Classroom Ideas

I know this topic might not appeal to all of you but a lot of you may like having a nosey into people's spaces just like me. Therefore, I thought I would share with you some of the ideas I have for my classroom in September. 

The thing I have found most difficult when planning the decor in my room is the fact that i'm in the upper years of the school. That means that some of the cute, bright, silly ideas I've seen won't be appropriate for my 10 year old pupils. Whilst I've got to create an inspiring, useful and interactive classroom, I've also got to remember that my 10 year old, slightly hormonal boys will not appreciate glitter and rainbows. 

So, I decided to turn to Pinterest (where else) and a few other teaching blogs to gain some ideas for my classroom. Hopefully I will be able to show you my own versions in September when I am all moved in.

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Can we just start by appreciating how beautiful these colours are! I'm thinking of creating these letters to make a sign for our door saying "Class 12". I've looked online and fabric letters are SO expensive to buy so i'd be happy to make these myself by cutting out letters from cardboard and wrapping them in wool/fabric.

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This is a great activity for my class to get on with in the morning or when they have finished their tasks. It will appeal to the older children, it needs no teacher explanation and it's easy to maintain. Once I have initially set it up, they can just shuffle the pack of cards to choose new numbers each day! 

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Pegs are a teachers best friend. I never realised this until recently but when you have different piles of papers everywhere for different lessons and abilities it can get a bit overwhelming. I want to personalise pegs like this but instead of having days I want to use subjects. Then all my resources for the day will be organised and ready.

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When I read this print I knew I had to have it in my classroom somewhere. Not only does it looks pretty, it stands for something the children really need to be aware of. My new school is full of high achievers that don't experience failure very often which is great but it also has it's downsides. In life people need to fail and make mistakes as you learn more that way. I want my pupils to learn that and not be scared of getting things wrong. Therefore I am printing this off and making it a poster in my classroom.

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I love the idea of having bunting in a classroom but I don't want to copy this idea above. Instead I want to have bunting with the children's photos on as part of the "Our Class" display. 

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Now this idea will not work with my 10 year old pupils as they will think it's ridiculous but it's definitely an idea i'm going to keep in the bank for when I have a younger age group. It's simply an empty bottle so you can spray it and pretend it makes a child quiet. Brilliant!

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This storage system just screams out to the tiny part of OCD I have deep inside me. It's such an easy and free way to create storage and I would definitely consider these for our class set of pencils.

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And of course my desk...the aspect i'm most excited about. I can't wait to get all my stationary and desk organisers! I'll definitely be popping over to MUJI to get some filing and storage systems for what will possibly be the prettiest teacher desk of all time.

I hope you enjoyed this slightly different post and if you have any ideas for me I would really appreciate it!

DIY | Pressed Flower Frame

Hello lovlies. This is a post I've been incredibly excited to share with you since starting the project a couple of weeks ago. Pressed flowers have always been such a dreamy thing for me and after spotting gorgeous handmade framed pressed flowers on Pinterest (where else?), I knew I had to give it a go).

• A flower press (if you don't have one a large book under something heavy also works)
• Fresh flowers
• A photo frame
• Paint and a paintbrush (optional - I found an old frame and wanted to change the colour)
• Glue

Step 1

Choose your flowers. I picked my flowers from my garden so they're all fairly green but that's the look I wanted. I picked the purple flowers from a bunch that my mum bought (thanks mum!) to add a pop of colour.

Step 2

Lay your flowers out on your press and tighten the lid. Make sure you don't put too many flowers in at once or they can get stuck together. If you're using a book, close it and put something very heavy on top. There is lots of different advice on how long you should leave the flowers for so it depends on how good your press is, whether the weight on your book is heavy or not and whether your flowers have any moisture on before being pressed. I left mine for about five days and they turned out fine.

Step 3

If you've got an old frame you'd like to use (like me), you can paint it to make it more up to date. As i'm planning on hanging my finished piece on the wall, I wanted the colour of the flowers to pop so I painted my frame a light duck egg blue. It ended up needing a few coats of paint with an hour of drying time inbetween layers.

Step 4

You now need to arrange your flowers in a setup you like. I put the large green piece in the middle and arranged the more delicate flowers around it. When you are happy with the arrangement place the back on the frame. I needed to put a piece of white paper behind the arrangement so you may need to done. If you're worried about the flowers moving, you can glue the flowers to the background paper.

Step 5

Sit back and enjoy your beautiful handmade frame. It cost me nothing (maybe £5 for a frame if you don't have one) and could easily be sold on Etsy for £20-£30. You're welcome. 

DIY | Washi Tape Candles

If anyone else is as much of a Pinterest lover as me, you have probably seen these washi tape candles before. It's one of the simplest DIY projects ever and can bring a much needed pop of colour to a boring space. There really isn't a need for me to show you guys how to make these as they are so straightforward but heyho, here we go...

You will need: 

• washi tape (can be bought from ebay for £1-£2)
• tealight candles (mine are sweet vanilla and coconut scented from Primark)
• pair of scissors

Step 1

Take your washi tape and carefully wrap it around the side of the candle, trying to be as neat as you can on the top. There will probably be some excess tape on the bottom.

Step 2

Washi tape tends to be fairly thick so you won't need more than one layer. Cut off the tape and smooth down the edges.

Step 3

You may find that your tape is wider than your candle. In this case you can either tuck the excess tape underneath the candle or cut it off to create a smooth line.

Before                                                     After

This DIY project is so simple and you can choose any colour tape to compliment the room. Has anyone else tried this?