Pinteresting Projects

The world of Pinterest has engulfed me, swallowed me whole . . . yes, ladies and gents, my name is Zoraida and I am a Pinterest addict!

The very first Pinterest Project I took on was putting together a 'theme' for my classroom . . . and as soon as I can do a visual walkthrough, I absolutely will!!!  In the meantime, I figured I could share what I believe will be an entirely efficient noise volume controller.  I expect to let a couple of letters do the talking for me with respect to the class' volume.  I cannot find the first source, however, I know that there are now many iterations on Pinterest for this concept and by no means could I take credit for developing this first.  The options I have seen vary from foam letters to printing on magnetized tag board . . . This is my version of  . . .

{NOISE}

The idea is that simple letters will remain on my front white board and will encourage all of my students to stay at the right volume.  I'll explain the concept as a whole group exercise so everyone understands what NOISE is all about.  I operate out of three volumes in my classroom . . .

{0} - No volume, chances are we are testing,
{1} - Classroom volume, your shoulder buddy or face partner can hear you, but, not the next table or the table on the opposite side of the room,
{2} - Outside volume, you are outside and want to get somebody's attention and may even need to yell to do so.

By taking away the E, S, and on, a class has the ability to take pause on their own and do a self-check . . . if only two letters are up, the N and the O, then the expectation will be that there will be no talking until further notice!  All the while, there was no silly requesting of the behavior I do want to see in the classroom.  I love how this is a more positive and acceptable way of getting student cooperation with noise volume in the classroom!

I love bright lime green a.k.a. chartreuse and found these wooden letters at Michael's.  I found some paint and coated the letters using a foam brush until I got just the right color of green I wanted.  Then I added the glitterized paint as the last coat of paint for some sparkle!  Next, I cut pieces of magnetic tape and used superglue to the back of the letters!  The magnetic tape was not sticky enough on its own without having to take the extra step of using superglue.  Voila!