This past year I was asked to move out of my beautiful classroom and teach from a cart. This was incredibly disappointing for my students and myself, but we always make it work!
I have made the best of it this year and I wanted to share the ways that I was able to bring my previous classroom into my new cart. My students have said that it reminds them of my old room and that made the work worthwhile!
The cart I found at school was old and beige, so the first thing it needed was a nice coat of paint! Home depot has paint that adheres well to plastic after some light sanding. It did the job! Doorways have caused some paint scraping, but thats nothing a light coat of paint can't fix next summer.
The next step would be finding pieces that could help me organize the top of the cart so anything I might need would be easy to grab! Refer to the photo of my cart below to see how I used all of these items to organize it!
I found that the container store had many items that would help make my cart look clean and organized so I started there! They no longer carry my pen organizer, but another organizer that I would have also bought is the Premium Acrylic Rotating Office Organizer. There should be room for anything and everything including: Pens, Pencils, Reward notes, Behavior notes, Paper Clips, A recorder or two, Pointer sticks, Stickers, Pitch Pipe, Mallets, Slide Whistle, etc.!
The second item I bought from the container store was a poppin magnetic cup that is long. It holds all of my music go rounds and helps to keep them accessible and clean. I also use this cup to store extra white board erasers for when I can't find any in the classroom!
Always keep whiteboard markers handy! Another separate cup holds a nice set of markers of my own in case I can't find any in the classroom I'm in.
Magnets of all kinds will be helpful if you need to display anything in a classroom for a short time and take it with you. I asked my art teacher if she had extras and she had plenty to share!
A class set of pencils in their own cup is always handy. Assign a student to be a pencil passer when doing a writing activity to save time when you're already short on time from being on a cart!
A ukulele stand keeps my ukulele safe and supported when the cart is not in motion and takes up much less space than laying it down!
Tissue box, large hand sanitizer, and clorox wipes...need I say more??
The base of my cart looks so stylish because a wonderful music teacher told me to jazz it up with these awesome shelf liners from WalMart! I chose the grey marble pattern and the beauty is that you can change them whenever you want a fresh look! I will be changing mine out in January.
The beautiful basket I store my boomwhackers in is the Flex Blue Basket from the Container Store. I was able to find mine slightly broken in the clearance section for a better price. Always check the clearance section first! I don't keep the boomwhackers with me at all times but it is easy enough for two students to buddy lift each side when I need some extra help and the cart is full!
I found the red paper organizer in our school office, but it is definitely a necessity to keep papers organized on the go!
Since this is also an office on the go, a tape dispenser, stapler, white out, and paper clips are necessary! This larger cart is helpful for carrying more items around and I don't have to go through a teacher's desk to find something I might need when teaching in the classrooms.
The clothes hanger with sound silencing headphones proved to be too difficult to keep on the cart, but is definitely a handy way to transport them when needed!
Target dollar spot provided the cute rainbow streamer decoration on the front!
Instruments/Items I carry with me at all times in small shoe storage bins or small Sterilite stacking baskets:
- Rhythm sticks: long pairs (2-3 gr.) and short pairs (k-1 gr.)
- Triangles- beater sticks in a separate metal cup from walmart
- Egg Shakers
- Jingle Bells
- Small tambourines
- Scarves
- Ribbons
- 12 Remo hand Drums
I hope this post will help others who are new to teaching on a cart or might be looking for ideas to revamp their cart!