DIY bulletin boards, 99 and 100

This is my second week linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for a Monday Made It! This is something way out of the ordinary, or even very artsy or DIY. However, I am very happy with the end result. My new classroom has TONS more wall space than my first grade classroom. And they are all staple friendly! I wanted to take advantage of it all, but wanted to have designated spaces (like bulletin boards) instead of just throwing a bunch of poster and anchor charts on the walls. I have had three big empty walls that I wanted to create bulletins boards for things like Writer’s Workshop Board, Math Wall, Data/Focus Wall, etc.

To start, I wanted to make sure my new do-it-yourself bulletin boards were perfect squares or rectangles. I hate when things on the walls are not straight. Crooked lines seem to stare at me all day until I fix them. So I used yarn and push pins to map out how big and where exactly they would go on the walls. I had to measure a bit and do a little bit of adjusting before they were perfect.

Then I covered the insides of the big, yarn rectangles with colored butcher paper. I did three different colors that go with my color scheme. I didn’t worry about the edges being perfect because I bought some thick ribbon for the borders. I used the yarn as my outside edge when putting the ribbon up. This way everything would still measure up perfectly and be nice and straight.

This was my first time using ribbon instead of the border from teacher stores. I was so happy with it. It was fast to put up. I only needed to cut 4 pieces for each board (instead of trying to line up those precut pieces with scalloped edges!) And I love the way they stand out when you come in the room.

Here’s a sneak peak of my room. This was taken around 10:00 am…check out the storm we were in the middle of!

Before I go, I know this is late, but last Monday was the beginning of United Art and Education’s Teacher Appreciation Sale. Did anyone else wait in line to be one of the first 100 people to receive a mystery envelope? My husband and I got there 30 minutes early, and watched about 5 people cut in line (I wanted to yell “She cutted!”) We were pretty sure we had no chance, but somehow Clint was #99, and I was #100! We couldn’t believe it! AND we got the two top prizes- $10 and $20 gift certificates. I am never lucky, so this was pretty cool.

Classroom Library Series #2

I have been in the blog world for over a month now, so I think it is finally time to join a linky! I am linking up with 4th Grade Frolics to share my new DIY completely FREE book tubs for my new and improved classroom library.

In my last post, I shared my solution to my mismatched classroom library. Today I want to share how to use laminate butcher paper (the big rolls of paper that many elementary schools or art departments have) to wrap boxes. The reason I decided to try this is because it is absolutely FREE! I figured laminating the butcher paper would make it more durable. Butcher paper is gets wrinkly and tears easily. The lamination did keep the paper durable and clean-looking, however, it is harder to wrap the box because of how stiff and thick it becomes. So here are some pictures and captions to give you the step by step of wrapping a box using laminated butcher paper. You can DIY any box into a decorated storage container using this idea!

Here’s what I used: laminated butcher paper (measure and cut before laminating), cardboard box (fold and duct tape the top flaps down into the box), stapler, scissors.

First, the size of the butcher paper to wrap one of the Scholastic boxes (about shoebox size) should be at least 1 1/2 feet by 2 1/2 feet. That was how big mine was and it fit pretty perfectly.

Center the box long end to long end. Make sure it is centered.

Start with the short end flaps. Pull the paper as tight as you can, fold them up, and staple them to the inside short ends of the box.

Then you will need to make 8 cuts. Cut into the inside top corners (4). This will relive the pull that might make it hard to keep staples in.

Then cut into the bottom corners (4). This will create two large rectangle flaps.

Now you will fold and staple the top four flaps. Fold them across the box, and secure by stapling on the inside of the box. You should have some paper in the corners that are kind of tricky to staple down. I used 3 or 4 staples for each flap. Repeat for all four flaps.

You should only be left with the two large rectangle flaps. Pull this up and over the top edge of the box, and staple on the inside of the box. Repeat on the other side.

And that’s all folks! If you pull everything tight enough you shouldn’t need any staples on the outside of the box. That’s what helps keep a nice, clean look.

 

Next step will be adding colorful book labels! To be continued…