I have been blog stalking all summer long, looking for ideas for Daily 5. Many classrooms I came across have all kinds of fun, comfortable seating areas for students to read. I wanted to provide some more fun seating options for my kiddos during Daily 5 without breaking the bank. And then one of our 3rd grade teachers gave me this awesome idea! And it only cost about $6 a pop!
I bought a few baskets from Wal-Mart for about $3 each. I bought enough padding at Hancock for 4 seats ($12). I had some leftover fabric (free!) and my dad had some plywood in his shed (free!). My dad cut the plywood for me, but I found out that Lowe's will cut it to the correct size for free if you buy the wood from them! Have the wood cut so that it can sit inside the basket where you would normally hang folders. Hot glue the padding to the wood. Cover with fabric, and use a staple gun to secure the fabric. And voila! Cheap seating for your babies (or you!) plus extra storage! I am storing my kiddos' extra school supplies inside my seats. AND I use one of these seats at my easel! I love being that low and close to my kiddos! It is the perfect height for writing on my easel, too!
This is an idea I got when I was student teaching. I do not have cubbies to send my kids' papers home, and those things are expensive, and I do not know anyone who is into shelf building :) So I use cans instead of cubbies! They are the perfect size for papers!
This was a SUPER cheap project for me, and these things have lasted since I started teaching in 2007. I get a lot of compliments on them, too! I worked at a daycare before I started teaching, so I had the lunch staff save the large cans that fruit and veggies come in for me (you can have your cafeteria save them for you, too!) I made sure to put gobs of hot glue on the edges where the cans had been open so there would be no cut little fingers! I cut butcher paper to fit the size of the can. I used calendar numbers, then I laminated the sheets of paper. I hot glued the laminated papers at the seam, and bam! A cute, CHEAP way to send your kids' papers home :)
Hello, I saw a post on another blog about the Daily 5 for dummies. I would love to have a copy of that because I am just implementing it in my classroom. My email is sonyashaff@cox.net if you can help me out.
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