Easy-Update Bulletin Board

I have seen some cute bulletin boards that are made so that teachers can just switch out student work so they don't have to entirely redo their bulletin board each time.  I am all about saving time.  And when I helped my little sister set up her classroom she had a brilliant idea: burlap.  She got some cute, reasonably-priced burlap and we draped two rows of it across her bulletin board and stuck some paper clips up for student work.  I loved it.

So the logical thing for me to do was run out and purchase some burlap.  My whole classroom is about the Dots on Turquoise theme so I used that with the burlap I bought at Michael's (did you know teachers get a discount there?!).

This is my end product:

I put student names on the stars and intended to leave them up and hang their work behind their stars but the stars blocked too much of their work.  I think I'll use a clothes pin to put the stars back up right next to their work.

I'm stinkin' excited about just slipping work on and off the board this year.

Starting Off Right

Look what I made!  On the left is my teacher plan book.  I freaking love it.  Yes, I said freaking.  Love it.  I freaking love it.  I personalized the plan pages so that they fit my schedule and added calendars and note-taking pages for staff meetings.  On the right is my conference book (pensieve, a la Daily 5).  I have a section for each of my students (plus extras for move-ins) and a section of small group planning pages.

I can't wait until I actually start small groups.  I have been giving F&P tests to my students so I haven't been able to start yet.  Maybe (fingers crossed!) this week I can start small grouping.

On another note, the morning of Meet the Teacher I woke up and it dawned on me that I had no bulletin board plans at all.  Freak out mode set in.  My amazing husband (also a teacher) hadn't started back to work yet so he helped me set up this ah-mazing bulletin board inspired by this a Buzz Feed post.

I'm gonna be real honest.  Those balloons were a hassle.  Not making them or putting them up, but getting them to stay put so my student names were showing.  But I was still proud.  :)

If you like the style of my planner, you might be interested in my plan books that you can find in my TPT store.  You can snatch up my editable purple one by clicking on the picture below:

Or just print and go with this turquoise one (click the picture):

Or this red one (click the pic):