One Stitch Two Stitch

Hall Pass Giveaway!

This giveaway is for all my lovely teachers!

I'm giving away these sweet sock monkey hall passes (made from cotton fabric/ size - 7.5x3.5) to 1 lucky teacher. Here's how to participate:

1 - Visit my TPT store.

2 -  Pin any of my items to your Pinterest board or share one of my items on your Facebook page.

3 - Add your name and a link of my item that you pinned on your Pinterest board or shared on your Facebook page in the comment box below. Don't forger to leave a valid email address.

4 - Only one entry per participant will be accepted.

This giveaway starts today and will end at midnight on February 26th. The winner will be contacted on via email February 27th. Good luck!

 

 

 

Halloween Bulletin Board

I know this board is a bit belated, but there's always next year!
This board was inspired from a reading lesson I taught last week. My 2nd and 3rd graders read the poem "Theme in Yellow" by Carl Sandburg. The children learned about different points of view and how the perspective of a story can change based on who's speaking.
Once the children had a strong grasp of the skill, we brainstormed different objects connected to Halloween. The children were then required to write from that object's perspective about Halloween.
The children really loved this lesson. There were funny witches, friendly ghosts, a lonely haunted house,  and even a gloomy trick-or-treat bag. Both their poems and artwork were amazing! As for the bulletin board, most of my materials I already had: 2 yards of egg yolk fabric, wavy black border, a Halloween banner ($1 at Joanns) and silhouette ravens (dollar store find). I think the best bulletin boards are the ones that you don't plan out too much, and this one came together quickly in an afternoon; you got to love it!

Speech Bubble Bulletin Board

Now that I'm getting settled with the new school year, I found a chance to share a bulletin board that I recently made. Please forgive the pics; the lighting isn't that great in my school's hallway.  At the beginning of the year, I had my students choose from several writing prompts: write about about something funny that happened to you in the summer, write about a new hobby or sport you tried out over the summer, or write about a place you visited over the summer. I used it as an ice-breaker with the class (students would take turns sharing in small groups), but also as a review on paragraph writing.
This assignment sparked a lot of excitement since the students were enthused with the idea of sharing their adventures with each other. For this board I used 2 yards of teal fabric, a wave-print border, multi-colored construction paper, and jumbo-sized index cards. For your speech bubble shapes, any on-line template will do.

Beside paragraph writing, you can also use the board to display the students' understanding on using quotations in dialogue, speech writing, or story writing that includes a dialogue script. Other possible titles: "You Can Quote Me," Outspoken Words, Bubble Talk.  

Coffee-themed Bulletin Board

This year for my welcome back bulletin board, I wanted to create something that was 3-D. After looking over the many wonderful ideas on Pinterest, I was inspired by this cute board. I know kids don't drink coffee, but I do know how much kids love a cup of hot chocolate. I didn't want it to be a Starbucks theme, but I did keep their color scheme (the colors also remind me of the Thin Mint Girl Scout cookie box!).  

I used a brown polka dot border, hunter green fabric (approx. 2 yards), coffee cups with lids (bought at the dollar store), white pipe cleaners, coffee sleeves (thank you Starbucks!), and cream-colored cardstock.

To give the impression of tendrils of steam, I used one pipe cleaner per cup, folded them in half, and curled the ends, then taped the pipe cleaner to the inside of the coffee lid. I printed my students' names on the cardstock and glue-gunned each to a coffee sleeve. The cups were then attached by placing a pushpin on the inside of the cup. Another title for this style of bulletin board could be "Warming Up to a New Year."   Sue

Hall Pass Love

The first couple of years I was a teacher, I bought a lot of the decorations for my classroom. I've wised up since then, and make a lot of decorative stuff now for my room. I made myself some fabric hall passes and they held up pretty well (3 years!) until one of them was misplaced this past school year, so I made some new ones last Thursday, and then I thought why not make a several for my shop?

These are the hall passes I made to replace my old ones (my classroom theme are owls).

Find these here

Get these sweet owl passes here

Up, Up and Away passes are here

I'm open to custom orders, so send me a message here or at my shop. Thanks for looking! Sue

 

Peacock-themed Bulletin Board

Writing for some students can be an arduous task which is why I try to find topics that pique my students' interest. For this descriptive writing lesson, I started by showing many colorful photographs of peacocks. Our writing targets were colors, sensory details, and similes. The children then had to brainstorm as many descriptive details they could observe from the peacock photographs. They then had the task to creates a cohesive paragraph which included the aforementioned writing targets.     After editing and revision, the students get to publish their work. I designed their "publishing sheet" to have a box at the top so they could draw their peacocks and then lines on the bottom half to write their paragraph. I found a great peacock print fabric and then used a bright blue border. Construction paper can be used to frame the publishing sheets. To add more pizazz, you could also attach some real peacock feathers around the border.

I really love how the kids imagined and drew their own peacocks. Some were very literal.    While others were more abstract. And yet others leaned toward the imaginative!

Picnic-Inspired Bulletin Board

I haven't done a bulletin board post in ages, so this one goes out to all my teachers!The children wrote and illustrated their similes on paper plate books. I decided to use a picnic theme, using red-checkered fabric as the tablecloth, black border, and adhesive letters. The hands, made from construction paper, were added for a fun effect.

I wanted my kids to practice creating similes in a fun way. After a quick on-line search, these paper plate books caught my eye (the site escapes me now). The idea is pretty simple: have the kids write out their similes around the plate's perimeter, illustrate the simile, punch holes through all the paper plates and tie with yarn. Pretty easy right, and so much fun for the students!

Another Year Wraps Up

There's a set of rituals that come along with the end of the school year.   The last week, the kids are only at school for half the day and as each day goes by the the stream of children quickly dwindles to a trickle. You say your last "See you laters" and "I'll miss yous" and then you're left with an empty classroom and a huge to-do list.

Down come the learning charts, posters, and students' work displays. Then it's gathering up the mountains -and I mean mountains- of students' graded papers, used workbooks, and miscellaneous papers for recycling. After, I'll file away some samples of my kids' work to show for the next school year - this is where I'll get nostalgic and say to myself "awe, I remember when we read that book" or "we had so much fun doing that project." This task will always take me longer to finish (I'm such a sap!).

Each day, I set realistic tasks to complete. Today, all my library was packed up and stored away and all my supplies organized and inventoried. Tomorrow, I'll work on storing my classroom decorations and setting up a supplies list for the next school year.

It's funny how each year ends and starts in the same manner, anticipated yet stressful, exciting yet hard-labored and bittersweet from the new hellos and inevitable goodbyes. To all my teachers, here's to a year well-done and an even better year to come! Now go enjoy your summer! Sue

My City Bulletin Board

We're about 3 weeks away until the end of the school year. My students are bubbling with anticipation! But before we hit summer break, I always love to squeeze in one last fun writing assignment. This year I decided on a city theme, so I had the kids write about their top 3 favorite places to visit in Miami. This board is a great way to get the kids excited about spending the summer in their city!

For this bulletin board, think about recurrent symbols that are connected to your city. SInce Miami is known for beach, sand, and water activities, I picked a blue fish-print fabric and used a colorful wavy border (definitely reminded me of the summer and beach).

I sometimes find inspiration for my bulletin board titles from songs and this was one of those times! I knew I had to fit in "This City" by Patrick Stump on my board and I think it worked out nicely. The little hands I created using construction paper and a black sharpie. Hope I've inspired you some! Sue

 

Roadtrip USA Bulletin Board

I haven't done a post on bulletin boards in ages, so here's one for all my dedicated teachers! BTW, there is exactly 64 more days left of teaching and only 5 days left 'til Spring Break; can't wait! Here's a bulletin board idea that's great to showcase postcard or letter writing. I had my kids research a place they would like to visit on a road trip. The postcards ranged from Witch Island, Maine to Snowflake, Arizona. I found the States map in Joanns and sewed a border to it, but a paper road map will work just as good. Use a bright fabric for the background and some contrasting-colored die-cut letters for the title. My "road" border was made from strips of black construction and small yellow rectangles.

 

This board was fast and easy to set up, so get your students ready for the summer by writing about their adventures on the road!