“Oh you can order them from a catalog for $12 each but that’s too high. I think we can make them for much less,” said one of our six first-grade teachers.

“They do have small desks in which to keep their books and things,” she said, “but we also have very small fragile guided reading booklets. They are very small fragile paperbacks that need special handling and care. They earn them as they progress in their reading and they are so proud of them.”

Their chairs are molded plastic, the bags, or really pockets hang over the backs of their chairs. (A great project for room mothers.) This teacher spent a good bit out of her own pocket to make them.

They are actually two pockets in one, made from a strip of fabric 14 inches wide and 16 inches long. A reversible fabric is best.

To make one, turn one end down 8 inches to form one 8-inch-deep pocket that one hangs over the back of the chair. Then, turn the other end up over itself to form another pocket. This one, 10 inches deep, hangs down on the back side of the chair, and it becomes that special pocket.

As you fold each end up to form the pockets, stitch those edges together then bind them with bias tape. Our first-grade teacher used a printed juvenile fabric and cut strips for the tape.

Can’t you just see those proud and happy students with their colorful pockets for those special booklets they are so proud of?

Those precious booklets would not last long if they had to shoved into that already-crowded small desk space.

Teachers are so special. Where would this old world be without them? Don’t we all remember those very special friends and teachers we had.

— Aunt Norie, P.O. Box 265, Tonganoxie 66086; auntnorie@bdc.net