I Can Use That!
Posted by Amy Erickson on 20 Nov 2009 | Posted in: Organization and Supplies
The other day I was dying for a tall, cold glass of lemonade. (Okay, not actually dying, but I really wanted it.) I headed into my kitchen and prepared some lemonade mix. I was eager to quench my thirst, but I paused before I took the first sip. Something caught my attention: the plastic canister that the mix came in. Once I saw it empty, I realized there must be a perfect classroom use for it. It’s sturdy and tall and has rounded corners. I spent several minutes brainstorming ways I could use the canister in a classroom. To store game pieces? To hold math manipulatives? To organize center materials? The next thing I knew, I was wistfully thinking about the storage closet I had in my first-grade classroom. Over the years, I had stocked it with a generous supply of cardboard tubes, plastic containers, foam trays, and all kinds of things I could use for craft projects, games, and activities. To me, it was a gold mine of sorts. I wonder whether anyone else gets so excited about recycling things for classroom use.
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15 Responses to “I Can Use That!”
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More Comments Pages: « 1 [2] Show All Comments
Yes!! I am continually coming up with new ways to use recycled materials and it is a way to feed the artist in me as well as to make a hands on project for my children at school. Right now I am thinking of using all the paper towel rolls that my husband so kindly gives me ( he supports my creativity:) and I believe I will use them in the spring to make little trees. Just need a shoe box with a hole in the top to put the main tube (trunk) in and add some toilet tubes for the branches spliced on and held together with masking tape. Take to school and each child can paint their trees and when dry glue on crumpled up pink tissue paper for ornamental plum blossoms-we have two of these trees that bloom every year in the school yard.
This kind of work continually feeds my subconscious and shows up in my own art work which is kept fresh and alive. Yeah for our old hunting and gathering natures!-
I have also discovered how great the lemonade containers can be. I started saving them at the beginning of the summer to use in my preschool classroom this year. I use them to mix paint colors. I found myself washing out cups from mixing different colors for many projects. Now, I just put the lid on the container and it is ready to use again. I can add more paint to mix a different color or sand or glitter for something different. I don’t spend my time after school washing paint cups any more!
Yes, I am happy to hear I am not the only one constantly thinking of ways to save room and time with ways to stay organized. Being a preschool teacher, I came up with a way to keep each month or seasonal resourses together and easily at hand. I use old type (hard) suitcases to store each season of items needed. They slide into narrow storage areas and you can write on the outside the month and what is inside. This saves me so much time when I am looking for the next season’s materials. Books, topic games, pin ups, boarders, etc, all fit in just one roomy case. I did not buy new cases. I had one I never used and went to thrift stores and picked one up for $1.00. They are easy to find. Hope this helps others!