My goal for the summer was to relax, refresh, and rejuvenate, and boy did I need it!
Although the time went by much too fast……. Mission accomplished!
Here’s a look at some things I did to freshen up my classroom. I first need to tell you that
my room has had a split personality for a couple of years. I’ve always had a red, white and
black themed classroom. When I began teaching second grade I moved into a room with a
bright blue wall. EVERY shade of blue is my FAVORITE but it didn’t really go with anything
I had in my classroom! It’s taken me a couple of years to finally replace the last of the red
and I’m still working on a few little things…priorities right?
With the help of a little spray paint, duct tape and LOTS of new labels I’ve almost completed
the switcheroo!
I spray painted some of my book tubs and found the rest of these baskets
at Big Lots. Our past summer cleaning crews have had a real knack for breaking
things, especially bookshelves! I finally caved and bought these metal
shelves at Target. They’re super sturdy and as a fun little bonus, the zig zag pattern
on the front kind of matches my chevron borders.
I updated my word wall and daily schedule with these ADORABLE labels from
Ladybug’s Teacher Files. I LOVE her design and color sense and how clean and clear all of her labels are!
You can find them {HERE} and {HERE}
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| Ladybug’s Teacher Files |
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| Ladybug’s Teacher Files |
Here’s how I used them…
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| Labels: Ladybug’s Teacher Files Flag graphic Krista Wallden Creative Clips |
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| Graphic: Ashley Hughes Font: Kevin and Amanda |
Here’s the start of my math wall…
I’m in the process of updating a lot of my math and ELA visuals and reference charts to match
my new colors. Rather than remaking them I used a little duct tape to cover the red! I found this
polka dot duct tape at Big Lots.
I did have to remake the ‘standard form’ chart because somehow it disappeared! How does that happen?
I’m now a little duct tape happy after seeing these on Pinterest! Laura from First Grade Spies
has a fun blog post on how she used duct tape to pretty up all sorts of things!
Stay tuned! I have a ton of these frosting containers!
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| Pinterest via First Grade Spies |
I had a lot of great finds and accumulated quite a pile by the end of the summer!
I found these goodies at Target:
I removed the staples and cut apart the pages of the wipe clean books so I could use them in my math stations and I was so excited to find turquoise pocket charts!
Every year I head to Lakeshore to stock up on people colors construction paper.
While at the I Teach K and Differentiated Instruction conferences this summer I added to my dice
collection!
My kiddos love these books! I first found them two years ago at the DI conference and stopped by her booth again this year hoping for some new ones. These were created by high school teacher, Carolyn DeMoss, looking for a creative way for her kids to practice math skills. You can check out Carolyn’s website {HERE}
Well, I’m off to plan! We actually started school last week and I have all sorts of things to
show you but first things first, right?
Have a great week friends!
I love your new library area with the book tubs. They look very cute! Looks like you got a lot of cool things this summer. Love the dice!
Resource Room Rules
Your classroom looks great, Linda! I love all of the blue and green! 🙂
Kate
EduKate and Inspire
Your classroom looks amazing! I love all of the green and blue! Happy back to school! 🙂
Soaring Through Second
I love your room! Blue and green is my color scheme too! I need those blue and green labels ASAP! Thanks for sharing!
The Polished Teacher
Looks so good! I don't know what I'd do without spray paint and duct tape. Thanks for the idea of just covering the border of a poster instead of redoing the whole thing.
Hi Jacqui! I made the mistake of putting one of the bookshelves together at home and now I can't fit it in my car! Ha!
I hope you had a great summer!
It looks great, Linda! I love the blue/green combo!
Aimee
Primarily Speaking
I love the colors — and just how creative you were with reusing your resources. I am horrible, I would have thrown everything out (or used it at home) and started over…that is why I go through so much money in my classroom!! Everything you made is so cute!!!
Bobbi
Bitty Bilinguals
Great ideas!!!!!! Thanks for sharing them. Your classroom looks fantastic. I love how "green" you were in reusing so much – I try to recycle everything I can.
Cindy
Granny Goes to School
Hi! I just love this and actually ran to Target and bought these metal shelves. Do you know where you found your book bins on the middle shelf? I can't seem to find the right size to fit three across. Thanks!
Yes, I originally bought the tubs on the middle shelf at Wal-Mart. They were white dish pans that I spray painted. I bought mine years ago but they do still have them for 97 cents! I recently saw them in the section where they sell dish drying racks. I hope this helps!
Oh Linda, thank you for such a sweet shout out! I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that you like the labels 🙂 🙂
I LOVED reading about your room makeover, you were so smart about updating everything and the colors are gorgeous!! This makes me want to go back to blue and green, your room looks so calm and coordinated!
Happy new school year!!
I LOVE your classroom. Can you please share with me where you found your math and ELA visuals and reference charts. I would love to have something like that for my classroom.
Hi Taunya! Most of my charts I've either made myself depending on what I'm teaching or purchased on TPT. I usually always include printable reference charts in my units on TPT and I know others do, too.
I hope this helps and you have a fantastic new school year!
You're so very welcome Kristen! I just love your work and am keeping my fingers crossed that you have more blue and green sets coming! LOVE them!
What paint did you use?? I thought I bought the same kind in the picture but it scratched off the plastic baskets I wanted to spray…
Hi Chelsea, I used Valspar spray paint and put 3 light coats on. I let the tubs dry and "cure" for a few days before I used them.
You might try a coat of Kilz first if your baskets aren't taking the paint well.
Love your baskets! I'm in the process of spray painting my filing cabinet. My color scheme is similar to yours and I found that perfect aqua can one day too late! 🙁 Still, white will look better with my walls than the depressing grey that it used to be.
I have those baskets too! They are so useful!! My library consists of some dollar store bins and some Lakeshore bins. I was thinking of painting the Lakeshore ones, but wasn't sure how it would work. Your buckets look beautiful and you are giving me the courage to try it 🙂
Maribel
I have those same bins and I was wondering how much of the spray paint it takes to paint them. I would love to do that to mine this summer.
Did you book bins start to scratch off after a while,or did the Spray paint hold up?
Check out Dollar Tree for teaching supplies and posters!
I wondered how your bins that you spray painted held up as well?
I am also interested in how your bins have held up.
OK I got the courage to spray my baskets bought Valspar for plastic and two days later it is brushing off. What did I miss? I am so bummed they were the perfect ever so soft light blue. Hmmm I am going to let them sit one more day just in case.
I would also like to know if the paint held up.