Virtual Open House: Classroom Tour 2018-19

It's that time of year again! School has started. I just dropped my son off for his first day of first grade. It was so... uneventful. He said goodbye, turned around, and walked into the door of the school with his friends. I wanted to cry. Obviously this was way more of a big deal for me than it was for him. He was excited to go. #momlife

Meanwhile, back at my own school, I made my annual classroom tour video EARLIER than ever before! Yay! I like to do this so that both students and parents can see a little peek into our school, and to what students can expect when they come to class. Some things are very similar to previous years, and others are quite different. I like making these videos to highlight those changes.

One of the biggest changes from last year to this one is the official name change from "Computer Literacy" class to "Creative Technology." It just SOUNDS more exciting, doesn't it?

The annual classroom tour video is fun to make, because designing for learning spaces is one of my favorite things to do. One of the things I'm most looking forward to for this school year is the creation of our official makerspace next to the library at Sandburg. It's 100% brand new and set up from scratch! Having so many possibilities always makes me excited.

If you enjoyed this year's tour video, please share it on social media! Here's to an awesome school year!

- Mrs L.

DIY Emoji Magnets for Your Classroom

Not only do I have a magnetic white board in my classroom, I have a long metal electric supply channel that runs around the perimeter of my classroom (from back when this room was a traditional desktop computer lab setup) that is perfect for using magnets on. Therefore, I love all things magnetic: tiny organizer jars, wire baskets, erasers, clips, hooks, and decorative magnets for the sake of decorative magnets.

I guess this DIY falls into the latter. Middle school kids are motivated by all things quirky and trendy, so it helps to be on top of these things as much as possible. I can't keep up with it all, but I know that emojis are a "thing" right now. I thought it would be fun to print out full-page versions of some emojis to use in the classroom.

First, I did a regular old Google Image search for emojis. Then I printed the image files out as large as possible on a page.

Emojis are easy to search via Google Images, or you can borrow from my folder of emojis here!

After printing them out, I thought, "hmm I should laminate these so they last longer."

After laminating and cutting them out, I thought "hmm I should make these into MAGNETS for the whiteboard!"

And so it was.

I went on Amazon and ordered a 10-pack of these adhesive magnet sheets. I stuck my laminated printouts (I was only able to get 1 per sheet, but I had some leftover magnetic sheeting I could use with stickers or smaller images) onto the adhesive, and used regular old scissors to cut them out.

Voila! Giant emoji magnets for your whiteboard.

Fun, right? Think of the possibilities! 

- Mrs L.

Classroom Tour 2017-18! Flexible Learning Space Design

Don't you just love peeking into other teacher's classrooms to get ideas for how to design your space and set up your room? I know it's not just me. For the third year now, I've made a classroom tour video for my YouTube channel. 

Wanna take a tour? Check it out below!

I'm pretty proud of how I've been able to incorporate a whole variety of flexible seating options in the classroom: chairs, rocker stools, yoga balls, bean bags, sitting on the floor, or even standing! 

Some of these items were purchased via a grant, but others were total freebies or at little to no cost! 

Here's a post about an easy way to get started with flexible seating in your classroom.

I talk about the items purchased from a foundation grant in last year's tour video.

Here's some information on my standing desk, which I was able to achieve for FREE!

I really love thinking about and designing learning spaces. I have a made up dream job in my head where school districts hire me to do just that. 

Have you done a classroom tour video? Please share!

- Mrs. L.