Because of all of those things, I have already begun redoing my classroom.
I decided last year that I wanted a couple of reading "nooks" in my room; I had several kids who loved sitting in the back of the room when I had desks there. I have also decided that Fridays will be independent reading days for my kids and have stolen Donalyn Miller's rule of books to read for the year (and adapted it for my skeptical darlings). My kids will have 30 texts to read this year, 15 of which are magazine articles (to make it less scary and harrowing).
Here is where Pinterest comes into play!
Once I decided I wanted my kids to read so much more on their own, because seriously the best way to become a better reader is to read like a fiend, I realized I wanted a way to display different genres at different times. So I started exploring Pinterest. I found several pins about using rain gutters for houses as small shelves in their children's rooms. I also found a way to make my own chalkboard paint. I put the two together and prayed it would work. I was able to find all the supplies I needed at my local Home Depot, and didn't need to buy whole gallons of paint. They have sample sizes you can buy for something like $3.00 (seriously the best way to paint things for the classroom).
The beginning of my first project for the classroom this summer.
Add a tablespoon of unsanded grout to a cup of paint and stir well.
After roughing up the vinyl (it needs to be a little porous) and priming with plastic friendly spray paint, start painting!
I really enjoyed this project and so far they are hanging well in my classroom. I have the dreaded concrete walls that seem to hold nothing, but I found some heavy duty mounting tape by Scotch for outdoor use. According to its packaging, it will hold up to 20 pounds! I don't plan on putting 20 pounds of books in these, so it should be perfect!
The other big project I did this summer for my room was to re-cover four arm chairs to use in my reading "nooks". Thank goodness for my mother! She came up twice to help me strip, paint, recover, and move my chairs. We always have a great time together, and she is super crafty and has made just about everything! (Currently she is making t-shirt quilts for people, and they are awesome). When we had finished our chairs, we couldn't keep ourselves from admiring them and thinking how awesome we are.
The last time Mom was up, I was finally able to get into my room, so we went up and got started. I had also bought some adhesive cork boards from Oriental Trading (man I love that place) to use on a spot under the clock in my room that is just ugly. I figured I can use the little cork boards as a place to hang announcements and words of inspiration I find during the year. I also hung one of my rain gutter shelves there to use as a place for any extra handouts (I am horrible at just stacking things and then losing them - maybe this will help).
Above are a couple of pictures of what we did. I am all about color this year, probably because the concrete wall rooms often feel like cells (who wants to learn in a cell!). Mom also helped me make some scrabble letters (see them?) out of scrap material my dad had gotten from a site. I am pretty happy so far, only a few things left to do before I am not allowed to lift and move things for several weeks. None of these projects cost me much money, but they do take some time. When it comes to time for my room (a place I sort of live in during the school year), I have no problem spending it!
