Earth Day Craft

These Earth Day "Handprint Globes" glued on black construction paper, along with students' creative writing assignments would make a visually stunning Earth Day bulletin board display.

[Source]

Reading Board

Interactive reading board: Each student fills their cup with books they read in and out of school throughout the year.http://owl.li/uNkpi

Middle School is hard....

Love this!

source

Pintrest in Action... Setting up the classroom

My good friend and colleague has been back at school all week setting up her Grade 4/5 classroom.

She is active on pintrest and used a lot of the pins she found over the summer to implement in her classroom.

Background:
Last year she changed the set-up of her class. She wanted to observe how students worked in different seating arrangements and how it changed when she set up sseating assignments vs. when students chose their own.

The Options:
She had tables lined up on each side of the classroom with bleachers at one end (and clipboards) as well as big comfy rugs in the middle. There is also a cloak room area to work in, the hallway and a table in a cubby area down the hall. Students often have the choice of where to work during work time.

This Year:
She has continued with the lay out of the classroom listed above and has implemented some awesome pintrest ideas. I wanted to share some of the photos...



On her desk to organize everything easily



Drop Zone - handing in work



Help Wanted and Job applications for class jobs



Clothespins with students names or numbers will be attached to this chart and be moved if needed throughout the day.



Each student has a number and they can move their magnet if they leave the room (Especially good in this class given the choices of where they may go work in and around the school)



No Name? No Problem! Clip up work here



Class volume

See similar: Voice O Meter



If they get too noisy she will add one of these letters up on the board. If they spell noise it becomes a 'no talking' time



Book Hospital, a tub to put damaged books into so they can be fixed



Clip boards (for workers on the bleachers) and school supplies



Dry Erase pens with "puff balls" attached to lids for easy erasing



Shelves she  bought to put tubs on, each student gets a tub to keep their supplies (since she doesn't have traditional desks with storage in them)



Shout Out Box, if you have something nice to say about someone, write it down and put it in the box



Her class library, full of all the books she has bought and some comfy chairs

She writes a blog here and recently did her masters exploring classroom design. I always love going to her class and have talked about her classroom design before.

I had to share these photos she posted of her class, because she is an amazing teacher and has some great ideas! Her students are very lucky to have such a caring teacher and a welcoming and innovative classroom!

For TTOCs:

Which of these could you implement as a TTOC? I like the "NOISE" letter idea for classroom management as well as the number magnets for leaving the room.

Check out this post with some more ideas: HERE

Cool Door Decor

Source: craftysisters-nc.blogspot.com via mika on Pinterest

Classroom Flower Project

What I like about this art project, is that as a TTOC/Substitute, you could easily do this as a nice surprise when the classroom teacher returns.....

Source: beckermiddleart.blogspot.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Each student can design a flower, fast finishers, creative types may do more than one while other students finish their first one. (or you can have a fast finisher design a vase for the flowers)

Hey I just met you and this is crazy....

This is an amazing bulletin board done by Heather Daly our Library and Information Coordinator for and President of the BC Teacher-Librarians' Association. She has used covers of books and the popular Carly Rae Jepson song "Call Me Maybe" to promote various novels for Middle Schoolers.

Showcase Student Work

One thing I have had very little experience with is 'bulletin boards' Granted, as a TTOC I have put up some student work on bulletin boards for a teacher I was in for, and in my grade 6/7 temporary contract I did a few boards myself for our class work, but I can honestly say, talking to my friends who teach Elementary School, I am very inexperienced in the ways of the walls.

I am always amazed at the bulletin boards some teachers create and though I could do a blog post on some of the awesome ones I have seen (I often take photos of them!) I decided instead to show some new, interesting ways to showcase student work besides fancy bulletin boards.

This first one is using clothes lines to put up work hanging in the class.

This next one is awesome, if you have enough clipboards, you can put them up and decorate them. What I like most about this is that each student could have their own clipboard and decorate it. Then they just clip their work on to show it off, this may mean several different piece of work being shown as each student could choose what to clip up.

 

Similarly, this is a way for each student to have a "spot" to show their work....

 

What other ways do you showcase your student work?

Source: dandelionsdragonflies.blogspot.ch via Michelle on Pinterest

Soccer Board - Classroom Expectations

I really like this board set-up as a fun way to introduce a new class to class rules, goals, exxpectations. I found it at this site and thought I would share it for any new teachers looking for a way to start the school year.

This display (although not photographed very well,) gives the children a positive example of what behaviors I believe are ‘goals.’ -Work together -Do your best -Encourage others -Be a good example -Give a helping hand In addition to the goals, I also introduce the yellow and red cards to talk about misbehavior and discipline. Kids can earn a yellow card by showing: -Disrespect to learning -Disrespect to others -Disrespect to property -Unsupportive behavior

Read more at source site.