Optimum Organization, a giveaway, and a favor

Yesterday, I went to my classroom for the first time and started transitioning into Back-to-School mode. I still have a month left before I have to report, but they had finished cleaning and I was really excited about a new piece I was adding to the room.

About two weeks ago, I received an email from SmileMakers asking if I would be interested in reviewing one of their products.

Have you ever heard of them? I had, but I'll admit I didn't know anything about the company. They are part of Staples and have been open for 35 years. They offer a lot of great teaching products (including the Dots on Turquoise set that I LOVE and was tempted to review), which made my decision more difficult! Some of the items I considered (click on the picture to follow the link):

Dots on Turquoise Designer Desk Set

Desk Organizer - Low

Assorted Rectangular Plastic Woven Baskets

But I finally decided on this:

Craft's Keeper

It took less than a week for the package to arrive on my doorstep, which is awesome because I hate waiting. Then again I had to wait about a week for my classroom to be finished so I could set this up and use it. 

 It required no tools and had very simple step-by-step instructions. (Crayons not included - that was to entertain Keagan)

I had a little bit of trouble putting the main box together only because I started assuming what I was supposed to do next and veered from the instructions. Fortunately it was very easy to go backwards and fix my mistakes. This is the main structure completed. It's nice and sturdy for craft supplies.

Once I finished putting together the little boxes, I was eager to fill my new product with crafts. It was perfect timing because the piece of furniture it's sitting on was about to collapse (plus I was just throwing odds and ends there and needed some organizational help), so I needed to reorganize and downsize.

Right now, the boxes are stuffed with regular markers, highlighters, glue sticks, and dry-erase markers. The boxes are deep and can hold A LOT!! I think I'm going to move the expo markers back with my white boards, but I wanted to try it out. I'll probably add crayons to that box instead. And of course, I'll have to create some cute labels!

When I went back to my class, I also found out I have $100 to spend from the beginning of school. I hate to pay shipping on ANYTHING, so I was thrilled to see these deals. Now it's just a matter of prioritizing and deciding what I want. So glad that they emailed me and I was able to learn about their company!

I also wanted to share about a great giveaway going on at Looking From Third to Fourth. I'm giving winner's choice of one item. Go check it out!

And don't worry, I haven't forgotten about my own giveaway. I plan on starting it sometime early next week. Stay tuned!

One final thing: I'm on instagram (@dalton_gang) and would LOVE for you to follow me! Now that I'm finally ready to think about school, I will be sharing more teacher-y pics. But my big favor is that you'll find this picture (its a few photos back, or you can click on the image below and go right to the site) and like it! 

I'm up against my sister to see who can get the most likes (well, right now it's just me vs. my sister) and win a $20 gift card to one of our favorite boutiques, James & Leigh. Right now she's beating me by 3 likes, so I need some help!

Instagram, oops, and random other

I have a little bit of free time before I head home, so I thought I would update quickly.

Have you heard about this? I started instagram a while back, but I'm not the best at using it. This sounded like fun, though! Now I just need to remember to take pictures while at school.

Follow me: @dalton_gang

So my sweet hubby reads my blog, and he was very disappointed with me last Saturday. When I posted about him finishing grad school, I made a big mistake. He graduated from the University of CINCINNATI, not Connecticut. In my defense, I've never been to either location and they both are long names starting with a "C". Still, Cincinnati is #3 for their Criminal Justice program, and he is very proud of that. 

I did know that their logo looked like this and that they're good at basketball. I just got the places mixed up. Sorry, babe!

In other news, I'm so excited that May starts this week! We'll be busy, but it's time for fun busy. This week we're having a yard sale, then every other weekend to the end of school is full of some kind of celebration/relaxation. Plus I only have 2 1/2 more weeks of teaching before SOLs start. We test May 16-31 because everything is online and we only have 3 labs. The nice thing is that every grade has a break before they take another test. The downside is that's a LONG time to test. After testing, I will help with running records for the end of the year while packing up my classroom for the summer. Still 33 days left for us, but that number is dropping quickly. It seems like last week I was saying 49, but obviously it wasn't!