 

There are also mini chapter spin-off "Bad Kitty" books that are great for 2nd graders +. 

2. "National Geographic Readers" {Multiple Authors}

Available on Amazon here.

I cannot say enough great things about these "National Geographic Readers" for kids. 

They are AMAZING! 

As I've mentioned before, I'm not someone who is drawn to non-fiction, I would pick a fictional story any day, but these books are awesome. They are filled with great nonfiction text features in an accessible format for kids of all ages. Even for our youngest kiddos, they can browse and explore the different photographs throughout each book. These are filled with facts and would be a great addition to any age classroom. 

Imagine all of the FANTASTIC nonfiction projects you could do with these! The opportunities are endless. Highly, HIGHLY, recommend this series.

3. "Elephant and Piggie" Series by: Mo Willems

Available on Amazon here.

Can we just talk about how much I LOVE Mo Willems for one second? 

A LOT.

You may know him from one of my previously talked about favs, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" {mentioned here in my May Favorites post}.

These books are absolutely adorable and filled with simple, but effective illustrations to pair along with the text. "A Big Guy Took My Ball!" is one of my personal favs of the series, but I love them all. These are great for grades 1-3, but could be used as quick read-alouds for Pre-K/K students, as well. 

A co-worker of mine {1st grade teacher} had a student create her own Elephant & Piggie book after reading multiple books from the series at school, and using Mo Willems as a mentor author. 

How cool is that?! 

Definitely check this series out. Another hilarious set of books by my man, Mo.

4. "Scaredy Squirrel" by: Melanie Watt

Available on Amazon here.

My final favorite for the month of June has to be "Scaredy Squirrel" by Melanie Watts.

This book is hilarious for a number of reasons, the main one being that this squirrel is super paranoid about something bad happening to him if he leaves his tree. He goes through a number of 'plans' he has incase these different things happen to him, but finally decides to make a move one day.

Not only is this book an AWESOME read-aloud, it is also available on Tumble Books to watch! 

{So is one of the "Scaredy Squirrel" sequels}

There are a TON of "Scaredy Squirrel" picture books, if you find your students LOVE these books, you can fill-up a good section of your classroom library with them. 

If you have any books you think I should take a look at, please leave a comment below! :)

Happy Summer to all of my teacher friends out there!

Happy Reading!

- Kristen