Print Your Own Posters!

Hello, friends!  It's Elisabeth from Literacy and Lattes here with a fun bulletin board tip!

I love to use my cricut to cut letters for the classroom, but sometimes I want things in a color or pattern that just isn't easy to do with the machine...or sometimes you just need a giant house on a giant bulletin board!

So...I'm here to share how you can print your own posters!

To start, simply create the image you want to print.  I like to use PowerPoint to create, but you can use Word if you prefer.  If you want to use clipart, I arrange my image to take up as much of the page as possible.  

Next, select "PRINT" and save your file as a PDF.

Now open your new PDF file - it might open automatically after saving.  

Then, select "PRINT."

Finally, select "POSTER" and set your scale.  I just set this by experimentation.  The preview shows how many pages your poster will print over so you can get an idea of how big it will be when you print the file.  

Once you've set your scale, print your file.  I like to print on cardstock so it's easier to assemble and a little more durable.

Now you have your pages and you're ready to put them together!

Start by trimming the white edges from your image and arranging your pieces.

BUT BE CAREFUL!  You want to leave the white edges on your pages for now.  This will help you put your pages together.  Trust me, I've made the mistake more than once and it's way more difficult to put the pages together when you cut flush to the image.  

Now that you've arranged your pages, carefully decide which of the white boarders you will cut off.  This is much easier when you're putting together a small object - two or four pages or enlarged letters - but when you're putting together something large like my 3x3 page house, you'll need to trim only certain edges.  I like to trim the white edges off the pages what I'm putting on top.  For the house I trimmed the edges on the outside pieces and left them on the center pieces.  

My papercutter is pefect for easily and neatly slicing the line.

Now you have a clean image without any white boarders.  

With the edges trimmed, you're ready to glue.  I like to use rubber cement - even though it smells horrible, it gives a nice smooth finish.

Finally, I tape the back of the seams.  It's probably unnecessary, but I think it helps keep things secure.  

Letters are a little easier, since they don't have as much assembly.  And seriously, how cute are these glitter letters?!?

I am loving how this board turned out!  The big house plus those dust jacket balloons...it's just perfect for "reading teacher nook" in the school library!

What are you excited to enlarge and decorate?  I'd love to hear!

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Teacher Hack!

Hi all! This is Chris from A Scoop of Learning sharing a teacher hack with you. I know there are TONS of teacher hacks all over the internet. Just like you, I have probably tried them all. Some turn out to be the greatest thing on earth and some not so much. However, I was just introduced to this latest hack that will make my life just a little easier this year.

A little background first, I have taught second grade for most of my career but moved down to first grade this year. I love it! The problem starts with these little humans being quite a bit smaller than the second graders I have been accustomed to. The fact that I'm also short does not help my problem, lol!

 The problem is this, when we take whole class assessments, they like to look at their neighbor's paper! What?! No way. Yes, yes they do. I know what you're going to say, just go order some privacy shields from a popular educational catalog (ahem). Well, I have those. They are big. Really big for my new tiny firsties. They would do the job just fine but they are big, bulky for firsties to handle and more difficult for me to see a group of students working quickly. Remember, this is the first time most of them are taking any type of whole group assessments, such as a spelling test. Therefore, I need to be able to walk around quickly during the test and see that they are even writing anything down:)

Here are the only two must-haves. Three pieces of standard sized tagboard and some packing tape.

I just taped the three pieces together like so. I did tape on both sides just to be extra sturdy.

Now this next part is only if you're a 'little' Type A, like myself:) I used my paper cutter to trim each side of the end pieces just a little. By doing this, they seem to fold a little better.

Last, if you don't have any restrictions on your school's lamination, you may even want to laminate them to withstand quite a few years. Luckily, I was be able to feed two of them through at once:)

Now, let's compare these 'home-made' privacy shields against the popular name brand. Just so you know, there are the SAME number of privacy shields for both types shown below.

Clearly, they take up MUCH less space. They are light enough that even my firsties can pass them out {perk!}, and they are short enough that I can see over them to do quick checks on progress as I walk by. The store bought privacy shields can be cumbersome for these littles to maneuver on their desktop. Trust me, I tried. They were constantly getting pushed off during assessments. These are small enough that they will stand on top of their desks and still give the students plenty of room to work. Win, win!

Now, here's the bonus...my new teaching partner has had her privacy shields for over 10 years and they are still going strong! Isn't that amazing?!

I would love to hear about some of your teacher hacks! Tell me your favorites in the comments below. Have a great Back-to-School season, friends!

Chris

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5 Easy Name Activities for Back to School

Hey!  It's Andrea from Always Kindergarten.  I hope your school year is off to an amazing start!  This time of year is always so much work and teachers are exhausted at the end of each day.  This makes finding the energy to plan and prep really hard.  I like to keep the activities simple and the prep to a minimum both for me and my students.  Since we tend to focus a lot on names at the beginning of Kindergarten, I've put together 5 ideas for working on names that are low prep and a lot of fun!

At the beginning of the year, I write students' names on sentence strips.  We use these for so many different activities.  A fun community building activity is to have students find a friend who has one, two, or even three of the same letters in their name as they do.  They love to look for similarities and differences in their names.  We also find a friend with more letters, less letters, or the same number of letters in their name.  It's great to get the kids talking and to learn each other's names in those first couple of weeks.

Some of our favorite tools to use for names (and word building) are letter tiles and magnetic letters.  Students practice building their own names as well as the names of their friends.  

Another great tool for strengthening fine motor and working on names are Wikki Stix!  I have a love/hate relationship with Playdoh and sometimes, I just need a break from the mess it makes.  Wikki Stix are a great alternative and the kiddos love bending and twisting them into the letters of their names.

Bean names, a classic activity!  I write students names on construction paper with a pencil and then they glue on pinto beans.  It's quick to prep and is fantastic for strengthening fine motor.  

This is definitely one of my favorite name activities for the beginning of the year!  We learn how to use watercolor paints to create name art!  I write the students' names with a black sharpie and students paint inside the letters.  It makes a beautiful bulletin board that you can keep up all year!

What are your favorite name activities?  Let me know in the comments below!

This post contains affiliate links for Amazon.  By purchasing an item on the Amazon site using these links, I will receive a small commission on your purchase.

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