Pinterest Insanity - 10 Things I Can Try Now

I am sure every person on Pinterest can relate to my love/hate relationship with Pinterest.  I am addicted.  Everything from classroom organization to geeky stuff that makes me laugh, I cannot get enough.  It is one of my favorite teaching "time sucks." The real conundrum, I pin and pin, but never follow through.  I have hundreds of pins, but I have either forgotten they exist or forgotten where I put them entirely.  So instead of the typical "10 things I love on Pinterest This Week" post, I am picking 10 things on Pinterest that I can commit to for the start of the new school year.  So, I went through my piles of pins, and chose 10 things that I really want to try and use the first month of school.

1.  Perspective Drawing - Kaja K.

Every year, I have my homeroom do an art project to start the new year, using their names.  I put them up on the wall, usually around their sixth grade quote for the year.  In the past few years, I have been using the spiral art using their name.  It is time for something new.  I love this, especially because we can also do some lessons on perspective first.

2.  Team Building Activity - Tom Heck (You Tube Video)

I want my homeroom to be a team.  They have their core classes in different groupings, so I want them to feel like their homeroom is their family.  A place they can go where they are supported and where they have built some important relationships.  We spend a lot of the first week doing team building and this is an activity I have not yet tried.  All I need are a few hula hoops and bandannas.  This is also great because you can do it whole class or in teams.

3. Cubby Labels with Binder Clips - Teaching With Love and Laughter

I planned to do this last year, but it never came to be.  I even have the binder clips sitting in boxes waiting to be used.  In my class, the kids get a cubby for their textbooks.  Right now, the cubbies have stickers with numbers that match the numbers on their textbooks.  The numbers are NO help to me when I am looking for a kid's stuff and I hate using stickers inside the cubbies.  They wear down and then, you have to peel them off and hope that goo gone gets the rest.  A total time-waster when I have other things to do to get ready for the new school year.  This is just a great idea and totally removable!

4.  Jelly Bracelet Groups - Creator Unknown

Sorry, whoever originally posted this picture!  I tried finding the original source, but I never did.  If anyone knows, leave me a comment because it is a great idea.  I am always trying to find new ways to make groups and partners and this will be a good one.  I would need to find about a million different colors if I wanted to make this work for partners, but it will definitely be a good one to create groups for projects.

5.  Teacher Toolbox - Ms. G in Grade 3

I HATE having some supplies in my desk, some in a cupboard, and some out for the kids in small containers.  It totally makes sense just to have them all in one place AND have it accessible to the kids.  It is tiring to have to go to my desk to get a kid a paperclip or ring for note cards.  I want them to get their own stuff so I can spend my time helping kids.  There are quite a few of these floating around on Pinterest, but I really like this one best.  Some are way too busy and crazy with too much color or too many fonts.  Ms. G's is perfect.  I can't wait to get crafty with this project.

6.  Would You Rather - dreamhomediy.blogspot.com

This link is broken, so I have not linked it here.  I plan on redoing all of the questions anyhow, but I will certainly share my own with you when I finish!  This is a great getting to know you game and it is really fun to ask kids to argue their side.  It makes for some interesting conversations.

7.  May the Forest Be With You - Poster

This quote does not seem to have an original creator, just a lot of places where you can buy it on a t-shirt or coffee mug.  Not only am I a bit geeky in my tastes, but I also have a whole bulletin board dedicated to the Redwood Forest Biome.  So, I will be making my own version of this and I know just where there is a space for it!

8.  Notebook Quote Page for Books- Image Only

Another pin where I just couldn't track down the author.  Nonetheless, a really fantastic idea.  My students keep Reading Notebooks with all of their novel work.  It would be really great to create a quote page where they can keep track of all the great quotes they come across in their reading.

9.  Sketchnote Tips from Carol Anne McGuire

I really love Sketchnote stuff.  I always go over the basics of visual note taking with my students and encourage it throughout the year.  I plan to make small copies of this so that they can glue them into their notebook at the beginning of the year as a reference if they need it later.

10.  Class Goal Photo or Thinglink - Photo by Stuart McIntyre

Every year our principal asks us to create a visual of our class goals.  Apparently all you need is a cardboard box and you can make this happen.  I think it would be adorable to create a Thinglink with a dot over every student with their goal for the year.  I will let you know if it works.

So, I challenge you too, to go through your mess of Pinterest Boards and find 5 or 10 things that you know you can plan for and implement without pulling your hair out.