Friday, August 15, 2008

My Hero...

Look what my husband bought for me this summer!!


Okay, let me start at the beginning, otherwise this could just seem really weird.

Have you ever looked inside of a child's desk at school? If you are a teacher, or a parent, then you know exactly what I am talking about. If you are not, let me take a minute to explain. An elementary school student has an unbelievable ability to stuff their desk to three times the capacity. This may not seem like much of a problem at first. Really, it's not that big of a deal, as long as you don't do one of two things. One, ask that particular child to find something and remove it from the desk in a timely manner. Two, try to move the desk to a new location. As long as you don't do either of these things, you're good. Unfortunately, the odds of a teacher not asking a student to get something out at some point during the day are slim to none. On top of that, when you do try to move that desk, the precariously stuffed "treasures" will inevitably explode from that desk onto the floor. Believe me, when you only have a 40 minute planning period to get a million things done, including moving those desks around, nothing will push you beyond your capacity of patience faster than this!

So, after three agonizing years of the desk battle, and many attempts at teaching "organization skills", I decided to try something new. My team teacher, who has been teaching for over 25 years, gave up on the desk game a long time ago. She now provides each one of her students with a "locker", or cubby. Her cubbies come in the form of rolling carts with plastic drawers. I couldn't find rolling carts with plastic drawers that were all the same size, had enough on each cart to keep me from buying a boat load of them, that wouldn't break the bank. After spending an entire summer searcing for something that would work, my amazing hubby discovered this little treasure at Lowe's.


Isn't it beautiful? It's actually designed for a child's closet, but if you turn it around backwards, it makes a perfect cubby for a fifth grader, don't you think?




And he bought it for me!


And he carried the big, heavy box in for me!




And he put it all together for me!

And then he took it into my classroom for me.

And you know what the best part is?


He did this six times for me!



And that's not even the Husband-of-the-year part! This wasn't some simple trip to Lowe's to get a few shelves. He took me to the Lowe's in Greeley, and bought me three of them. That was last month. Then, he took me to Lowe's in Greeley again a few days ago. They had two, but one was damaged, so he bought me the one. Then he drove 30 minutes to Loveland. They had one, so he bought it. Then he drove another 30 minutes to Fort Collins and bought me the last one. My wonderful hubby literally spent an entire day driving around Northern Colorado, all so that my kiddos could have cubbies when school started, and I could keep my sanity. Isn't he sweet?

Okay, you can all say it now. Awwwww!!!


Yesterday, these cubbies were put to the test when all my kiddos (32- in case you have forgotten. I haven't) came in like a whirlwind and filled them right up. They love them!






I sent them to specials 10 minutes after they walked in, so we didn't have time to actually get them hung back up, but you get the idea.



This was a huge investment for me, but it is a lasting one, and I am just tickled pink! These are my newest favorite part of my classroom! And my fifth graders actually think they're cool, so that's an added bonus!

15 comments:

Our Home Schooler and Jen said...

bless your hubby

hope they look after them well

jen

Barb said...

It doesn't surprise me a bit that Aaron drove to four different stores to find enough of them for you.

I love it that you posted photos of your classroom. It's nice to be able to picture where you spend your days.

Those cubbies are just a great idea. And they do look like they'll hold up a long, long time.

Remember the cubbies Dad showed us in that one classroom? The ones that had a sign attached to them that said, "Do NOT move these - they'll fall apart." I don't think you'll have that problem. :-)

xoxo
Mom

Qtpies7 said...

What a great hubby!
I could use those for organizing my kids at home! I'm going to have to see if we have a Lowes somewhere in Minnesota.

Lori said...

Hi Mandy! Thanks for posting on my blog! and nice to 'meet' you! Especially nice to meet another teacher on here! I have taught 5th and 6th grade for 11 years now and I loved reading on your blog about school...cause I could completely relate!

Your hubby is awesome! Nice job on the cubbies! Hubby's of teachers are fantastic aren't they!?

Look forward to visiting regulary here!
Lori

Qtpies7 said...

The drano test is to determine the baby's gender you put 2 Tbl Draino Crystals in a jar and then add the pregnant mom's urine to the jar. You MUST do this outside becuase the fumes are toxic and there are TONS of it.
It is just for fun, though.

Gretchen said...

Oh my goodness, he's my hero, too! Gee, Mandy, where did you get that organizational gene??? ;)

I'm with Barb--love to see your classroom.

Tracey said...

GREAT HUSBAND! GREAT FIND! HOW MUCH DID THEY COST! NOT SURE MY ROOM WOULD HOLD ALL OF THEM! OH MY GOD I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE YOU HAVE 32 KIDS! REALLY HOW MUCH DID THEY COST...I'M NOT SHY!

Judith said...

Awwwwww!!! Candlelight and roses may be great for some situations, but a half dozen cubbies works every time with teachers.

"How do I love thee, let me count the ways" More than one way to say "I love you". The first time I was with Aaron I fell in love with his thoughtfulness, and the sentiment just grows. What a guy!

Anonymous said...

You bought all of those yourself for your class? What a great teacher you are! And what a great husband you have to go all over town to get them and then put them together for you.

Your students are going to absolutely love you!

August said...

WoW I can't believe you have over 30 kids in one class! How do you do it? I have one more week till school starts.. so I am still doing all the last minute things to my room.. I will have to post pics! I really enjoyed reading your post about the first day and I loved all of your pictures of your classroom! Your classroom looks great! Oh and I can vouch for the messy student desks!! It is amazing on how much things kids can squeeze into their desks!

Sarah said...

Hey Mandy! How sweet of Aaron! Clearly you married a good one :)

I'm so glad you've started blogging again--now that I'm back into it, I'm looking forward to reading your posts and getting caught up!!

Unknown said...

www.debrennersmith.com

VERY awesome. You have a great husband. This is a very loving thing for him to do.

Girl Raised in the South said...

Shoot fire! I could use them myself - I'd love to have each day of the week laid out, with errands, grocery lists, chores, etc. Your hubby wins the prize for sure!

Michelle said...

Those are so great, and so is your hubby for driving all over the place and putting them together!

I have been making myself crazy trying to figure out how to organize all my kids' things for school this year, since they will be home schooled for the first time, and this is awesome! Thanks for posting it!

Laura said...

I've just spent the last hour looking on the Lowe's site for this organizer and I can't find it. It's awesome and I love what you've done with it.

Happy new school year!!