Chair Pockets... the key to table organization

During my first year of teaching I had the joy of 23 little student desks in my classroom... rows always moving and getting crooked, little hands constantly inside of their desks touching things, random papers exploding from the inside of the desk.  Ugh!  At the beginning of my second year, I had the opportunity to trade in my desks for tables.  (Of course, there was some bartering involved with this transaction.  Desireable furniture doesn't come easy around here.)  Tables have turned out to be one of my best decisions.  Last year, however, I had no organization for the student's materials.  This year, my co-worker (from Teach it with Class) and I were set on coming up with an organization solution.  We put together a supply caddy for the middle of the table and taught ourselves to use a sewing machine to make chair pockets.

These caddies did not come easy!  We searched high and low for the perfect caddy and containers.  We actually found the yellow basket at Walmart in the automotive department.  Then, we found some cute ribbon to weave and hot glue around the top.  The small rectangular containers were also very hard to find.  I ended up finding them at Target (Up & Up brand).  These hold each student's crayons.  The lids have an address label with their name on it.  The green cups are hot glued into the basket and hold their pencils.  I suppose you could also put other materials in there like scissors, glue sticks, or highlighters.

These chair pockets were so simple to make!  I've never used a sewing machine before and was able to make a whole class set.  The hardest part was finding fabric that was affordable.  You need about a yard for each chair pocket, I think.  Each table has a different color chair pocket so I call them by colors to line up or move around the room.  The chair pockets hold their work folder and reading book.  They are very easy to wash... just be sure there are no hidden treasures inside!