Teacher Week 2013: Tips & Tricks - Make a Fabric Bulletin Board from "scratch"

 

I'm back for a quick post on the last day of teacher week!

 

I've gotten a lot of questions about the fabric "bulletin boards" that were in my classroom pictures earlier this week.

 Example #1 - blue polka dotted board beside the Smartboard

Example #2- yellow chevron board above community supply shelf

Example #3 - hot pink board above (soon to be blue shelves) for math manipulatives

The truth is they are not bulletin boards at all...it's just plain ol' fabric on my painted cinderblock walls.  So, I figured I'd go ahead and make that a quick trick to share.  I think I've finally mastered the easiest (and quickest) way to put fabric on the walls after several years of trial and error.

 

So, first things first.  You need to meet my hot, new BFF.

 

Here she is.

 

 

Isn't she beautiful?

 

This is a cordless glue gun.  I've borrowed one from one of my coworkers for going on 7 years now so I finally broke down at bought my own (at JoAnns).  It's fabulous.  You can use it for quite a while before putting it back on its base to heat up again.  I'm sure you could do this without a cordless gun but this makes it way easier.

 

I put up almost everything in my room with hot glue because it's the only thing that stays all year.  Most of the time it pops right off of the wall with no problems but every now and then you'll get a glob that doesn't want to come off without the paint. 

 

Soooo...I figured out a different way to hang things instead of putting the hot glue directly on the wall. 

 

 

Painter's tape!

 

Just put the tape wherever you want to hang something and the hot glue goes on the painter's tape.  If you need to take it down, you just peel the painter's tape off and there is absolutely no mess or damage!

 

You can also put painter's tape on whatever it is that you are hanging so that it won't be damaged if you want to take it down or move it but I didn't do that with my fabric because I figured by the time I wanted a change, I would be ready for new fabric.

 

The best part is this makes the whole process go super duper fast AND helps you get your fabric straight on the wall!

 

 

More tape and the fabric is on its way up!

 

*Notice the purple bandaid...yes...my hot little bff can be kind of feisty sometimes.  We have somewhat of an unhealthy relationship.  She burns me.  I say bad things to her and then I forgive her and love her once more.  Sigh.*

If you need a little extra staying power for a larger board...this stuff works great and wipes off the wall with a Clorox wipe pretty easily.

 

 It works fine without anything except hot glue around the edges, though!

Then, you can put your border up the same way OR hot glue your border straight on the fabric.

 

Now you have a brand new bulletin board and less ugly cinderblock wall!

 

Please excuse the hot mess below the board.  It is going to be dealt with soon. ;)

 

Happy Friday!

 

 

 

Teacher Week 2013: Classroom Sneak Peak

This is probably my favorite day of teacher week! I just love looking in other people's classrooms! 

My classroom is nowhere near finished! I will share what I have but I'll be back later to show you the finished product!

 I took some pictures last week before I left but I still have a lot to do.  I have worked more this summer than I usually do because I was on a mission to get rid of every single monkey/jungle thing!  I've been hanging with the monkeys for 6 years and it was just time for them to go.  I decided to go without a "theme" so that maybe I won't get tired of it quickly.  I think my theme now is just bright colors and patterns! I know some people probably think it is too bright and crazy but I believe in organized chaos!  I think if everything has its place and your room is neat and organized....you can go a little crazy with colors!  I just made that rule up as I was typing. I like it.  I'm sticking to it.  My house is neutral city so I think my classroom is my little outlet for my love of all things bright!

I am incorporating a little bit of the "boho birds" collection from Carson Dellosa and "tweeting birds" collection from Creative Teaching Press to pull everything together.  It's funny because I really don't like birds in real life but as you can see from my blog...I adore little pink, cartoon birds. 

OK.....I'm just procrastinating because I don't want to show you my unfinished room.  Don't judge.  ;)

 Classroom library needs labels and some TLC

 Writing table and my teacher area...plus the "word wall to be"

A closer look at my teacher area...needing labels!

 Front of the room...needs a lot of work.  The yellow frames at the top ready to be filled with math word wall cards and word work "chunks."

 The meeting area with smartboard where most of my whole group teaching takes place.  The green chevron board in the back is going to be full of anchor charts and projects that we are working on throughout the year.  The pillow on the floor in the back will be around a little black table for reading and partner work.

 Squint your eyes and pretend that those math manipulative boxes are on a pretty blue shelf that the hubs is making me. ;)  That door is the bathroom door waiting to be decorated.  The yellow curtains hide guided reading materials and more math manipulatives and LOTS of TPT products and games in manilla envelopes!  The blue drawers hold work work materials like wiki stix, stamps, a mini sandbox, shaving cream, letter cubes, etc.

This is my guided reading/math table for small group instruction.  The blue polka dot board in the back is the back of my supply shelf and will hold reading strategies (magnetic).

This is our community supply shelf as you walk in the door...ready to be filled with brand new supplies...makes my teacher heart happy!  Everything is ready for some cute labels...on my to do list next week!

That's all for now.  Come back soon for a finished version! Don't forget to link up with Blog Hoppin' to get in on all the fun this week.  I'm off to the beach...can't wait to look in all of the beautiful classrooms this evening!

Guess what?

I have a new blog design that will be unveiled VERY soon I hope.  I'm so darn excited.  Here's a little sneaky peeky...

Cuteness!

Stay tuned, friends!

I haven't been able to get back in my classroom for a few days but I've been working a little bit at home and my favorite finds this week were these lightweight, bright frames at Michael's! They were buy one get one free PLUS the sweet lady at the register had a coupon for 20% off instead of my 15% teacher discount. Woohoo!  I love them and I think (hope!) they're lightweight enough to stick on the wall with a command hook.

Everything looks better framed, am I right?  I obviously couldn't afford to frame everything on my walls so I decided to frame the rules and motivational posters.  Here is a start on that.

Click the links to be taken to the original source if you like these posters.

If You Can't Be Kind, Be Quiet  (Can I get an amen?)

Be Kind. No Exceptions.

And the class rules were made by yours truly.  

I actually posted a different one a couple weeks ago and I changed my mind on the color scheme (big shocker!) so...you are welcome to grab yourself a copy of either one if you want them!

Click here to download.

I like to keep my class rules short and sweet.  I let the kids have input on what kind of rules they want in the classroom on the first day of school...but for some reason they always get bogged down in things that pertain to physical violence and gross stuff.  Is that just my kids?

If I took all of their ideas, we would have 6,972 rules.  

1.  No hitting

2. No pushing

3. No kicking

4. No spitting in other people's food in the lunchroom (an actual one from one of my kiddos from last year)

5.  No biting

6. No calling people "cry babies" even if they are  (no...I couldn't make this stuff up)

etc. etc. etc. etc.

You get the picture.  So...I still get their input, but I have these 3 ready to rock because let's be honest I can slide any transgression into one of these categories.  I'm good like that.

Pretty sure spitting in other people's food qualifies as not being kind and respectful.  Just saying.

Last but not least,  I've been working on a little "Back to Basics" math and literacy pack and it's up and ready to go!  This is full of activities (whole group, small group, individual work, and partner games) that I plan to use to review basic skills with my first graders at the beginning of the year.  It would be perfect for kindergarten and Pre-K all year long.  I also plan to keep these activities handy to use for intervention as needed throughout the year in my first grade classroom.

Language Arts Skills:

first day writing template

-alphabet letter cards (lowercase)
-alphabet letter cards (capital)
-letter sounds picture cards (26 plus ch/sh/th)
-beginning sound assessment & answer key
-CVC picture cards
-CVC word cards
-"write around the room" CVC activity and/or assessment
-missing letter CVC assessment and/or guided practice
-DRAW IT (CVC word version)
-DRAW IT (CVC sentence version)
-rhyming picture match/pocket chart cards
-"No Nonsense" real vs. nonsense word rhyming activity
-rhyming sentence challenge activity

Math Skills:
-"A Number Book" (students illustrate simple sentences to show mastery of one to one correspondence with simple pictures)
(numbers 1-10)-"Adios Monsters" dice game & recording sheet
-"Spin it to Win it" card/unifix cube game (numbers 0-20)
-"It's All About the Dots" subitizing cards...perfect for number talks!
-"Fill it Up" card game (numbers 1-30)
-colorful number cards 1-30

It is ON SALE for 5 bucks this week. :)  Check out the preview here if you're interested!

I'd also love to GIVE IT AWAY to the first 5 readers that head over to my facebook page and leave me a comment there telling me you could use it! 

Happy Summer!

Classroom Sneak Peak & Scrap Fabric Banner Tutorial

I got the itch to start working in my classroom this week.  The spare bedroom was filled to the brim with "stuff" that needed to go to my classroom so I packed up my car and went in on Monday morning expecting it to be 120 degrees in my room.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the AC was on (thank you summer school)!  So, I stayed longer than I had originally planned and got some things put back.

Here is what I walked into on Monday morning. Yikes.

I've had a "jungle" theme for the past few years and each year monkeys have slowly started to disappear. Bless their hearts. They're cute but I got tired of them about 2 years ago but couldn't justify spending the money to completely re-do everything.  I finally decided that I'd built up enough bright, colorful decor to make THAT my theme.  

The last reminder of "the jungle" was the vine hanging in the meeting area.  I decided to replace that with a black and bright, whimsical rag banner.  I kept seeing them popping up on Pinterest...mostly as photography backdrops and party decorations. I decided that I could whip one up faster than cutting out triangles for a pennant.  I am am impatient crafter and I'm really, really bad at measuring things. Eek.

I can't even describe how easy this was and I'm thrilled with the final product!  I had a LOT of fabric left over from various unfinished projects and I ordered some more (chevron...duh!)  on fabric.com!  They have an awesome selection.

So I ended up with a ton of playful patterns and colors to work with.

The best part of this project was NO MEAURING required.  The strips do not have to be uniform or perfect.  In fact, I think it is better if they're not.  That's what I tell myself, anyway.

 I used some decorative black cord from Hobby Lobby to string the fabric.  If I was using this for a party in my house or for photography or something...I think twine would look adorable, but the black worked best with my classroom colors.

 Just cut strips, lay them out, and get ready to tie!

 I tried to show you how I tied the "knots" but it was hard with one hand on the camera. ;)  Basically I folded the strip in half.  Put the "open" ends on the top and pull the "closed" end through the hole and then just pull it snug.  The end result was a knot that looked sort of like a man's tie.  My fabric was not double sided, so I just pulled on it and arranged it so the pretty side was facing out for the most part. The cutting and tying combined took about 2 hours.  I made two really long banners.

So easy. So cute.

And her's my little fashion model posing with the finished product.

And ta-da!  Here it is hanging in my classroom.  Please ignore the crummy quality and everything else in the photo.  Good grief. I still have a lot of work to do...but no more jungle vine!

I have some more fun projects planned for that pretty fabric...stay tuned!

Now, I have a pajama party planned with my laminator.  Friday night...what else would I do? 

Happy Summer to you!

Sunday Randomness & some WINNERS!

 

 

Michelle over at Fabulous in First is hosting another Sunday Smorgasbord linky...perfect for me today because I'm feeling all kinds of random!

First things first... I have some winners!

(Sorry it has taken me so long to post this...no good excuse...summer just "got in the way" ;))

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Congrats, girls!  I'll be sending you an e-mail today so you can get your goodies!

 

We had a RIDICULOUS amount of rain last week. It rained every. single. day.  It was crazy.  I did some work and redecorating around the house and then busted out some school work! 

 

I usually wait until closer to August but I have some fun projects that are calling my name. :)  I made a new "class rules" poster. I always use the same 3 rules...but I just redesigned it. I like to keep the rule "list" short and sweet...and pretty much any behavior can relate back to these 3! I'm going to put it in some sort of pretty frame to hang but I haven't found the right one yet.  If anyone wants this, feel free to grab it! Just click the image and download or pin it for later!

 

 

 

I also made a trip to Hobby Lobby when I went to Greensboro to spend time with my sweet neice. 

 

 

Love this little girl!  Now, if we can just get our trip to Nashville planned to see our other precious niece and nephew...my summer will be *almost* complete!

 

We don't have one where I live...which may or may not be a good thing.  I found so many things I HAD to have for my new little home office and my classroom.

 

The first thing I saw when I walked in was this sign!

 

 

 

I love it (and it immediately made me think of sweet Teri at  A Cupcake for the Teacher!) I really feel like you should have this in your house! ;)

 

 I didn't get it, but oh so cute!

 

Here are some of the goodies I found for my office, mixed in with some TJ Maxx finds!  I'm waiting on my dad to paint my desk, so for now...to the floor it goes!

 

 

 

 Here is a peak at some of the fabric I got. I also found a good deal on some scraps from fabric.com that I'm waiting to receive! I got the awesome contact paper on amazon.com and I'm planning to do one of the little filing cabinet makeovers that I've seen on Pinterest with it!

 

 

 

And I loved this little sign so much that I got it for my house!

 

 

 

My new Erin Condren planner arrived this week as well! I love seeing my new name on everything.  Well, except my driver's license.  I didn't realize they would make me take a new picture so I went to the DMV MINUS a shower and PLUS a rainstorm and let's just say the picture on it was as good as I thought it would be after the camera clicked...oy.  It's a special kind of bad. And no, I will not post that. ;)

 

 

 

OK...enough randomness!  I think this little boy is ready for some pool time with his mom!

 

Thanks to everyone who entered my little giveaway! 

 

Happy Summer!

XO, Amy

FREEBIE Friday :)

I linked up with What the Teacher Wants last year for a behavior management linky party and ever since, this little picture has been pretty popular on Pinterest! 

I wish it wasn't such an awful picture! Ha!  It was before my Canon came into my life. ;) 

Anyways, this is a super simple concept that you can use in your classroom daily to encourage good hallway behavior.

Just pick a name (cards, chips, popsicle sticks...anything works) before you leave the classroom and look at it, but don't tell who it is.  The idea is that you will watch this person very carefully the whole way to your destination and back.  If they do an excellent job in the hall...they get a "ticket" or small prize.

(I also encourage them to line up quickly and quietly without throwing elbows and the other strange things they do to be "first" by saying I will only pick a mystery walker if they are lined up and ready by the time I get to the door!)

FYI: The colored chips in this picture are from Staples (in the teacher section) and I use these tickets from Creative Teaching Press for my behavior management system in my classroom so it's very easy to give a ticket to my Mystery Walker. 

My students collect these tickets for monthly raffles for fun coupons and prizes.

About halfway through the year last year, I also started picking a "secret student" on occasion...especially when we started doing more independent work. Same concept...just pick a student and tell them that you will be watching them do whatever activity you are working on.  After that activity, if they did what they were supposed to do...ticket!

I've had people ask me...and no, I do not call the "mystery person" out if they did not earn the ticket!  I just act extremely sad and say something like "Oh well...maybe my mystery walker will earn their ticket next time when they remember to keep their hands to themselves in the hall..."

(in my best teacher voice, of course)

Since these little ideas worked so well for me last year, I revamped my signs for my classroom and you can give them a try, too!  Click the picture to download the mystery walker sign FREE on TPT.

(and click the link below the picture for the secret student sign)

Secret Student Sign

Happy Friday!

Mrs. JOHNSTON is back!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

 

Hi friends!  I am so very sorry for my extremely long absence from this little blog.  I do have a few VERY good reasons...but I've missed you!  Before I get to WHY I've been gone for so long...I must say, this whole Google Reader disappearing and switching to Blog Lovin' thing is stressing me out...mostly because I don't understand it at all.  Apparently, I have to "claim" my blog on Blog Lovin'  so I am pasting some html code in this post to attempt to do that.  If something looks strange...let me know. :) 

 

I'll be back soon with a prettier link to follow me on there once I figure it out. Until then...click on the ugly blue link at the top. ;)

 Anyone else had any luck figuring this whole switch out?  Help!

 

Soooo...the BEST reason I've been MIA?

 

I got married!

I am officially Mrs. Johnston, now.  Yay!

 

The sign my sweeties (and my awesome substitute) had waiting on me when I returned!  Total sweetness!

 

We got married in the outer banks so we were able to enjoy an early beach vacation, and since we returned...I finished the school year, had two "receptions" back home, gotten started on some summer projects around the house, and most recently...had a little oral surgery (ick!).

 

So, while I'm laid up on the couch with Pinterest, my pain meds, and my favorite little cuddle buddy... I wanted to catch up on a few things and share some pictures! 

 

My view for the next few days.

 

I am fairly certain that you don't want to see pictures of my gum graft surgery (I won't even look in the mirror!) so how about some more wedding pics, instead? ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I've been on the couch for the past 2 days...I've been pinning away! It's still June and I'm already gearing up for a mini classroom makeover and some exciting new ideas for the coming year!

 

Nerd alert! hehe

 

Here is one of my favorite ideas so far...click on the picture to be taken to the original source!

 

I can't wait to get to Hobby Lobby and find some cool fabric for this little project!

 

Here are some of my latest school finds at TJ Maxx (love those red sale stickers!)

 

 

 

 Time for another nap...or another pain pill...or perhaps both!

It feels good to be back! XOXO