Day 5... Bean Bags and Pringles

I am trying to get this post done (before midnight!), but I keep falling asleep on my keyboard... which results in the post looking like this: uyrsfnvjchfvdavscfw!

We worked for hours in the crazy heat at my school today. It was at least ninety degrees in my classroom for much of the day and not a hint of a breeze...

Still, I accomplished almost everything on my list and I only have a few things to wrap up tomorrow in order to be ready for kids. Alas, my grand library re-do may need to wait a week or two. I am hoping to involve the kids in the set-up, but I had wanted to clean out a few bins and make some new labels before they stepped into the process. At least I cleared everything off of their desks so that they will have a place to sit!

Yesterday I talked about the bean-less bags that kids use in my classroom during independent reading. I love them--they look like giant Skittles. Or they used to. They weren't meant to be bean-less, but plenty of use had left them... ummmm... deflated!

As I mentioned yesterday, I found some beanbag refills at WalMart that came in these semi-giant bags. They took up a lot of space in my living room and I kept catching the collection out of the corner of my eye and thinking that someone had mistakenly dropped off a toddler at our house. No... Just a big bag of Styrofoam beans (Four to be exact!)

In the comments section under this product on WalMart's site, someone had posted a nifty little trick. It was such a great idea, I just had to pass it along...

Refilling beanbags requires some pre-planning. If those little styrobeans get loose from the packaging, you will have a disaster to clean up... and, with the slightest provocation, they will easily go flying like some kind of magical lava. In order to keep them under control, the reviewer suggested using a Pringles can.

I do not need extensive prompting to eat snacks. Pringles can... check. Empty Pringles can... check! (crunch crunch...)

Cut a small hole in the corner of the bag. Wait! Before you do that, put the roll of tape nearby. If the tape is not nearby, and you put the now cornerless bag down... Well, you get the idea...

Place one edge of the Pringles can in the corner of the bag and tape it down, making a spout of sorts. Insert the other end of the Pringles can inside the beanbag... and then tip. I ended up holding the bag o' beans over my shoulder sort of like bagpipes (or so I am assuming), and letting gravity empty the contents. Of course, a few beans did escape, and I must admit I had a great time capturing those that were on-the-run by chasing after them with the vacuum hose. It was like living in a video game! Times like that make me glad I work by myself in the far corner of the school. That gleeful cackle would have sent any listener in seek of the authorities...

If you are interested in a re-purposing of one of Jennifer Smith-Sloane's Interactive Notebook pages, you can read my guest blog post from today at Jennifer's blog, 4mulaFun, by clicking on the picture below.

I've never been a guest blogger before. I thought it was kind of scary! It made me glad that Jennifer usually does the writing at her blog because I learn a lot more when I am only doing the reading. Let me know what you think.... and I hope you will try the place value flippable. All of Jennifer's notebooking products are great, and my kids loved using them last year. I am confident we will be doing a lot more notebook activities this year as well.

Two more days until I meet the kids. I am experiencing an odd mix of nervousness and excitement. Mostly, I am looking forward to having the room tidied up and being ready to meet my new friends as they walk through the door...