Bulletin Boards - Part 1

In case you don't read @approx_normal's blog, one of her posts last week was about secondary classroom decor. One of her frustrations was how difficult it had been to find pictures and examples of how to set up a classroom. In addition to her blog post, I had been scouring pinterest for classroom ideas - which lead to serious "I want to be an elementary teacher" envy! I mean, seriously, when I look at the elementary teacher blogs and their organization and their creativity, it makes me just want to go buy a Cricut machine and color coordinate my world! But, before I rushed out and purchased tons of cool stuff from Hobby Lobby, my practical side kicked in and I decided instead to redo my bulletin boards :)

Some background...
Last summer, I moved into a new building which meant a lot of packing (and unpacking) and 3 new bulletin boards to decorate. For some reason, my school doesn't do the traditional cork bulletin boards, we have these bizarre gray things:



In my previous classroom, I had this cute blue fabric with ladybugs and daisies, which I really liked, but I decided I needed something more classy and mature for the new building. So off to the fabric store(s) I went... it took me hours to find the perfect fabric! I love chocolate brown and blue together and I loved this fabric. Of course, that fabric then led to hours and hours of searching for the right color of border... who knew how difficult it was to match blues!?!?!



So I lived with my beautiful brown and blue fabric for a year and while I really did love the pattern, I also had some ideas of how to use my bulletin boards this year and I did NOT want to go through the whole color-match issue again! I mean, seriously, the ONLY border I could find was the old-school bordette stuff! So, back to the fabric store(s)... but this time I was smarter and shopped online first! I found the perfect fabric at Hobby Lobby and it was 30% off! Woot!!! I mean, just check out this color combo....



LOVE IT!!! The black and white background with neon accents.... beautiful!! Of course, that meant I HAD to go to school to try it out!



Isn't it ppuuuuurrrrddddyyyy? :) I just LOVE it! The hanging file on the right is where I put make up work. Each hour is color coded and that color also is the color for their turn in basket and their files/folders. Whenever a student is absent, they know to check that folder for any handouts. The clipboard is where I place the sign out sheets for the hall pass so I can have a record of who leaves my room. Obviously if they are going to a different building or the nurse's office, then I write a traditional pass, but this hall pass is for the little trips like to fill up their water bottle, etc. At first I wasn't sure about the white trim, but it's really growing on me. I mean, check out the view from my desk:



You'll notice that the two other boards aren't done yet and you'll also notice the mess of colors on the student desks in front of my desk. That's part of what is going on the other two boards. One of them will be for AP Stat and the other for Algebra 2. After cruising the font websites the other night, I found the perfect bulletin board font, so I installed the font, ran my titles off onto purple cardstock, laminated and cut it out. Let's just hope and pray that no student asks me what font I used! (See the link above for the font name if you're unsure why that's a problem)



Tomorrow I hope to finish up the Algebra 2 board by adapting Mathy McMatherson's Wall of Remediation. I purchased neon library card pockets to post on the boards to put my Learning Target cards in. Since I laminated the card pockets, I can write on the pocket with the current Learning Targets and cycle out the old and put in the new LTs. I'm not sure what to do yet with the AP Stat board, but I'll figure it out soon enough :)