Hello from Louisiana

Hi everyone, I am Darleen from Third Grade Love. I am so excited to be guest blogging for these wonderful ladies.  I must admit that I am extremely a little nervous~~this is my first time!  I teach 3rd grade at a Catholic school. I am entering my 18th year of teaching and just love, love, love it!  I have been blogging for over a year and have learned so much through the process.  Meeting other wonderful teachers has been my favorite part!  But...Enough about me...I want to share some organizational tips and freebies with you!  I don't know about you...but I thrive on organization in my classroom.  I guess you can say I have a little OCD when it comes to my classroom.  Having things in the right spot or knowing where I can find a certain something helps my students as well as myself throughout the day.

In my classroom, I have some must-have needs~~group baskets (see picture below), sharpies (and lots of them), and labels.  I provide each group with a basket organizer for their supplies.  They can put whatever necessary school item in the basket.  Usually, the basket has glue sticks, pencils, markers, crayons, scissors, erasers, and sharpies.  For the past several years, each student had their own personal basket.  It worked out for a while until the basket became too full to hold what was needed.  This year I decided that each group would have one basket.  Along with the regular supplies, I will put a set of  Story Sticks, multiplication/division flash cards, and bathroom passes (one boy/girl for each group).  The sticks are used for retelling stories.  I thought this would be a great brain break activity.

I just love how the baskets came out.  They are so bright and cheery!  You can grab a copy of the group signs (HERE).

To help with my obsession, I created some chevron desk plates and labels.  You can grab your FREE copy (HERE).  In this pack, I've included 3 different colors~~pink, green, and purple.  I printed the labels on full sheet shipping labels then cut them apart.  They are the perfect size for cubbie baskets, library buckets, or just about anything you need a label on. 

I can't thank you enough for allowing me to share my ideas with you!  I had the best time!!  Thank you Stevi & Tamara~~you rock!!