Pinterest... How did I survive without you?

I am wild about Pinterest! If I don't get my daily fix I go into withdrawl.

Well... not literally, but close!

Just take a look at my boards. I've only been truly active on them since Thanksgiving and already they are loaded with great ideas. http://pinterest.com/teachersdesk/

I am not alone in my addiction either. My second floor colleagues at St. John School are also addicted to Pinterest. As a result, it's not unusual to see Pinterest ideas hanging in our hallway, in our rooms, being worked on by students- you get the picture.

Recently on Pinterest, I found a terrific art idea for my sixth graders based on famous glass-blowing artist, Dale Chilhuly's glass chandeliers. While his are crafted of glass, ours are crafted of plastic water bottles and Sharpie markers. The originals that he and his artisans create are beautiful; however, the ones that my sixers designed and fashioned are GORGEOUS... all thanks to Pinterest! Take a peek. What do you think? If you want to know more about this project, it is pinned on my Just For Fun Pinterest Board.

This isn't the only great Pinterest idea that can be seen in our hallway. At Christmas I found a clever idea on Pinterest for promoting reading and decorating the hallway. It was a cut-out of a Christmas light to which a brief book review was attached. All of the students in our hallway, grs. 3-6 each fashioned a light and wrote a book review of a recently read book. The lights were printed on brightly colored paper, cut-out, then strung together on green yarn. The "string of lights" were illuminated with the sign READING BRIGHTENS OUR LIVES. It was a hit!

I especially liked that we were promoting reading. I went in search of more ideas like this on Pinterest and struck it lucky. During mid-January through this week, grs. 3-6 promoted reading once again when they invited everyone to WARM-UP TO A GOOD BOOK. This Pinterest idea featured a large mug of cocoa on which was attached a brief book report. TOO CUTE! Both of these ideas can be found on my Pinterest Language Arts board.

These two ideas inspired me to create my own book promotion display for the upcoming season of Spring. Titled SPRING INTO A GOOD BOOK, students can write on a small label about a book they have recently read and attach it to a spring shaped background. These book reports can then be displayed for all to read and perhaps find a book to SPRING into! Here's a FREEBIE sample of this activity. It contains one spring shape, a flower, and the book report labels along with directions for assembly. You can download the FREEBIE HERE or by clicking the link below the graphic. The full version has four shapes to choose from (flower, frog, butterfly, and kite) and is available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Our St. John students will be working on their shape report over the next several days. Our display should be ready by early next week, just in time to usher in Spring- I can't wait!

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6Q14Z2f7SoAWWl5bVpQcFozb3M/edit?usp=sharing

Happy Teaching,

Angela

The Teacher's Desk6

teachersdesk@yahoo.com