Classroom News Letter

With the first week under my belt I feel so much more relaxed! It's the weekend and it's time to unwind from the busy week. Relax, watch Netflix, see some friends... or work on stuff for my classroom some more! =]

I always seem to have trouble getting work off my mind especially when I know I have something that needs to get done and this weekend that was my classroom newsletter. I spent this saturday afternoon creating a template to send to parents with information about our week. I am all about making things appealing to the eye so I spent a bit more time on this than needed but it was super fun and I absolutely love it!

Here is the newsletter that was sent out to parents this week. I hope you like it!


Want one for your own classroom? I have created a blank template for you to use as you would like. I used a website called Canva to create this design so if you like my template but want something a bit more customized feel free to hop over to www.Canva.com to create your own!

Enjoy!!

First Day!

First day of school... Check!

Third first day is in the books and I wanted to highlight my favorite activity that I've done every year so far. This is nothing new but it really does start off the year on the right foot. We all know what we expect of others and therefore what we should expect of ourselves. This activity is, "A Good Classmate is..." and "A Good Teacher is..."

I start off with a blank poster that says "A Good Classmate..." in the middle with four sections to describe what a good classmate is, what a good classmate does, what a good classmate says, and what a good classmate is not.



This is an example of what a good teacher is but I forgot to take a before picture of my classmate chart.

Next I simply opened this discussion up to groups. Students were grouped into tables and given a pack of colored sticky notes. They were asked to finish these sentence starters on separate sticky notes. They needed three in each section and boy did they come up with a lot!





I had students share their words before they added them to the board so that the entire class could hear all of their expectations of each other and so we didn't repeat any sticky notes.

Some ideas we discussed afterwards:

-All of those different colors represent the mix of groups that these ideas came from.
-We showed each tables "left over" sticky notes that didn't get hung up because they were already up there to discuss how we all often have the same expectations of ourselves and others in this classroom.
-We then began discussing classroom expectations that fit into what we all want in a good classmate and a good teacher.

After all of this brainstorming I created two lists of expectations that we will sign and agree to tomorrow!

(Miss DeFay is my year long student teacher. We will be co-teaching this year, how exciting!)


I love this activity because it gets students thinking about their expectations of others in the room. It helps to create a list of classroom norms that essentially was created by the entire class, although I got to change the wording so it encompasses more than just "be kind". Every year my students take great ownership over this lesson and I love seeing the great things they start to think about and write.

How do you set up class expectations in your room?

Classroom Banner

It's that time of year again, where we spend our days in our classroom decorating, arranging, creating, and don't forget... we're not getting paid. Nope not yet! I am here out of my own free will and obsession over having the perfect classroom. I don't have the best design style ever but I am super excited about my classroom pennant banner I made today and I wanted to share this with you!



This my work in progress leader in me bulletin board. It still needs some work but I was super excited about the banner up top. "Be the Leader in You", the motto of my classroom this year. If you haven't read about Leader in Me I highly suggest picking up the book and checking it out. I will be sharing a bit of my journey through Leader in Me later on but back to the banner.

This banner cost me less than $2. I was so excited about it and although it took more time than buying a banner I couldn't believe how cheap it was!

I first started with picking the paper, the hardest part! I went to hobby lobby and bought 3 (or how ever many you need) sheets of 8.5x11in paper for $.44 each. And that's it! That is the last of the spending I did for this DIY classroom project. Talk about money saver! Grab any style, any color, any pattern you want and get working.

Next I made took the full sheets and divided them into four equal parts. (can't get away from those fractions even in the summer!)

My pattern made it really easy to cut straight lines but you may need to use a ruler to draw your lines before cutting.

After I had 4 equal sized rectangles I chose how I wanted my pennant shaped. I just cut out a triangle at the bottom of mine and I liked the way it looked.


To make sure each one had the same shape I used this first one as my stencil and the rest I cut the same.



So I had all of my pieces cut out, my 3 sheets made me 12 pennants which was one extra to practice on or if I needed one from a mess up. Next was deciding what to write and the how.

This is the part that you can customize however you'd like. I opened up Microsoft Word and chose a font that I liked for this banner and my plan was to trace the letter onto the pennant.


To do this I had to do a few things. I turned off the lights in my room and turned the brightness on my computer all the way up. This may be easier and more difficult depending on the thickness of your paper. If you use card stock you probably won't be able to see through it to trace but most craft paper should work.

Next, you trace!


I used a thick Sharpie and drew around the edges. You may choose to use a colored Sharpie or another medium to get a different look. Here is where you get creative.

This whole project took me less than an hour and I think it turned out great! I finished it off with some string and push pins to make it look like it is really a hanging banner and I was done! Definitely gives me bulletin board some excitement.


I am excited to try this out with other bulletin boards or hall decor. Hopefully you can find some time to let your creative side out and bump up those bulletin boards with some flare!