Made It Monday - Chair Makeover, Reading Buddies and a Freebie!

This summer I have been so busy with digital projects like cleaning up my school files and cataloging my class library that I haven't had as much time for crafting, creating and Made It Mondays!  But, finally I found some time to finish my first two summer projects; Reading Buddies and refinishing a new chair for my classroom.

 The Reading Buddies are an idea that I borrowed from an unknown teacher at Gaithersburg Elementary School.  I was there after school one day for some training and saw all these students reading with little stuffed animals on a stick.  They were sitting there readign in the hallways as they waited for their busses to be called.  The students were all so engaged and sat there happily reading to their stuffed buddy.  When I took a closer look, I could see that the buddies were simply Beanie Babies that had been attached to paint sticks.

To make mine, I first had to get some paint sticks and Home Depot was generous enough to donate a whole class set to me.  I spray painted the sticks in various colors and once they dried I attached the Beanie Babies to the sticks using rubber bands.

I decided to store the Reading Buddies in my big blue bucket which I think will be handy since it has a nice handle on it and students will be able to move it to the hallway for morning line up reading and then back to our room for Daily 5 read to self.  Click here for a Reading Buddies sign freebie!

My next project was recovering an old chair that came from my Mom's beach house.  Earlier in the spring, my hubby and I went down the beach house to help my mom and step dad paint the place.  They rent the beach house all each summer and furniture usually takes a beating over the season.  The picture doesn't show it but this chair was pretty grimy and my decided to throw it away!  Yikes - the teacher in me saw it's potential and saved it from the dump!  

I found some bargain fabric at JoAnn Fabrics and got out my trusty staple gun.  I learned a few things along the way - the first one being that I am not a very good upholstry refinisher!  But after a lot of trial and error I was able to finish the chair and I think it looks pretty good.  My cat, Boo, loves it!  It spins around and is super comfy so I know my little first grades are going to love it too!!

I love Made It Monday's!  Thanks so much to  Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics for creating and sharing this linky party!  I am off to read and get inspired for my next project!!