Plastic rhinestones are a girl's best friend

We've been in school for two weeks, and our new little people are starting to look like first graders! They're getting the procedures down and settling into their classroom routines. My job during the first few weeks of school is to assess, assess, assess. I may complain about the piles of paperwork I have to score, but secretly I love data, and I love collecting all of this information about the students. This year I decided to be extra-techy, and I used Google Forms to create online score sheets for a couple of the baseline assessments that I administer. It's a genius idea--all of my data is instantly put into a spreadsheet, and it saves me at least a ream of paper. Of course, the internet chose this week to stop working, so I haven't been able to access my Google Forms and finish my assessments. To help relieve my frustration, I indulged in a little bit of hot glue gun therapy...

First I made some blinged-out clothespins...

...and then I used them to decorate my friend Amanda's bulletin board! (It was her idea; I just did the hot-gluing.)

Then I made my own bling-y bulletin board, perfect for showcasing student work throughout the year!

I just couldn't resist adding some sparkle to my boring Sharpie pens :) They look fantastic worn behind the ear, ha!

Bulletin Board Makeover

I went to the movies last night, and as the previews were rolling I suddenly had a brilliant idea for my bulletin board. Why do those flashes of insight happen at the weirdest times? Luckily I remembered my idea this morning, and after a few hours of selecting the perfect font, cutting, laminating, and stapling, this masterpiece was born:

Our theme for the year is "putting our creed into our deed." I love this theme, mostly because I've spent the past few weeks figuring out my own creed for the year. (I should get extra points; I was doing this before I even knew what our theme was!) My personal creed comes from Colossians 3:23, which says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not human masters." I shared this verse with the students last year, and I'm looking forward to writing a new chapel talk tying this verse into the theme.

My bulletin board is a giant word web. I used yarn to link the words "creed" and "deed" with words that would help make the theme easier for the kids to understand. Here are a couple of close-ups so you can see what the small words say:

I tried to make the word "creed" meaningful by linking it to concepts that our students understand, such as best effort, the Golden Rule, our school's honor code, and glorifying God.

For the word "deed," I created a web of activities, like reading, math, and recess, that the students do every day.

It took quite a while to staple all that yarn to the board... I'm considering spending the day tomorrow luring people into my room so I can show off my hard work!