Crate Seats!

I saw these on someone's blog a while back and then later saw a different set on Pinterest! I had to make them! They definitely look like beginner's work, but they will do.  :-)

I got 3 crates from Wal-Mart for $3.50.  I went to Home Depot for the plywood.  I just bought a sheet and they cut it for me!  Be sure to take the crate in with you so they can measure it too!

I got the Spray Adhesive (a small one) from Wal-Mart for around $4.00.  I got the foam squares from Hobby Lobby and I thought they would be perfect!!  As you will see in the next picture, they didn't fit exactly like I planned.

See?  I bought one more square and I was able to add more foam to the ends to sort of even it out.

The finished product! :-)  I will be using them at my computer table (I have 3 computers) so hopefully they will work out!

Summer Projects Continued...

Every summer I take about a week or two and don't do anything but relax!!  After two weeks though, I start to get antsy.  I start working on new things for the next school year, coming up with things to make, and different ways to rearrange my room.  I go up to the school to feed our class pets, but end up doing a little work every time I go!  This summer, I started my projects off with my chairs.  They have been sanded, primed, and have a first coat on them.  I just gotta put on a 2nd coat and then the bees!  That'll keep me occupied for about....two days :-)

After stalking all of these great blogs out there I found some really great ideas!  These are two of the things I worked on tonight:

1. Sight Word Chants!
Kathleen over at Growing Kinders posted about these sight word chants.  You put the chant on a popsicle stick, stick them in a can or jar, and pull them out to practice spelling sight words!  These are excellent time fillers, and a great way to review! I had a Crystal Light packet can and they fit perfectly in there!  I'm out of ink at the moment, but as soon as I get some, I can make a cute label for it! They took a little while to make, but I know they will be totally worth it!

2. Highlighter Sticks!
I had heard of these before, but never really got to make them.  I used a clear subject divider, a little rubber cement, and a popsicle stick again!  They went into another Crystal Light container.  I'll be using these during small group and the kids can look for and highlight sight words in their books.  I got this idea from Mrs. Lee's Blog.

Other summer projects include:
Making Take-Home Book Bags
Making the Barrel of Monkeys Game
Making some card games (any suggestions?)
Making Vocab posters to be used in the writing center for each theme

And people just think teachers have a "3-Month Vacation"! HA! :-)

What are your summer projects?

Summer Projects

Along with this blog, I have spent the past few days sanding some chairs.  I use these chairs in my listening center and in my library.  When I first started teaching, my room was "themed" with all different kinds of bugs.  So my chairs were painted like lady bugs, bees, and butterflies.  Since then I have made my theme just Bees.  So, I am getting these chairs ready to repaint.  Let me tell you, sanding was hard work!  But, they are sanding, ready to be primed, and painted.  I will post pictures once they are completely finished, but here is a look at some sanded pics :-).  I can't find any before pics! If anybody has any painting tips I would love to hear them!! :-)

Not all of the paint will sand off, but it is all smooth enough to be painted!

Those ladybug ones had about 5 layers of paint on them!  Goodness!