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First with Franklin

Sunday, July 22, 2012

My students eat crayons!

Well,  at least that is the only explanation I can come up.  I always keep baskets of extra crayons on a shelf so that students can borrow what they need instead of asking me for them.  In past years I have keep the extra crayons separated by color families like reds, blues, greens, etc.  Like this:


This works okay, but when I ask students to use a red crayon sometimes they color it red violet or some other reddish color. 
That.
Makes.
Me.
Crazy.

I know it seems silly, but on our math tests sometimes I ask students to color one shape green and something else yellow and they grab a yellow green crayon for both.  So when I grade it I'm thinking  "what is that supposed to be?  Surely my little darling did it correctly and just thought they were using two different colors, right?  Right.  Well...."  And it goes on and on.  Maybe I'm too picky, or nuts, but I can't stand it. 
Anyways, back the story.  I decided to sort out the ACTUAL colors into smaller containers.  So, only "red", not scarlett, red violet (or violet red- seriously, is crayola trying to make teachers go crazy?)  This is what I ended up with:


So, obviously, the only logical explanation is that my students eat crayons.  
Okay, maybe not, but geeezzzz!  What am going to do now?  Two black crayons and some little brown fragments.  Do I buy the cheap packs of 24 crayons for the 7 or 8 colors I need or buy the more expensive 8 packs. Bummer.  I decided to leave them on the floor of my classroom and decided what to do another day.
******************************
I did manage to get some other things accomplished today.  Here is what I did to my white board today.  The Rockstar section will have a cutout (maybe guitars or stars, I haven't decided) with each students name.  This is where they will start each morning. 
Our school-wide behavior program has paws that students start with and they lose if they make unfortunate decisions during the day.  At the end of each quarter, we have a party for students that have enough paws left.  That is what the paws lost section will be used for- students will have to move their paws into the corresponding box when they lose paws.  I also made a box for the date and day of the week, obviously.  
I used the decorative tape I got from Walmart (for $.88) to make the boxes and then cut out the words with my silhouette machine.  I'm really happy with how it turned out, except I think I might make the "paws lost" bigger, but maybe not.  

Oh yeah, and see the border?  I put magnets on the back of it so that I can easily move it or take it off. 


Here is my headphone storage idea.  I was going wait to blog about this until it was finished, but I won't be able to finish it up until I get pictures of my kiddos, and I thought someone might want to do something similar before school starts.  I use my Silhouette machine to cut out iPod shapes (because we're rockstars, remember?) and I plan to put a picture of each child inside of the rectangle and then laminate them.  I bought magnetic chip clips at the Dollar Tree to hang them.  Students will drape their earbuds over the clip to keep them tangle-free.  Last year, I was ready to pull my hair out because every time students got out their earbuds they were a tangled mess.  And guess who got to do the untangling??? 

I'm really hoping this will keep them accessible an ready to use at all times.  They are on the side of my filing cabinet- I put some on each side.  

Do you have a brilliant idea for headphone storage?  I would love to know how others stay organized.
************************
I also want to say a big THANKS to Courtney from Teaching in Paradise for my prize.  I won her 100 follower giveaway and it came today!  I was so excited to get some mail.  Thanks again, Courtney, and congrats on 100 followers!
I don't know why it is sideways.  I give up. 
Have a great evening!


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26 comments:

  1. Ha! The title of your post cracked me up! I feel the same way about my students with pencils. Although they do eat the pencils... well the erasers of the pencils. I love what you did with the border around your whiteboard. I need to do something like that with my board. :)
    Lisa
    Learning Is Something to Treasure

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They do love erasers... gross, huh?
      I kept seeing the magnetic ones on Pinterest, but I couldn't find a print that matched my theme, so I decided to just do it myself.
      Thanks for stopping by!
      Erin

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  2. Your whiteboard looks so cute! I'm afraid to put tape on my whiteboard because I feel like I wil mess it up. Any tips to make it straight and nice?

    Adventures in Room 5

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    Replies
    1. The tape that I used was actually really forgiving. I took it off a couple of times and it still stuck to the board. I eyeballed most of it, but I did measure a little bit. It isn't perfect, but I think it turned out pretty good!
      Thanks for stopping by!
      Erin

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  3. I agree!! I love your board!! Super, super cute! I'm your newest follower!!

    I hope you'll stop by my blog sometime!!

    Kristen
    A Day in First Grade

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I thought it turned out pretty cute!
      I'm following you now, too! :)

      Delete
  4. Hi Erin,
    You whiteboard looks great! I want to do the same thing to my whiteboard, but they are going up for the first time this year and I'm not sure exactly how they will be put up...but I love your idea! I'm looking forward to sharing ideas with you and the other newbies this year!
    Corinna :)
    Teaching Fabulous Firsties!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks- it didn't take too long so maybe you can still get it done.
      I'm following your blog, too! Thanks so much for stopping by!

      Delete
  5. Oh my gosh! I totally just sorted all of my crayons too! My kiddo's favorite flavors are red, green and black! There has to be somewhere out there where we can buy a package of just one color...I'm on the hunt for that today! Love your headphone storage and magnetic border too...how clever!

    A Pirates Life for Us

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, favorite "flavors"... too funny! I found a website once upon a time where I could do that, but now I can't remember what it was called. Did you happen to find it?
      Thanks for the compliments and for stopping by! I'm following your blog now! Don't forget to "Like" First with Franklin on Facebook!

      Delete
    2. Hey Erin!
      Here's what I've found so far:
      http://www2.crayola.com/canwehelp/contact/faq_view.cfm?id=173

      Maybe Amazon??

      I might just suck it up and purchase directly from Crayola! :)

      Jenn

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  6. I love that neon zebra border! I'm gonna have to go get that!! :) Crayons are the bane of my teacher existence...inevitably, one table will have 50 reds and no blues...I have no idea how it happens. Great idea to do this!

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    Replies
    1. I love the border, too! So cute and colorful.
      We ALWAYS seem to run out of browns! Thanks for stopping by- don't forget to "Like" my blog on Facebook! :)

      Delete
  7. Congratulations winner of the Liebster Blog!! :) Head over to my blog to get it!
    mysillyfirsties.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. We have a massive box of crayons. I'm tempted to separate them like you did. I send them to the box for any colors they are missing, but then I hear, "Look! I found a gold!" or some other cool crayon color that doesn't come in the standard 24-pack. Maybe if they were separated, they would become less distracted. (Ha ha...)

    Angi
    ★ First-Graders from Outer Space ★

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh boy- I'm glad I only have 24 packs!!! I can't imagine if we had gold or silver! lol
      The first time I separated the crayons, I actually let my students who finished quickly take turns separating the crayons. It took them a few days to finish it, but it was worth it!
      I'm so glad you visited my blog- don't forget to "like" my Facebook page! I'm following your blog now, too! :)

      Delete
  9. I always love reading your posts . . . and today is NO different! That crayon thing drives me crazy too. I get so sick of saying, "No, sweetie . . . that's not green." It's confusing as all get out. Great idea to sort them out . . . simple but effective. Your magnet border idea is great too. So glad I popped in today :)

    Kelley Dolling
    Teacher Idea Factory

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    Replies
    1. Awww, that's so sweet- thanks!
      The first time I separated the crayons, I actually let my students who finished quickly take turns separating the crayons. It took them a few days to finish it, but it was worth it!
      I saw the magnetic border link on Pinterest, but I decided I could just do it myself.
      Thanks for visiting- please be sure to "Like" my Facebook page, too!

      Delete
  10. I use the circle magnets on the back of my border on my whiteboard, once I did this it was like a lightbulb.....of course my walmart didn't have any today when I looked....OY....Now I have K-3 labs, what I did is printed labels slapped them on ziploc bag. Then Each class has their own $ tree basket. Ummm we had an outbreak of head things and so it kept everyone's separate. I also got a quilt rack, and gallon bags, and the plastic hanger attachments (clothes pins with hanger top on it) and put them on rack. IT worked too! But again I have about 100 kids I see during a week for labs. Thought I'd share.

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    1. That sounds like a great solution for so many headphones! I think the ziplock bags might have worked better if I kept them, but I had my students keep them in their own tub. Thanks for stopping by, please remember to like my Facebook page! :)

      Delete
  11. Haha, love this post! I have decided that my school must have a troll that likes to eat brown crayons because no one ever has a brown!

    ✪Crystal✪
    Strive to Sparkle

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    Replies
    1. Ahhh... maybe it is a troll! haha
      Last year, our browns were so scarce that I would let them color pennies red... LOL
      Please don't forget to "like" my Facebook page! :)

      Delete
  12. You made me chuckle! I totally know what you mean about not having the exact color-violet red drives me CRAZY! ;) You have super cute great idea! I just found you through the Newbie Blog Hop! I am your newest follower! I am looking forward to following you. Come visit soon...

    Julie
    http://msshopesclass.blogspot.com/

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  13. I feel the exact same way about the crayons and all! We usually ask for 2 packs of crayons. We would specify the 8 pack of crayons b/c it drove me crazy when they brought those 24 boxes and had 2 pinks, 3 reds, etc. They never knew what to do. Anyway, this year we asked for 4 boxes of crayola crayons-I know....sounds petty, but the cheaper ones don't last and show up. I have decided if they bring in the 24 boxes to take out the colors they will need and send the others home with a note for them to keep at home for homework. Glad Farley sent me over!

    kellybrown28021@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete