How to Hack your Classroom Seating:  Future You Will Thank You.

What do you do when you are a first year teacher of 500 students, 10 grade levels, and more than 23 homerooms?  Get crafty, of course. 

I bought multiple packs of colored circles in the clearance bin at Walmart.  Tip:  You can get great deals after Back to School season is over, or any holiday really.  Take advantage of the sales and squirrel things away for next year...that's how you furnish a classroom for cheap.   

These circles came from a welcome banner set, 24-pack, and are approximately 5-6 inches in diameter.  I think I spent $.25 a pack on clearance.  I had purchased a pack before clearance and they were around $4.99 for 24.

Laminate the circles BEFORE you write on them.  Sharpie comes off with alcohol and my internship teacher always had a spray bottle of it on hand.  Nail polish remover works well, too.

Punch a single hole in the top of the circle and put a colorful reinforcement circle around it.

Choose a color for each homeroom and write each student's name on it in order of your classroom roster.  Not only will your grades be easy to collect and alphabetize, it makes taking attendance much easier.

Each tag should have:

Student's First name (Middle)

Student's classroom number/seat/station (circled on the top)

Homeroom number or code on the bottom (makes it easier to find when flipping through students)

Here's the genius part.

Hang the circles on shower hooks (see photo below) 1 pack of 12 = $.99

Hang the hooks on Command Hooks ($4.99ish a pack?)

Watch how easy it is to teach students to flip to their name upon arrival or get their station ready for the next class.

Why is this beneficial?  This year I was a new teacher in a new school and I challenge myself from the very onset to learn each child's name as early as I can (ideally within the first or second time I see them).  It makes classroom management easier if I can call on students by name and it makes a HUGE difference in the amount of respect they feel from me if I have taken the time to learn their name.  The second piece is that in a world of similarly colored uniform tops (ours are red and white polos, but on PE days they're all in gray t-shirts) and similar hairstyles, most kids look the same from the back.  Now, if I am helping a student across the room, I can glance at a student's seat, notice their hand raised, and call their name correctly and quickly.  I am a visual person and all the little word cues around the room help both me and the kids.  It's genius.

I am a technology teacher and my students sit around the room in a U-shape, then a small island in the middle.  Not only has this been a practical time-saver, the circles have held up well and the students can help me take care of them!  Next year I can move the circle with the child's class or I can erase the circles and start again.  #omgenius

Kids Chalk Animals -- Create your own cartoon

Make your own animal outlines. Take pictures and write a simple story together (one sentence a picture) of their animals' adventures. Kids love this. Super cheap and super fun summer activity. 

Have your kid lay down (if you can catch them) and do a creative chalk drawing around their little body.  Have them contribute ideas.  Notice the grr on Anastasia's face.

Stella is a monster.  Fitting.

We made our collection into a nice "We love you, have a nice day, Aunt Kim" message for her to see as she pulls out of her garage.

How to help your child become a better reader

I know a lot of you have little little children, have children who are struggling reading or may plan to have children someday.   In the chance I can help you help your child I'm posting this so maybe you can have this knowledge early.  xo.


I am a teacher and a tutor. A lot of moms lately have asked me about help getting their children up to grade level in reading. Reading is a skill just like anything else and all kids need is breaking it down into easy to remember sounds (phonics), sight words (words that can't be sounded out but have to be memorized) and lots and lots of repetition...both with and without an adult.

Parents can do so much to establish good reading skills with their children. 

Three things I would recommend:

1. Leap Frog "Letter Factory" and other videos (a lot are already on Netflix) I'm not bragging, I'm just telling you this is possible if you start early:  My 5 year old knew 26 letters by sight at 18 months old.  She knew all of the phonics (letter sounds...the A says "ah" the B says "buh") by 2 years old.  It's not rocket science...it's repetition.

2. Free apps on your Droid, iPad, iPhone, etc.  Grade level appropriate apps are out there.  Again...some skills and things kids learn just require repetition (drill and practice).  If they can memorize characters from favorite shows or mascots from chain restaurants, why can't they remember what a D looks like?  They can!

3. Spending time with them.  If you don't know how to help them (if you're not a teacher), pick up a  program like Hooked on Phonics. Go to Christmas Tree Shops while you are out today and get 2 packets...each are $5 which is ridiculously low (I would have paid $50 for each of them) One breaks down reading and writing skills for toddlers and the other is for K-2.

Even if your kids are 3 grade and up, the building blocks of reading are the same.  If you help them become stronger readers they will have another tool in their success box to make it through the other levels of school.

Think about it. Did you ever go a day of school without reading?

Just wanted to throw it out there that you can do so much to help your child.
I want to put what I know to good use to help you help them for free! :)

Add on:

There are lists of sight words for each grade level (K teachers send them home) There are also flash cards you can buy or you can look up lists online that you can make your own flash cards out of. We used birthday and Christmas money we saved over a few years and bought our girls (3 and 5) $70 tablets (droid) There is a free app that locks everything out except for age appropriate learning and creative programs (you enter your child's birthday). The app on droid is called Zoodles. FREE. It also sends you a report each week to tell you how much time they spent on learning math, reading, etc. and sends you any pictures they draw on their tablet