Congratulations on making your own items! I do that too. Of course, I'm still not so good on the "don't order so much" idea. I still end up spending way too much of my own money, but don't we all? I figured out that I usually end up spending about $500-$700 each year, but I also figure that my students deserve the best I can do for them, whether it's teacher-made or store-bought.

I liked the idea of the flip signs too, but decided last year to make it even simpler. I glued a small STOP sign on the end of a clothespin and had my kids clip it to the individual pencil baskets on their desks whenever they needed me for something. This almost completely eliminated the frantic waves, calling of my name, and the baby duck syndrome (you know, where they follow you around the room like ducklings? :^)

The "cottage" idea you talked about sounds like Integrated Thematic Instruction (ITI). I love ITI teaching because it really gets the kids interested and creates a lot of ownership on their part. Unfortunately, our district has moved away from that format as the pendulum swings. We have been working on DDI (Designing and Delivering Instruction) for a few years now and that is how our lesson plans are being written. I am grateful though that our district still allows a lot of leeway for teachers to teach the curriculum the way they wish instead of being so "cookie cutter" like I hear some other disctricts are doing.

I love the flip sign idea! I was one of those students who would be afraid to come up to ask the teacher a question.  I think that the signs will definately help all students feel comfortable.  I like how student just has to flip the sign instead of keeping his or her hand in the air waiting for the teacher to come to assistance. I feel like sometimes when a student raises his or her hand it gives them the feeling like they can just give up and not keep working but by having the diferent messages on the signs the students can either wait for help if they need help at the moment or they can keep working if they have a small question.  This is definately an idea I would like to use in my classroom one day!

I have never observed a teacher use the flip sign idea but it seems like an effective management tool to try in my future classroom.  In elementary, I was usually too shy to ask the teacher questions out loud and then there are other students who constantly ask questions and disrupt others.  This is a way for students to stay on task and still get their questions answered.  

I love the flip sign idea as well! I would have loved to have had those when I was in the elementary grades. I was a shy one as well, so that probably would have helped a lot. I also think you made a smart investment in the one thing that you broke down and ordered. I think that that is such a good idea to invest in, I never thought about chair shelves before, I definately want to keep those in mind in my future teaching career.