Late to the "Teacher Week" Party But Better Late Than Never!

PHEW!!  I survived and finished another first day in first grade today and it was a.....really.....long one.  All in all though it was fun to meet my new group of firsties and the day honestly went on off without a hitch!  

.....besides that one time before school when I left a trail of coffee down my dress....leg....and entire hallway.  But that seems to be a trend in my life so, hey, I'm not too surprised to have a stain on my clothes by 8am.  You live and you learn!  Or you don't learn.  And you keep spilling things.  Either way.

Anyways. I am finally linking up with Blog Hoppin' for Teacher Week!  I know, I know, I'm a little late to the party but I've been working non-stop!  All you amazing teacher bloggers blow my mind with your ability to teach at the hectic beginning of the year and still produce meaningful and inspiring blog posts.  I'm accepting any applications for teacher blogger mentors so please refrain from sending them all at once! :)

Today's Teacher Week topic is "Now Teach!" which seems only fitting with this being my first day back with the kids!  Quite honestly, I'm not entirely sure how I'm even mustering up the energy to craft this post.  I'm exhausted....and I'll probably go to bed sometime in the next hour or so and then cry a little (or a lot) when my alarm goes off tomorrow morning.  Same old, same old.

Anyways, I know I posted some classroom updates as I was setting up throughout the past couple weeks but I thought I'd post some finished product pictures that go along with today's topic of "Organizing for Instruction."

I think this picture of my library area is one of my most organized parts of my room.  I was never much of an "I'm crazy, OCD and obsessed with organizing" type of person until I got a classroom.  And here I am...being a crazy, OCD and obsessed with organizing type of person.  It's exhausting!  This year I hot glued these new library labels that I made onto my bins and I think they are going to be perfect!  In the past, I have taped the labels on with packing tape and it was MUCH more time consuming.

I fell victim to the amazing crate seat idea all over pinterest a couple years ago and they truly were one of my best classroom creations.  I don't have too much storage in my room and the amount of paper towels that comes flooding in with the kids and their supplies is....completely overwhelming.  I couldn't go through all of them even if I actively tried to use paper towels for everything.  Cue the crate seats!  These things have seriously saved my life (and my kids' lives because otherwise they would be forced to have paper towels in their backpacks, lockers, desks, for lunch, etc, etc...).

I posted this picture in my last blog post but I want to include it in this one too because I'm really happy with how I am storing my big books this year.  I stumbled upon the idea and just had to adapt it and use it for my own classroom.  

Another one of my organizational lifesavers was an idea sparked by my coworker and good friend.  This picture below shows some tables I bought from IKEA a few years back.  They usually house my student laptops, but the picture was taken before school started so the computers hadn't been whipped out quite yet!

So I started using these tables (which I absolutely love), but was constantly plagued with the headache of charger cords falling behind the tables and the kids crawling all over the ground trying to find them and ending up bumping their heads all while tangling up the cords.  Which naturally led to tears and trips to the nurse to get ice packs.  Need I say more?  Well, my coworker used these AWESOME wire holders from The Container Store.  See those little white things on the table?  Yep, keep looking.  Look closer.  Yeah, I know it's not the best picture but I don't have a close up one.  My chargers stay in place and the kids know where to put the laptops when they are finished.  Unfortunately, it doesn't look like The Container Store carries the same ones anymore, but these look similar!  

So that's that!  I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my tips and tricks for organization now that teaching has picked up again!

I do have one question for all you bloggy people, though.  I really want to post some pictures of my first couple of days soon and I currently don't have parent permission to post photos.  I'm in the process of drafting a contract to send home with the kids in hopes of obtaining permission but I'm not entirely sure where to start.  Has anybody used a permission form/contract that they were successful with and, if so, what are your tips?  If you are able to help at all I would greatly appreciate it!  Just shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment here!  Thanks! :)