Whiteboard Word Wall

For the first half of my first year in my classroom, I had a pretty standard word wall.  I had the letters taped on the wall (well actually a door in my case) and then I typed up the vocabulary words, printed them, laminated them, and taped them onto the door next to the corresponding letter.  Well I realized pretty quickly that it was a big hassle to sit and type up the words, print, and laminate them.  There had to be an more convenient way to do it!

I then changed it halfway through the year and it looked like this:

While I think it LOOKED nice, it just wasn't functional.  I had a piece of paper stapled in each file folder where there was room to write in the word.  It was definitely easier since I didn't have to type, print, and laminate the words anymore, but they weren't visible to the kids so they didn't utilize it!  Fail.

So last year I decided I wanted something that was super easy to update, visible, and appealing.  Enter the whiteboard word wall!

This worked out great!!  I had a little bucket of dry erase markers next to the board and when a new vocabulary word was introduced, either the kids or myself went and added the word.  

Now if you don't have an actual whiteboard, not a problem!  I went and got a big piece of white panel board from Home Depot and it works just like a whiteboard!!  Got the idea from the blog Ladybug's Teacher Files.  Our janitor was nice enough to mount it to the wall for me :).  The round alphabet signs are from that same blog- you can find them here.  I just printed them on lime green paper so the letter and boarder will show up in that color.

Do you all have a word wall?  If so, how do you set it up??

Read More

No Bulletin Boards...No Problem!

I was very fortunate to be given a classroom with a lot of space, a SmartBoard, AND a window!  However, there was only 1 bulletin board, no chalkboards, and no whiteboards.  I searched online for some big bulletin boards and quickly realized they are SUPER expensive!!  One night, I came across something on Pinterest that made me think "I wonder if these would work as make-shift bulletin boards?!"  They were those big tri-fold boards that they carry at Wal-Mart for only a few bucks.  Sure enough, they worked wonderfully!

I actually did end up finding two ACTUAL bulletin boards in the storage room at my school that no one was using so I took those and then bought 2 black tri-fold boards.  Can you tell which ones are which?!?!

I am actually thinking of buying 4 more and making them into 1 giant bulletin board for that adjacent wall just because I love the black background :)

Read More

"I Can..." Wall

Just thought I would share with you a fun speech display I created on the boring wall outside of my classroom!  I always make sure my kids are reminded of their speech and language goals so they always know why they are with me and what they are working toward.  I decided to have them create "I Can" statements to put a positive spin on their goals and in words they truly understand.  It is nice to have a display outside of my room so teachers and students walking past know what we are working on in here!  During parent/teacher conferences the kids were really excited to show their parents the display and explain their goals. 

Here is what it looks like:

 (Sorry the lighting isn't very good back in my corner of the building!)

Read More