Storage Crate Seating How-To

As many of you, I get a good deal of my inspiration from Pinterest.  I have been dying to try the storage crate seating for my classroom.  I have very minimal storage in my room and have a lot boxes stacked up around the edges of the room as a result.  It looks awful and has become a visual distraction to my students.

I gathered up all of my supplies and got started.  It took just a few hours to complete 6 crates from beginning to finish.

What you'll need:

• Milk Crates in your choice of color and size (I got mine from Target for $3.99 each)
• Plywood (You can cut this at home or ask someone at your local hardware store)
• Batting or some sort of filler/foam for the cushion
• Staple Gun/Staples
• Hammer
• Sharpie
• Scissors
• Cloth of your choice (I used pre-cut fabric squares from Joann's Fabric Store.  They were the perfect size for the crates that I picked.  They were 18x21 inches.)

Step One:  Measure the inside of the crate and cut your plywood to fit so that it sits on the inside lip (where the files would hang on the inside of the crate.)  My crate had slightly rounded edges so I cut the edges to match.  If you purchase the same size crate as I did, here are the cutting measurements (but I would double check to make sure it works for your individual brand of crates).  I purchased the storage crate from Target with the measurements of 15 and 5/8 x 13 and 3/4 x 10 and 1/2 inches.  After measuring the inside of the crate, the pieces of plywood needed to be cut to 14 and 5/8 inches x 12 and 7/8 inches. 

Step Two:  Unroll the batting.  I then folded it in half so that my seats had a little more cushioning.  I traced the plywood pieces onto my batting using the sharpie.  I was able to get all 6 pieces out of this one roll of batting.  I cut out the batting pieces on the inside of the sharpie line so that when I began stapling, the batting was only on the top of the plywood--none folding/spilling over the edges. This will be important for Step Three.

Step Three:  I laid down the fabric, good side towards the floor, put my batting piece in the middle, and then the plywood piece.  I started by stapling the long sides down first.  After this, I stapled the corners down like you would wrap a present. The staples did not go entirely into the plywood so I had to hammer many of them down.  You don't want any of those sticking out.  :)  Make sure that when you are stapling that the batting does not spill over the edges.  If it does, push it back onto the top or trim it.  If not, the seat might not fit into your crate anymore.

Step Four:  Place the finished seat into your crate.  I've seen a few crates on Pinterest that added a ribbon to act as a way to open the crate.  I chose not to add anything because I did not want my kids to have easy access to whatever I stored inside my crates.  To get the seat out of the crate, simply stick your fingers/hand in through the handle and push the seat upwards.

Enjoy!  I know that this will make my room more organized and I know the kids will love the new seating.  I think I will use them in my reading corner to store my books when they are not in rotation and give the kids some soft reading spots to use throughout the day.

Vocabulary Posters

I had the opportunity to teach summer school with a wonderful group of teachers again this summer.  It is at a different school than my own so it was fun to learn a different style of teaching and get to work with a new group of peers.  I wanted to share an idea that we used, and they use, throughout the school year. 

Our three weeks were centered around a science/social studies theme and we had 10 vocabulary words a week.  After the pre-test, we broke the students into 5 groups.  Each group was given one of the vocabulary words, written in the middle of their poster.  They used an iPad to do a Google search of images of their word (I would do this prior to the students to make sure that there were appropriate pictures).  After they found a picture they liked, they drew that picture in their section of the poster.  Then they wrote a sentence to go with it.  Myself and the other teachers would walk around the room and meet with each group to help them come up with a kid-friendly definition.  The kids had to do a lot of critical thinking to come up with a definition that fit and accurately portrayed their word.  This was written underneath the vocab word on their poster. It was fun to watch the kids collaborate and help each other creatively represent their word.

When everyone was finished, we all came together to present the posters.  We did the other five vocab words after lunch so that they had a chance to become an 'expert' on two of the words and listen to the other students communicate about their expertise.  The posters were hung around the room so that the kids could use them as a resource for the remainder of the week.  On the post-test, each student made growth, often going from a 20-30% average on the pre-test to an 87-100% average on the post-test. Yay!  ...and this activity used all 4 Cs.  Collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking.  Phew!

Stop and Go, a Punctuation Game

Last year, my students really struggled with using punctuation in their writing.   I came up with a game to help them learn about the difference between a period, question mark, and exclamation point.  It was fun, used kinestetic motions, and gave students a much needed brain break throughout our long afternoon.  The directions are below.  Please click on the punctuation cards (at the bottom) to download the entire file from my TPT store for free. -->

Stop and Go

This game is played similarly to Red Light, Green Light.

Directions:

Gather the students in your central meeting place. Discuss how periods, question marks, and exclamation points tell the reader what emotion to use when reading and help them know when to stop a sentence. Hold up the punctuation cards and demonstrate the motion to go with it.  Have the students mimic you and do a few practice rounds with the cards before playing the game.

Once they have practiced, have the students line up on one side of the classroom.  This game is played similarly to Red Light, Green Light.  If you don’t want the kids running across the room, talk about your expectations. J  I tell my students that they may walk once I have started reading the sentence (Green Light) and they have to stop immediately (Red Light) and do the motion once I hold up the punctuation sign. When they are ready, start by reading the first sentence.  End the sentence by holding up the correct punctuation card.  The students then have to stop and do the correct motion.  This helps the students begin to recognize the meaning behind each punctuation mark in a fun, kinesthetic way.  It can also serve as a quick, educational brain break in your classroom.

The ‘winner’ is the first one to get to the other side of the classroom.  The game can start over, the ‘winner’ can help with the sentences, the brain break can be over, etc. Do what works best for your schedule and purpose for the game.

Motions:

·      Period: Have the students stop and freeze in place.

·      Exclamation Point: Have the students stop and jump up and down in place as if they were excited.

·      Question Mark: Have the students stop and shrug their shoulders in a questioning pose.