Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Unconventional Organization & Giveaway Preview

No one that knows me personally will ever say that I am organized. It is not my gift. BUT . . . Somehow all of the things that need to be done, get done. But it happens in such away that any type A would have tied me down and done it themselves. What I do have is the inability to throw most things away. So I have to come up with purposes for these items so sometimes I give off the illusion that I am organized because I have things labeled.

Take my first example, here are two ways I use baby wipe containers. But really I was having a hard time throwing them away. (I tried to reuse tissue boxes too until my assistant last year pointed out to me that all of the sick kids gravitate towards the tissue box and you can't sanitize cardboard!)

 This is my favorite re-purposed item yet, although they were never something that I wanted to throw away. In fact the ever-generous Cassina from Field of Poppies gifted me with a bunch of these when I started teaching. Here is one way they are used in my classroom. I zip tied the two magazine files together to make a stable paper keeper! (Zip ties from the Dollar Store! Yeah seriously AND they are fun colors!)

The last thing I'm sharing is my version of a popular magnetic pocket that goes on the board and cost $1 million dollars. This is a divider that was doubling has a pocket in a notebook. I attached a magnet to it from Wal-Mart and WHAALAA! . . . a space to cram all the papery that I need while I'm at the board.  


And now what you have all been waiting for . . . here is a preview of what I will be giving away into the 100 Followers Giveaway that I am joining in with Krista over at The Second Grade Super Kids for. . . . there will also be more so check back tomorrow for the kick-off!! :) 

Also . . . I would love to hear about unconventional storage you use in your classroom? Am I the only one who does this?? I mean I even save large pretzel jars to use as centers . . . am I alone in this?


6 comments:

  1. One class I subbed for used old coolwhip containers for math manipulatives, yogurt containers and soup cans for paint brushes, and frozen dinner trays for paint/water and sorting.


    Journey of a Substitute Teacher

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  2. This is a hard question for a tracked out teacher!
    Can't wait for the giveaway :)
    Congrats on reaching your first bloggy milestone.

    My Second Sense

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  3. I bought Boy Scout popcorn from one of my students back in the fall and saved the tin because it was sort of cute and it was pretty big. I just repurposed it to hold rulers! I felt pretty good about myself after that, haha!!

    Marvelous Multiagers!

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  4. I don't have SUCH a hard time thowing things out, but I DO reuse some things for my classroom-- I have normal sized, plastic coffee cans to hold sharp and dull pencils, I have large, tin coffee cans to hold dry erase markers and my teacher supplies up by the document camera.

    I actually never thought of the baby wipe containers (I don't have any babies, so I don't come in contact much with those types of items!) BUT I could think of like 5 different ways to use them, now! Thanks for the cute post! Can't wait to the Giveaway!

    Jillian
    Just Tinkerin Around

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  5. Just found your blog-thanks for the great ideas! I used one of those large pretzel containers in my classroom. My students used to earn tickets for reading "the whole time" during readers workshop and they would put their tickets in the container. I would then raffle off a book once a month.

    Sara :)
    Smiling In Second Grade

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  6. You are not alone!! I may or may not have a whole cabinet in my kitchen full of empty plastic and glass containers waiting to be repuposed. I can't ever throw away plastic containers because they are SO useful at school. And I've been saying I'm going to make my own seasonings (taco and such) to cut down on sodium (found out I have high blood pressure, hmm...from the job maybe?) so I'm saving little glass jars for that. My husband thinks I'm crazy. I think most teachers are hoarders!
    F is For First Grade

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