School and the City

As an instructional coach, I try to find fun but simple ways to add a little more literacy to students’ lives. I’ve created a few literacy-related bulletin boards in common spaces around the school. This new board is one of my favorites… Let me tell you all about it!  I had an idea for a new board concept, but like any good idea, I needed a strong foundation.  I learned the hard way last year that regular butcher paper just doesn’t cut it when it comes to bulletin boards in busy hallways. These bulletin boards are exposed to direct sunlight and hundreds of hands every single day. By the end of the year, they were barely hanging on.  This time around, I knew better. What could I use instead to create a beautiful bulletin board that would look just as beautiful by the time May rolls around? Enter: Fadeless Paper !  Fadeless paper is high-quality, fade-resistant paper. It won’t fade after a month or so of sunlight exposure like typical butcher p...

Hey teacher. You're incredible. Do you have a variety of flexible seating options for students to choose from? You're a great teacher. Do you [still] have desks? You're a great teacher, too. The seating options we provide our students certainly impact students' learning environments, but they do not define you as a teacher. Flexible seating is amazing. Search #flexibleseatingclassroom on Instagram, and you'll find more than 5,000 images of gorgeous, modern classrooms. Students are working in spaces that are comfortable for them: couches, bean bags, picnic tables, and so on. Is it for me? No.  It's just not. As a teacher, I like order, and clean lines, and structure. As a student, I like having a spot to call "mine" that I can return to at any time for a feeling of comfort and security. The closest I ever got to flexible seating was when I swapped to tables for a few years. This gave students the ability to choose their own places...

My Curriculum Night was just a few weeks ago, and I wanted to find something to keep parents busy while they waited in the hallway. I decided to bring my students' writing to LIFE by recording themselves reading it! Here's a detailed tutorial to show you just how EASY it is!  I used the Voice Memos app on my iPhone to record students reading aloud. It was very easy to trim and alter if needed, and the quality is good! Best of all, it's an app that's already on your iPhone so it's totally FREE! Students were called one at a time to enter the "recording studio," AKA my closet, where they read aloud their writing nice and clear.  After recording, I used the share button to upload my recordings to Google Drive.  I love Google Drive and use it for just about everything!  In order to get the QR codes for my students to scan, I just used the shareable link from the Google Drive file and copied it into GOQR.me. I...

So you have a ton of dust jackets from all the amazing new books you picked up over the summer. Now what? Every new classroom I've moved into has provided me with new dust jackets to inherit. I don't know why teachers leave them behind... maybe they are a lot like me and just can't bear to trash them! of course I ended up with a bunch of dust jackets of my own, too, and had to ask my Instagram friends for suggestions on what to do with them. The most sane suggestion was "Don't be a hoarder; Trash them." OKAY, OKAY. I hear you loud and clear. But... is it hoarding if you make something out of the dust jackets instead of just shoving them in a cabinet? (#askingforafriend) Here are the rest of the *brilliant* ideas I collected: Laminate them and tape to books like library books. Cut them into bookmarks.  String them to make a pennant Frame them for a gallery wall.  Mod Podge letters, or wallpaper a whole wall!  Make a bulletin boa...

I have been SO VERY BUSY lately (hello testing, conferences, and report cards) but I am SO VERY EXCTIED about this that I just can't hold it in anymore! So, I don't have whiteboards. I have two very large, very black chalkboards. They're magnetic (whooo) but other than that, they annoy me to no end. I don't like writing with chalk. It's messy! Chalk markers are EXPENSIVE and dry out so quickly... I feel like I've tried them all. And when I DO suck it up and write on the chalkboard, it's hard for kids to read.  Then came the day a few months ago that my friend Emily from Munchkins, Inc. shared an image on her Instagram   showing how she covered her chalkboards with dry erase contact paper. I thought about it for a while... Hers looks so good that I just had to try it myself!!  Here's the before... ... and here's the after! I did the first half with the help of a friend, but did the second half on my own. I used a credit card to...

Thank you SO VERY much for all of your compliments and kind words about my writing board. I love it too - It's one of my favorite parts of my classroom for three reasons: 1. It's pretty so that makes me happy. 2. It's so easy to hang papers. 3. I'm going on year three without changing out the board. Can I get an AMEN?! When I created this board, I hot glued pushpins to the back of clothespins. Then, I put hot glue on the back of the length of the clothespin before sticking it into and onto the board. They don't budge. They hold at least 30 papers throughout the year, no problemo. Yes, the hot glue will destroy the board when I try to pull them off... so I'm just not planning on doing that anytime soon! You know what they say... If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Many of you have been asking me how to make the pencil nametags. Keep reading: 1.   Click here to download this free clipart from Melonheadz. 2.  If y...

Hey, friends! Back to school has gotten the best of me, as usual, but I'm glad to finally share this year's classroom with you. Life would be so grand if we all worked on the same hallway, but I am happy to virtually share with you my classroom reveal along with Theresa ( True Life I'm a Teacher ), Chandra ( Teaching With Crayons and Curls ), and Erin ( The Elementary Darling ). This year, I had more time to set up my room. Also, I had alllll year last year to think of ways to tweak my space! I'm much happier in my room already this year. I fully believe that I need to be happy in my space - my second home - to be the best teacher I can be. CHEVRON LETTERS I was totally inspired by Theresa to add some giant lettering to my wall. I don't have a Cricut { yet } so I printed these and cut them out by hand! I love how they look with my tassels from Target. Want this "Work Hard. Be Kind. Have Fun." printable?! This resource is now avai...