Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Am I the only one? Help!!!

Am I the only one who hates is frustrated by the containers these stamps come in?????     I use alphabet stamps a lot because.....well, I teach K.   Buuuuut.... I want to stomp on these cases and scream at the top of my lungs in frustration find a better way to store them.

Here's what I LOVE about the cases:
1. They are stored in ABC order.  Perfect....love it!  Makes it super easy to find the one you want quickly!

2. The letter is on the bottom of the case.  Perfect....love it!  Makes is super easy to replace the letters to the correct spot quickly (which of course all my perfect kinders do every time.............hahahahahahaha!)


Here is what I do NOT like about these cases:
1.  Little fingers find it hard to take the letter out of the case and replace them.  I'm blaming this mainly on the fact that the slot is only slightly bigger than the stamp and the fact that the stamps are stacked pretty tightly together.

2.  This is the one that really has me frustrated:  The lids keep breaking off of the cases!!  I have 6 of these sets now and only 1 set still has the lid on it.  Without the lid the stamps obviously don't stay in place at all!  While it is the highlight of my day to help the kids pick up 26 alphabet stamps (again and again and again) I think maybe I should find a better use of my time.  Sigh....

I think I have #1 solved. by buying these stamps:
They have a nice curved handle top on them which my kinders like a lot better than the flat ones.  However, the cases are almost exactly the same and I'm dreading the day the lids break off.

So my question is:  Does anyone have a better way to store these stamps????  I would really really really love to hear if you have a solution!  If I had a million dollars for your awesome thoughts I would gladly pay it but I don't get paid for another 13 days (teacher pay humor).

This post might have been a little dramatic.  If you read all the way to the end....bless you.  I tend to ramble when I'm tired.





12 comments:

  1. Thanks to the wonderful world of blogs, I now use ice cube trays. I am not exactly sure which blog I saw this but whoever came up with this a real teaching lifesaver. It is much easier for the kids to grab the stamps.

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  2. I use ice cube trays also. They work well!

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  3. I use ice cube trays also. Got them at the dollar store. They work so much better. Except when you knock them over. Which I'm good at.
    Ms. Kerri and her Krazy Kindergarten

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  4. I, too, prefer the rounded top ones and hate the box. Ice cube trays won't work for me because I'm a stacker! I am thinking about rounding up a school supply box to try out. I can obviously write the alphabet on the bottom by myself! If you find a great solution, please pass it on.

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  5. I totally agree with you about the stamps. I still use the container they came in though but I do have to straighten them up after the students use them each time. Ugh......

    April
    Wolfelicious

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  6. I use a nut/bolt organizer from Wal-mart. I has about 28-30 little drawers. I put all the a's in one drawer and so forth. I put punctuation in the extra drawers. It has changed my life at the stamping station. Now, I teach 1st grade so this may be different for kinders. One presenter/teacher Sherri Sloane, suggested to just take out the letter drawers that are need for the stamping sheet. Hope this helps!

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  7. Are the clear stamps from Lakeshore?

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  8. I TOTALLY feel your pain. This was my mission last summer, as I could not stand the mess or those irritating boxes any longer.
    I got an organizer from Home Depot. I think it was only around $15. Then I went to Michaels and bought a pack of their alphabet stickers. I put an upper and lowercase of each letter on the drawers. Then I took the same letters and put them on the tops of the stamps themselves (I don't know about you, but my little guys had rubbed off the letter on the top of all of the stamps). There were even enough drawers left over (some larger ones) that were just the right size for storing ink pads. Since there is so much room in the drawers, I'm thinking of making word cards that begin with each of the letters and storing them in the drawers too. Hope this helps!

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  9. Thank you for all the GREAT ideas! I will be on the look out for some of these items on sale this summer!!! Blogger are AWESOME!! Thank you!!!!!

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  10. Michelle, I was in the same boat you were in with those stamps. I have those EXACT ones...then a wonderful blogger somewhere posted a picture using those little organizer drawers from home supply stores...& WOW, it makes a great difference. (We actually had one here...my son (now adult) had used it to organize his Lego pieces!!!) I dumped the legos into one container & had myself a ready made letter stamp organizer! I, too, put all my "a"s together, etc.....those stamps one can get at the Target dollar spot...those are sorted & put in there as well. No more digging out all the stamp sets. Now when the kids are in centers they don't have to "wait" for a certain letter stamp coz there are several sets in there / enuf to go around! The little organizer unit stays in the writing center & looks cute (for me!) & easy peasy for the Kinders to use. I love the ones you've shown & I'm going to order those now! Thanks for the recommendation! (& also for the new "subscribe by email" link!)

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    1. Great idea! I am adding that to my list of summer projects! Thank you!

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