Spring Ideas For Your Classroom

Open House is on the horizon and quickly approaching.... and so is Spring Break! I saw these cute pop art bunnies all over Instagram and Pinterest and knew I had to squeeze them in before Open House.

The original bunny template can be found at this website. I simply made a copy for each student on white paper. Next, I modeled how to make the vertical lines in each section of the bunny.

When the vertical lines were completed, the students cut around the bunny and glued it onto Astrobright cardstock. 

For the glasses, I used clip art I already had and copied it on bright colored paper. You can also find a pattern for free if you Google "eyeglasses" or "sunglasses".

One of my favorite activities to do with my class are these cuties with sunglasses. I gives the students an opportunity to reflect on all the learning they have accomplished throughout the year. AND it makes for an adorable bulletin board that is a great conversation piece. Click HERE for the templates.

To continue the theme, I give each student a pair of their own sunglasses with this tag attached. It is placed on their desk as a surprise when they walk into the room with their parents. You can grab these free tags from Molly at Lessons With Laughter.

We also are finishing up our unit on time, and I wanted a way for my students to show off their skills. The kids created these sun clocks. Thanks to Smitten In First for sharing the idea.

We also wrote autobiographies to share with our parents at Open House. The kids loved Amy Lemons Write On Unit and felt like movie stars without a doubt.

I hope you were able to get some new ideas for Spring that you can use in your classroom.

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Student Centered Decor: Tips and Ideas

Displaying student work can be a nightmare. OR maybe you love it! I'm a control freak . With little classroom space to display student work.... so I get stressed out about it! This is the struggle that goes on in my mind: Can I get every student's work on display? Does it look neat? Did they cut correctly? 

Read on to see how I deal with these voices in my head and hopeful you will gather some great ideas along the way.

As we approach Back To School season, teachers are slowly heading back to their classrooms. I always feel overwhelmed when I take those first steps into my classroom from summer break. The first thing I do, to combat the nauseousness that overwhelms me, is my bulletin boards! Sounds weird, right? Here is my theory.... it will look like I have accomplished A LOT once I get my boards up. I will feel like I have made progress and be able to come back to work over and over. I will be able to ignore the other mess.

BUT... then I realize something.... All of my boards and wall space are for my students' work. Sure, I have a few posters for scheduling, behavior etc. They are standard, but the actual board and wall space is BLANK until those kiddos create the work to display!

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

I want my students to have ownership of our room environment. It's not solely MY room. It's OUR room. If their work is valued and highlighted, it will encourage them to do their best work and take pride in it! 

HOW DO YOU ACCOMPLISH IT?

Give your students activities they can succeed at! This will build their self confidence and they will want to show off their work! 

These kiddos are always a hit with my students and parents. I have my students complete these before Open House. This gives them the ability to share their accomplishments with their parents in a natural form. Nothing is forced. These are from My Future Is So Bright Craftivity packet.

Photo from Sailing Into Second

I have to get creative with space to display student work. I am able to hang some work from a wire across my ceiling. I know this isn't an option for everyone, but this is the best way for me to get the most out of the space. My students are always "ooing" and "aweing" at their work and each other's work. They try to guess who wrote what and which one is theirs. They also beam with pride when guests come in and admire their work.... hence, building SELF ESTEEM! 

Scarecrow Writing Craft

I also use the doors of my cupboards to display student generated work (Hey, a girl has got to get creative). This is one of my favorite character building/self esteem projects we do each year. I teach my students how to draw self portraits. Then, I walk them through the process of writing their own All About Me poems. The students LOVE sharing what they write with each other and having their parents read them at Back To School Night. Building each student up is SO important to do throughout the year.

Self  Portraits

This year I am going to create an Instagram display to highlight each of my students. This is a display I leave up all year! It makes every student feel special. It promotes their self esteem and there is always something for them to show off about themselves in our classroom. 

I have each parent email me their child's favorite picture of  himself or herself. It can be a picture of them doing their favorite activity (like the picture below) or a special family event etc. If I don't get a picture sent to me, I take one of them at school to use.

Next, students choose a simple caption and hashtag to go with their picture.

Finally, I will print them on white card stock and laminate them. I display each Instagram page with our class title. It makes my heart pitter-patter to highlight each student all year. 

Build your students' self esteem and grab your own Instaclass Bulletin Board set below:

I hope you were able to gather a few new ideas to highlight each student in your class, build their character, and self esteem throughout the year. 

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Poetry Keepsakes

Are you looking for a great bulletin board display for the end of the year? A meaningful keepsake that will melt your parents' hearts and make them tear up a bit? Then this is the activity for you! Our self portraits and All About Me Poems are one of my most favorite activities I do all year! I love to have them on display for Open House if possible too, 

We start off by drawing self portraits of ourselves. I teach the children about proportions, spacing, using the entire piece of paper etc. We draw everything in pencil first. Then, we use oil pastels to add color to the drawings. My students learn to smudge and blend with the oil pastels to create a smooth skin tone. They love learning how to blend and mix colors to find the perfect blend.  

After we complete our self portraits, I introduce the kids to our poetry format. I give each student a copy of the template. We complete each line one at a time. This can be done as a whole group or small group. You know your students best. I complete it as a whole group. We brainstorm ideas for each line. This seems to get the ideas flowing and gives the kids inspiration to write about themselves. 

You can grab this FREEBIE template for the poems HERE.

Once the students complete the rough drafts of their poems, I type them and print them on bright colored paper. I mount them on black paper to make them POP and stand out.

I display them next to their self portraits and.... TA-DAH! A beautiful display is created. At the end of the year, I put these into each students' art portfolio and they take them home to their parents. 

Weekend Warriors Link Up: Open House and More!

                               

The Weekend Warriors are back this month with a whole NEW look and theme! Weekend Warriors is also inviting each of you to link up too! That's right! Just grab the image and monthly banner and create your own blog post about your Open House ideas and more and join in on all the fun!  There is a different theme the last weekend of every month.

We just had our Open House last week and there are a few things that I just LOVE about it. I love watching the kids show off all their learning throughout the year to their parents. I love the twinkle in the parents' eyes as they realize how hard their kids have been working all year long! I love the sense of community too! It's usually a night of overwhelming "warm fuzzies"!

 Every year I have the kids reflect on how far they have come since the first day of school. Sometimes I get it completed by Open House and sometimes I don't. This year I was clearly on top of things because they were on display for the BIG night! HA! The kids wrote about why their future is so bright and what they have to look forward to. You can grab the writing prompts and craft templates HERE.

When the kids brought their families to the classroom, they each found a pair of sunglasses with this little tag attached. You should have seen their faces light up and make the connection between their writing and the surprise! Priceless! Thank you to Molly from Lessons With Laughter for the adorable tags!

I also enjoy having the kids create self portraits of themselves. I did a directed drawing lesson with them and look how fabulous they all turned out! I decided to hide each student's name. Instead, I put a sticker that said, "Who Am I?" on the front. When the parents came into the room, they had to find their child among the portraits. It was so sweet to see the kids give clues to their parents. Some found their child on the first try! 

Each student also created their own Math About Me board to display for Open House. You can read a more detailed post HERE and grab a FREEBIE too!  The kids loved presenting their posters to the class and explaining the important numbers in their lives.

Even if your school doesn't have any event called "Open House", link up and share your ideas and pictures from Parent Night, Family Night, Back To School Night and more! I'd love to see what ideas you have too!

Math About ME

Open House was this week and I was so excited for my students to show off all that they had learned so far this school year.I have a TON of pictures to share with you, but that blog post will be coming. In the meantime, I wanted to share a project I had my kids do (with some guidance from their parents) for our big event! I call it MATH ABOUT ME. Each child gets a foam poster board and finds pictures of himself or herself. They decorate the board with the pictures and items that represent their personality. Next, they write captions using NUMBERS about their life. For example, one child took a picture of all 57 books they had in their bedroom. Another child smiled in a picture to show 8 teeth had already fallen out. The kids get very creative with the things they can show with numbers in their life. 

Here are a couple sample posters.

 
This student showed the number of people in her family, her birthday etc...

This student used numbers to show the number of teeth he has lost, number of friends, how much he weighs etc.

This student showed their favorite number is 102, their phone number, number of books they own etc.

I always look forward to how the kids are going to represent themselves on their posters. The parents and kids also love looking at the different posters at Open House. It gives them an opportunity to learn more about one another. If you would like the project directions and a copy of the letter I send home, just click HERE for your FREE copy.

I make sure to tell all the kids that the questions are just suggestions of ideas they can use. They don't have to answer all the questions. They can create their own questions and make it meaningful to them. I hope you guys have fun with this project and look forward to seeing what your students create. Enjoy!