Day Four of Summer Bloggin' Linky--Tried and True Thursday & Throwback Thursday!

Linking up with The Teaching Tribune and 2nd Grade Shenanigans today!

Wanted to share this throwback post from last summer---it was a Made-It Monday post.  In the post I shared three things that I made last summer and they worked fabulously.  I will be reusing the word wall header, refurbishing the caddies with fresh ribbon, and heading out soon to get some pizza boxes from 'The Hut'.  Tried & True they are...

******Originally Posted Monday, August 5, 2013 ******

Mondays have just been flying by, it seems--time for another Monday Made It with 4th Grade Frolics...

Word Wall Header

Well, back in the classroom work time has come for Courtney and I! We both will be using a paper plate word wall header this year.  Mine is rainbow colored, and hers is yellow to match her classroom color scheme.  Feel free to download--rainbow or yellow!

Supply Caddies Finished!

   
I finished my supply caddies yesterday--finally!  I adore how they turned out--rainbow colored, of course.  Kept it simple with a knot at the top instead of a bow. Then I attached a circle number to each side (group numbers).  We have mentioned these caddies before when sharing a favorite pin, so check out the original post by Anna at Life...As I Know It.  

Adventure Awaits!: Suitcase Writing Portfolio

I mentioned this made-it last Friday, but wanted to include it today because it truly is a made-it. I loved designing and making this suitcase writing portfolio, and I hope that my students have as much fun making theirs as I did! Here's a little background that I shared earlier...

When I was student teaching first grade many moons ago (20 years ago now), we used a simple pizza box to store student writing portfolios. For the many years since then, I have used various other systems with older students—-binders, folders, files in crates, etc.  When I switched grade levels a couple of years ago (2nd grade), I began to think back to my earliest days of using a pizza box.  The boxes worked well because students were able to collect entries of all sizes, the boxes were easy to access in the classroom, and writings were taken home in a secure container at the end of the year. I decided to start using pizza boxes again—so I have created this fun way of decorating a pizza box into a suitcase.  Writing is truly an adventure for the kids throughout the year! You can learn more in my TpT store...

Back to school is just around the corner for us, so we hope to be sharing some pics of our classrooms sometime soon...

***************End of Throwback Post****************

Throwback made-it UPDATE...

Word Wall Header:  The plates actually stayed stuck to the wall ALL school year (in fact, they are still up there).  Yellow words are related to math, green are contractions, and red starred words are homophones.  The kids used the word wall all the time. One day, early in the year, a student took a word off the wall and took it to her desk to make sure she had used it correctly (magnetic words).  After that, others began to follow suite--this was helpful for a few kids who had trouble transferring the word from the wall to the paper.  Movable, magnetic words were also great when working on alphabetical order as a class. We could simply grab a small group of words off the wall, put them in order to the side of the word wall, and return them when finished.

Desk Caddies:  I cannot say enough how well these little caddies worked!  They held up well throughout the year to house community pencils, crayons, glue sticks, big erasers, and each student's scissors.  Even though I will be refurbishing the ribbon and reusing the caddies, I found a few of the caddies on clearance at Walmart last winter and snatched them up.  Hope they bring back some black ones this fall because I will buy MORE (Hobby Lobby carries some colored ones all year round)!  I cannot imagine a school year without them (and I plan on teaching for quite a few more years...). :0)

Suitcase Portfolios:  What a keepsake these became!  The kids were thrilled to take their suitcases home at the end of the year filled with writing goodies.  They were also perfect for display at open house.  Many parents commented on how nice it would be to have all of their child's writing together at the end of the year. Large items? No Problem!

Now, fly on over to check out more Tried & Trues and Throwback Thursdays!

BUT DON"T FORGET! Our bran-new blog is up and running---Adventures in Guided Math!  We hope you will take the time to check it out, become an adventurer (follower), and enter to win one of our fabulous prize packages! You may enter to win through Friday, July 4th!

Enjoy your Thursday!