Reading Focus Wall Idea

Hello sweet teacher friends!  Can't believe it has been nearly a month since I've blogged!  I know YOU know how it is when school starts!  We started back July 29th and the kids reported on August 5th.  I'm pleased to share I have 23 wonderful new 3rd graders!

Now, just because i haven't BLOGGED doesn't mean I haven't been still making STUFF!!

So, here's a few things I'm ready to share (or have taken pictures of!)  I"ve missed MANY weeks of Monday Made Its!!  So, I thought I's have one by myself.

I really loved seeing all these FUN teacher tool boxes!  It was on my "To-Do" list all summer.  The only thing stopping me was....actually going to Lowe's!  Well, I decided I was just too cheap to spend the money on something I wasn't sure I'd actually use.  Since I had some green spray paint left over from another project, I thought I'd update an OLD one!

I've had this one for a REALLY long time!  I really think it will hold just enough stuff that it'll test whether or not I'd use the cool one y'all have.  So after cleaning in up, I whipped out the spray paint.

This lime green paint was perfect!!  Wait til you see how I used THREE other cans!  But....that is for another week.  Deleted the pictures my accident.  :-(

So then, I measured and tested out the box sizes.  Then I filled them with them with the template from all of my classroom labels.

I debated on whether or not to laminate them.  I'm sure you can guess what I decided.... teachers laminate like men will duct tape it!

My test boxes printed PERFECTLY!  I guess saving it as a PDF did something to the sizing, and it turned out bigger.  So, I had to trim a lot!  Oh, well.  It's pretty cute.  And it's DONE!

I love how it PERFECTLY matches all the labels in my room!!!

Earlier in the summer, I shared my summer project for my classroom this fall:  creating Interactive Notebook pages and Focus Wall posters to coordinate with our Reading Street curriculum.  I've been frustrated by the things I WANTED to do in contrast with the things I was PROVIDED.  (or lack thereof).  If you missed that post, you can read it HERE.

Since I initially shared this on a Monday Made It, I wanted to share one of my weekly "Made Its" for my INBs.  The kids are loving them!  Sometimes we use the textbook...sometimes we don't.

In all honesty, I've never hit the ground running with INBs, even though I've used them for years. So, now.....

I precut them each week.  It is a time saver, and we can focus on the SKILL with less time cutting.   So, now, I leave a few ready on my paper cutter to trim when I have a few minutes...just to get ahead. If you uses INBs in your classroom, no matter the age, I HIGHLY recommend MAKING your MONDAYS a bit easier! 

In the same blog post or another one later on, I posted a picture of my Focus Wall posters. 

As much as I loved how they turned out, they really took a looong time to create.  Truthfully, I had kind of decided that maybe I wouldn't spend the time on it.  Then a sweet teacher asked when I would be putting mine up and said such wonderful things about MINE that I knew I needed to get back on track.  So.....YES, they still take quite a while to make. But.... YES, they are totally worth it in my room!!  Kids really have a focus to refer each week.  

You can't REALLY tell from this picture, but I am sliding them in sleeve protectors and stapling them from that.  It's not that I don't want them laminated!  I really wanted a better way to store them as soon as I'm done!

Keeping them in a binder is also a great way to refer to them later during my small group teaching.  All I have to do is open the binder COMPLETELY around.  I put the front and the back part in two sections of this little mail organizer.

This gives me a great hands-free display!!!  

Here are 2 of the 5 sets I have ready!  I am a working....working...working girl on these bad boys!!  If you are a Reading Street 3rd grade teacher, I'd love for you to check them out!  You can see all of my listings in my TpT store by clicking:  Debbi Watson's Focus Walls on Tpt

Well, that's it for this Monday!  Look for me this week as I guest blog on Teacher Deals and Dollar Steals!!