Favorite Things: Classroom Edition!

I am pretty new to the blogging world, and I didn't realize how many wonderful teaching blogs are out there! I came across Babbling Abby today,and she has a great post link up for teachers to share their must haves. I thought I'd join the fun and share my must haves with all of you wonderful people! So, these are few of my favorite things. I kind of feel like Oprah, but without all the screaming and giveaways...

1. First and foremost, I have to have my Starbucks! You will see me with a very large coffee mug every morning!

2. Mavalus Tape and Magnet Tape. If you haven't used the Mavalus Tape, you should! It is "mavalus"! It keeps those anchor charts on the wall all year.

I LOVE magnet tape. I put magnets on everything!

3. Scholastic Word Families Song Book. My students can't get enough of this book. The songs are so cute, and we love singing songs to go with our phonics skill of the week!


4. Magic Wand. It's magical. I use this wand ALL the time. I use it as a signal to change centers, or just to get everyone's attention. It has such a pleasant little sound!


5. Cut outs. I love all kinds of cut outs! I have a huge box of bears, cupcakes, stars, owls, pumpkins, penguins, you name it. I love turning my cut outs into reading and math games, or using them to hang around the room with words on them for the kids to read.


6. Twistables colored pencils and crayons. These are the BEST coloring tools ever. I really wish everyone in my class could have them. Just think--no more crayon peels or broken pieces lying on the floor! I think they would last longer than plain crayons or colored pencils too.


7. Scrapbook paper. I love getting giant scrapbook paper packs. New paper makes everything more fun.

I Love Cute Fonts.

Okay, something you should know about me: I am a little obsessed with cute fonts. I wish everything I write could be written in "scrap swirl" or "doodle dots". A few of my teacher friends have asked me about the fonts I use, so I thought I'd share where I have gotten some of my favorites! Just add fonts to my growing list of favorite things.

A great site to find cute fonts and cute clip art is DJ Inkers.
I bought this font CD for $29.95, and have been very happy with it:
DJ Inkers also has single download fonts, so you can pick and choose some fun ones and it doesn't cost as much as the entire CD!

I have also just stumbled across the wonderful blog, Kevin and Amanda. Amanda is a southern "Martha-Stewarty" girl who has an entire list of scrapbooking fonts that you can download for free! Just warning you--you will need at least an hour or so to look around her amazing blog. Try to find photos of her scrapbooking room. It's pretty amazing. She is also the queen of organization! Unfortunately my house will probably never look as great as hers! Ha! My house may be a mess, but at least my classroom is organized!

The Perfect Pointers

One of my most popular activities at literacy stations is "read the room"! I like it because the kids are actively engaged in reading, there is always something new on the wall to read, and they are allowed to move around freely--which helps get those wiggles out. For "read the room", I store fun pointers in the metal bucket pictured above. The kids love picking out a special pointer, and I frequently add holiday themed pointers for some variety. To make your own pointers like these, visit Hobby Lobby or Michaels. Look for the painted wood pieces (only 67 cents!!!), and wooden dowel rods, add some hot glue, and you're all set!

Here are a few of the most popular pointers:

The Paper Mountain...

If you're a teacher, you most likely have stacks of papers everywhere. Your desk is a mountain of copies, things to be copied, plans, notes from home, turned in work, and work to be graded. My wonderful mentor teacher last year showed me her solution to organizing her week: labeled storage drawers. They are perfect for organizing the paper mountain! Each drawer is labeled with a day of the week, and in each drawer I keep copies for the day and/or things I need to copy that day, picture books I will use, notes to go home, and other random things that I will need to give out or complete. I just open up the drawer, and everything I need is right there!

Favorite Things

Emma and I made our daily trip to Wal-Mart yesterday...yes, we go daily. (When you have a baby, you realize that all of your money goes to Wal-Mart.) We had fun looking at all of the school and crafty supplies! I found these rockin' markers that I think would be awesome for my teacher friends to use with anchor charts, and for my first grade friends to use for fun projects! So what is my newest favorite? Project Poppers markers made by Elmers! It looks like there are only 4 markers, but they are double sided, so if you are writing with one color and wanted to switch colors, all you do is flip the marker. They can write in bold or fine print. Love them. They come in super fun colors too.