Anyways, today I worked on getting my table organization materials ready to go to school. Last year, I numbered my tables 1-6 and then at each of the four seats around each table, I put a different shape. My intentions were that when clean up came around, I would say, "All the squares, put the supplies away. All the circles, collect papers at your table..." etc. That never really seemed to work for me, particularly because the kids kept picking the shapes off the edge of the tables and I couldn't keep up with putting them back on!
After visiting Mrs. C's blog Rainbow Skies and Dragonflies and seeing her table labels, I'm going to try her technique this year! I decided to color code my tables to the colors of the rainbow instead of numbers this year. I would really like to hang these from the ceiling, but my district is really strict about not being able to hang stuff from the ceiling. I'm actually really surprised they let me stack papers and left-behind art projects on top of my tall cupboards!
Anyways, last week I went to target and bought table totes. It was my intentions at the end of last year to use these to hand out supplies rather than handing out pencils, erasers, etc. separately. Not sure why I didn't think of it sooner...I think it's because that's the system the previous teacher used. Well, target only had three colors of these totes left: orange, red and green. So, I bought two of each and was going to number them 1-6...but I knew that if I was going to color code all my tables, this would confuse the kids, so today, I broke down and drove into town to spend $30 on spray paint.
Ugh! I should have driven the 40 minutes to Lowes where it would have been cheaper, but instead I drove the 10 minutes to the local Ace and bought red, orange, yellow, green and blue spray paint. No one seems to have purple! Here are my totes in the process of being sprayed!
I had to get a little creative with the purple since I couldn't seem to find the purple spray paint locally. (If I'd have wasted the gas to Lowes, I probably would have found it!) I sprayed light coats of red and blue alternately. It looks good from far away, but up close you can see that I had to use the two different colors. I just need to get over my OCD about that and leave it before that tote has 20 layers of paint on it! I think I'm going to add white polk-a-dots or something to these to dress them up a bit.
After letting those dry, I worked on creating the table labels. I decided to continue with the paint palette theme I seem to have going this year (my Artist of the Week display). I plan to laminate these so that they can't have any water damage. I'm unsure if I will use duct tape or clear packing tape. Anyone know which works better?
I use palette table labels as well. I wrote numbers on top of the paint blobs to denote their table number. Then each number had a job. Even with just one thing on the table, they still picked them off. I laminated and used clear contact paper. I did the same thing again this year, but I made them smaller. Hoping they won't be messed with as much. Also, I have a few different totes for supplies. I couldn't get the full assortment in each, so I put a colored crayon the same as their table on the totes. They still know which one is for their table that way. Looks good. I can't believe that you have a month to go! We start Monday!
ReplyDeleteLast year I tried the contact paper as well and that came off real easy, especially when they just wiped the tables down. I plan on putting glue, scissors, pencils, erasers and pencil sharpeners in these totes. I use supply boxes for crayons as well. Though, now that I'm thinking about it, I don't have the right colors of those for my color coded tables this year either, so I may have to spray them as well! I bought 18 of those slim pencil boxes that button shut at the top, so I plan to use those for the pencils and then I will put colored pencils and sharpies in those as well, that way whenever we use those supplies, I can easily pass those out real quick.
DeleteI have accepted that the kids will always pick at whatever I put on the table. I used tie-dye patterned packing tape that I found at Wal-Mart. We'll see if it lasts or I need to resort to duct tape. Half the time there are supplies or painting placemats covering the table. Time will tell...
ReplyDeleteMy tables were color coded. At first, I had laminated circles or circles covered with clear vinyl contact paper in the centers, but they were problematic. They showed up on student artwork (unplanned texture rubbings) and sprung loose when we washed the tables. They did not last well. So in the end I made a circular stencil and spray painted the color circles on the middles of the tables. They've lasted for 3 years and counting. How would you use duct tape?
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of getting the cool decorated duct tape and just taping around the edges flat onto the tables...The stencil idea sounds really good, but I don't think my district would go for it! :( This year was the FIRST year anyone was allowed to paint a mural directly on the wall, they won't let me hang anything from the ceiling (even if it's for 1-2 days for the art show to display art) and they won't let me paint my door with chalkboard paint. They are overly paranoid about the fire hazards of everything...
DeleteSame in my district. They are sooo strict with building and fire codes the past couple of years! I used to be able to hang things from the ceiling and display artwork all over. Now I am restricted to certain sections of the wall and building. We have the 8blocks/4blocks rule. I can cover up to 8 continuous blocks with art work and then have to have a 4 block break in between. The other school is even stricter(the fire marshall hates us there) One of the classroom teachers had a disagreement with him one inspection over the cornstalks and Fall decorations that were decorating the downstairs hallway. ( small town-they know each other and don't see eye to eye)we got fined that year.
DeleteWow! I haven't quite decided who are the sticklers on the fire code in my district...the custodians or the actual fire marshal! Last year when he came into school to check all the rooms out, I asked him if it was okay to stack my reams of paper on top of my tall cupboards because I couldn't fit them inside. Oh yeah, sure, he said, as long as they don't touch the ceiling. I even had a Glade plug-in plugged into my wall and he glanced right over that. A few days later, the custodians left me a note saying the plug-in was a fire hazard and I couldn't have it plugged into the outlet unless I unplugged it every night before I left! It's no wonder art teachers have to be creative!
DeleteI covered my table labels with clear packing tape (they were laminated too) and they held up pretty well all year. I replaced a few strips of tape when they were ratty but not bad! I used premade ones I found at Staples for Bulletin boards but I like your better!
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