Cubby Storage

As I enter my 13th year of teaching, I am finding myself more limited by restrictions as to what I can and can't do.  Many of the "fun" things I have done in the past are no longer fit our daily lesson expectations.  This has left me feeling less creativity and excited about my teaching.  That in turn made me feel like I had nothing worthwhile to blog about.  I realize that maybe if I strive to find the things I can still do, it will bring my enthusiasm back.  Blogging about my ideas will help me look for those things.

So without further ado, I thought I would shown some Dollar Tree and Target finds for organization.  I have these cubby spaces above my students coat hooks.  In the past, I had cheap plastic tubs from Walmart in these but they only went partially up for height.  I wanted the nice collapsible cloth containers but at $5 a pop, there was no way that was happening with 26 cubbies to fill.

While browsing at Dollar Tree, I found these in the Spring that are finally full size.  At only $1, this was definitely my sign!  When I got mine they only had blue, orange, green, and pink (and some tan and grey).  So I stocked up on those colors.  Now they appear to have more colors....online at least!

Then I needed a way to label them because I am very OCD and can't handle it to NOT be labeled.  I tried my normal labels and taping them on.  Fortunately they kept falling off.  I thought about pinning them on but didn't love that idea.  When perusing the "Dollar Spot" at Target, I found these mini clothespin chalkboard tags.  It took me a couple of tries at a couple of Targets to find enough but I was finally successful. (I added the UPC in case that helps you track them down.)

Using a Silver Sharpie, I added the names to the chalkboards and viola!  I am happy with how my new cubby area looks and it was much cheaper than it would have been in the past!