Classroom Must-Have: a Teacher Toolbox (or 2!)

As we begin a new school year, many of us are looking for something new that makes our teaching lives easier. A few of my fellow Tennessee bloggers have joined together to bring you some of our classroom must haves, just in time for Back to School! For a little added bonus, we are also offering one lucky reader a Winner's Choice item from each of our TPT stores, so don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter at the end of this post!

My Classroom Must-Have is defintely a Teacher Toolbox... or 2 of them! I first ran across the teacher toolbox idea on Pinterest a little over two years ago. I made my first one that summer, and have added a second this year.

If you aren't familiar with them, the teacher toolbox is just a hardware organizer that you can buy at Lowes, Home Depot, or even order on Amazon. We teachers are using them to store all kinds of things... most commonly those office supplies that clutter up your desk!

Of course, being teachers, we can't leave them ugly plain, so we all pretty them up in our own way! I spray painted this one turquoise, and used my Chevron label kit in it last year, but this year I changed it to my Perfect Patterns labels. (More about changing them in a minute.)

This one holds all of my brag tags for my fifth graders. I found it on Amazon, and it was already black, so I just went with it! You can find lots of different sizes & combinations of drawer types on Amazon now...woohoo!

In my opinion, the trick is to Mod Podge the labels onto the inside of the drawers. I did this last year with my Chevron labels, and when I wanted to switch them to match my Perfect Patterns classroom, they peeled right off! It was perfect! 

A little tip for you...if you have an inkjet printer, mod podge will smudge the ink. BUT... you can eliminate this problem by spraying the entire page with cheap aerosol hairspray before you mod podge!

I now have 20 different patterns in my TPT store, and they continue to be best sellers. Just for fun, I'm making my latest Teacher Toolbox Label Kit a flash freebie now through Wednesday, August 20th! Click the link below to see all of the options and download the freebie!

Hop over to my friends' pages to check out their Classroom Must-Haves! Then, be sure to enter our giveaway for a chance to win your choice of items from each of our stores!

           

Since this is a Made-It, I'm also linking up for Monday Made-It at 4th Grade Frolics!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Five for Friday! (Spring Break Edition) + Spring Cleaning Sale!!!

Well, it's here...the last day of Spring Break. I knew it would happen too fast! Here's what I've been up to this week:

I got five new TPT products posted this week: two sets of math task cards and three new Teacher Toolbox designs. And they're all only $2 each! Click the pictures to see them in my store.

First up: Evaluating Expressions Task Cards for Addition & Subtraction and Multiplication & Division. I specifically wanted them separated this way for when I introduce the skill, but I will likely be making a set of mixed operations to use for review also.

    

Second: New Teacher Toolboxes! My Teacher Toolbox labels have been my best sellers by far, so when a lovely teacher asked me to make some in college colors for her two daughters, I couldn't resist! Of course, I had to make some for *my* favorite team too! I'm not naming schools because, well, copyright and all. Can you figure them out? Guess all three in the comments, and I might just make your team for free!

            

Want labels to match your school or college colors? Just email me!

 

OMG!!! Sucked in! I started reading this at 5am because I couldn't fall back asleep after Hubs left for work, and I was finished before lunch. I'm exercising self control and not starting the second one until I've accomplished something today. :)

 

Last night, I went with a bunch of my teacher buds to see Wicked at TPAC in Nashville! LOVE, LOVE, LOVED IT! Seriously, if you get the chance, go!

We're having a BBQ at my house this afternoon for my husband's unit, so I am off to clean house and help him cook!

Meanwhile, I'm joining in on the Spring Cleaning Sale fun with Georgia Grown Kiddos. My entire store will be 15% off today through the 31st! Head over to her linky to see who else has their store on sale!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Monday Made-it! Teacher Toolbox re-do with Mod Podge

I'm linking up wtih 4th Grade Frolics for this week's Monday Made-It with a project I did a couple of weeks ago... my updated Teacher Toolbox!

I made my first Teacher Toolbox last year, and LOVED it! In fact, my first TPT product was the label set that I had created for my toolbox. I wish I knew who to credit with the original idea, but I have no idea (aside from that it was on Pinterest). The original directions I read said to use double sided tape to attach your labels inside the drawers, so that's what I did. It worked fine for a little while, but by the end of the year, my toolbox looked like this:

As you can see, the tape definitely lost its stickiness over the course of the year. One of my labels was actually lost!

I kept reading that people Mod Podged theirs on, but I was worried about the ink bleeding since I printed on my inkjet printer. A little internet research was all it took to find an easy, and FREE solution!

HAIRSPRAY! Yep, the solution was right on my bathroom counter. If you spray the entire page with a light coat of aerosol hairspray, it will seal in the color.

The rest of the process is really simple:

Cut out your labels, and get your Mod Podge and brushes together. I used an old envelope to paint on, since it was what I had handy.

I found that the trick is to use a thin, light coat of Mod Podge on each label. Then press it onto the inside of the drawer. Don't worry if it doesn't go on straight, you have a couple of minutes to reposition the label before it starts to dry.

I love how it turned out! Probably more than the original. And I'm so excited that I figured out how to mod podge over printed papers without ruining it!

If you like my Teacher Toolbox Labels, both of these and a dozen other color/pattern options are in my TPT Store. Click on the photo below!

 

Click here to see all my Teacher toolbox Designs!