Chair Pockets

Happy Summer everyone!

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted. I’m enjoying my summer up in Canada visiting my family. I have a few school projects I want to work on, but for the most part I am enjoying my vacation! My mom and I finished my first summer project: chair pockets. I have to give a shout out to Mrs. Merchant for introducing me to these. She made a few sets for the first grade to use the last few years. I have LOVED them. They help keep my class and kiddos clean and organized. My favorite. The ones I had started to get a little dingy and worn out (4 years and 85 kids later…) so I wanted to get new ones. Since I don’t sew AT ALL, I was just going to buy the ones from Really Good Stuff. I was going to save my summer money to pay the big $150 for a class set. Then my wonderful mother (who is an awesome seamstress) offered to help me make some. So long story short, for under $50 we have made some super cute chair pockets! If any of you are interested in making your own version, I tried to include a tutorial of how we did it for you. It’s hard to explain in words how to make something, so hopefully with the directions and pictures, you can figure it out. :)

First we bought 6 ½ yards of blue twill (54 inches wide), 1 yard of 8 gauge plastic (3/4 would have been plenty, but they were only sold by the yard), and matching thread.

We needed two sizes of the fabric – a small piece (10 inches tall 14 inches wide) and a large piece (21 inches tall 14 inches wide). This size fits perfectly over our little school chairs. I used the measurements of a Carson-Dellosa desk plate to decide how big to make the plastic name tag. We cut the plastic 10 inches by 4 inches. Once everything was cut, we taped the plastic pieces in the center of the small piece of fabric.

The plastic was the worst part. It moves around like crazy. We taped it down on all four sides, and then sewed around three sides using a zig zag stitch. A longer stitch seemed to help. It still wasn’t perfect.

Next, clean finish the top edge (the 14 inch side) however you want. We turned and zig zagged. Then, take the longer piece and clean finish the 14 inch end, as well.

Lay the shorter piece over the longer piece with the plastic on the inside. Line them up along the bottom, with the two finished edges face up (as in the second picture below).  Clean up the sides. 

Pull the longer piece down behind the shorter piece, about 3 ½ inches. Pin the sides.

Sew around the three open sides. Be careful not to sew over the folded side.

Miter the bottom two corners (or if you are a non sewer like me, basically cut them at an angle, but don’t cut over the sewn part).

Flip it right side out.

Iron the edges flat. Top stitch the final edges on the top sides.

Insert the super cute name tag of your choice, and voila!

Don't you love my homemade name tag and over sized chair?  :)  I don't have any of my school stuff here, but I'm going to order the frog ones I linked to at Carson-Dellosa above.  Just one more thing to add to my frog themed room... 

*I ended up with 28 completed pockets and a few scrap pieces*

If you have any questions or comments about the pockets, let me know.  Good luck if you try them! 

15

First Day

We made it through our first day of First Grade! As far as I know nobody was lost or hurt. I would say that is a great first day! The school doors opened at 8:15, and I was so glad to see so many parents come with their child's supplies. Our school day doesn't officially start until 8:45, so we were able to get a lot of supplies put away.

I like to be an organizational wizard. Take a look at some of our supplies.

I just love the way everything looks when it is in its place, with a beautiful label on it!

The play dough activity was successful, although it didn't last as long as I had hoped. There were still a couple children with supplies I put away later on in the day, in order to keep the attention of the rest of the class. For the activity, I gave each child a number and their name to make with the play dough. Then I had them make something to represent their favorite summer activity. One boy made a frog, because he found one in his yard this summer. I thought it went perfectly with our frog theme!

We learned our classroom rules. I learned about "Whole Brain Teaching" this summer, and really like their techniques. They incorporate a lot of actions and active participation. When we learned and discussed the rules, we also learned actions to them. Ask your child to show you them!

*Names were erased*

I use the stoplight to handle behaviors. Everyone starts on green. They move to yellow after a couple warnings. Then to red for a time out. We have a time out desk by my teacher desk. If a child gets there, they write a saying I have there about how following the rules is important. This helps keep them occupied and in a place with few distractions. As soon as I am able, I talk with them about the problem and discuss possible solutions. They are also able to move their pins back down, if they are really well-behaved for the rest of the day. This seems to work for most children. A few may need a modified behavior plan.

We played a short game to practice following directions (similar to Simon Says, but just saying what to do). We are still working on rule number 3! But we are definitely making progress! We learned a few of our classroom procedures. There are simply too many to teach in one day! We use a lot of sign language in our classroom, so I taught them our main signs for yes, no, bathroom, and drink. I find this cuts down on the interruptions in the classroom.

We read The Gingerbread Man and I brought ginger snaps as a morning snack. As I went to get the cookies, I discovered the Gingerbread Man had stolen them! He left a clue to help us find them. We went all around the school as we followed his tricky clues! Luckily, when we got back to our classroom, we found those delicious cookies!

In the afternoon, we learned all the songs and activities we do with the calendar. Then we practiced the number 1. A few lucky children even got to write their numbers on our brand new Smart Board!

We drew our self-portraits.

Can you find your child's?
(There are still a few who need to finish their pictures.)

We played "Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar?" to learn the names of the children in our classroom. One child got to choose someone to hide a cookie picture behind. Then we kept singing the song until we found who had it. This game was so much fun!

Our last activity of the day was the "School is Cool!" hat and necklace. The children strung fruit loops onto their necklaces. I took a picture of each one of them with their hat and necklace on to put in their first grade scrapbook. They looked so cute!

At the end of each day, we sing our goodbye song. It goes to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". We use sign language for this song, as well.

Take a bus or take a plane.
Take a boat or take a train.
Take a taxi. Take a car.
Maybe near or maybe far.
Take a rocket to the moon.
But be sure to come back soon!

All in all, it was a great day! I'm looking forward to tomorrow, but I am also looking forward to a good night's sleep!

4

eighteen25

I recently discovered eighteen25, and if you haven’t, go there now. They have so many cute and crafty ideas. I’ve already bookmarked several crafts I want to make from their website.

My favorites are:

This notebook (or several notebooks) for recording my teacher ideas, anecdotal records on children, conversations with parents, etc.

These “love notes” to write a personal message to each of my new first graders and sneak it into their folders to take home on the first day of school!

This “teacher’s treats” jar for m&ms, skittles, or something small like that. Once in a while I pass those out to children for participation, behavior, games, or just for fun!

But most of the time I save them for emergency chocolate breaks during recess or at the end of an especially difficult day!

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