Falling in LOVE with books!

Have you ever come across a well-loved book?  You know, the ones where the covers are wrinkled, and the spines are barely holding the pages together?  While it makes me sad that some of my books are falling apart, it is encouraging to know that my students are loving certain books.  :)  I like to think of those wrinkled books as "well-loved".  

I recently had to repair our "Dinosaur Encyclopedia".  It's a class favorite-  a large hardcover book with amazing illustrations.  It has been read so many times, its spine could no longer support it.  :(

With a short visit to the book hospital, this favorite was back on the shelf in no time.  We did discuss how the injured book had to be treated with more care from now on.

Speaking of loving books, Miss Woodward's Class celebrated Valentine's Day by writing about books they LOVE.  It was a really easy project that you can do to spice up your walls ANY time of year!

How cute are my little bookworms?

I gave each student a piece of white card stock and had them think about their favorite book that they've recently read.  They folded it in half (if they do it carefully, they can make two folds in the center to resemble a book spine!)  Then they illustrated the front cover on the right side of the card stock and wrote about why they love the book on the left side of the card stock.

While they were working, I took their pictures.  All they had to do was look down like they were reading a book.  Then I got busy printing and cutting each one out.

Lovely little head shots.

I added two pieces of clear packing tape to each of their armpits and then secured their folded book cover.  I attached it while it was slightly folded, so it would be 3-dimensional.

See what I mean?

To attach them to the walls, I used a piece of tape on their heads, and one on each corner of the book.  I just love how the books pop out of the wall!

Some of their cover illustrations were amazing!  I could barely tell which was the drawing and which was the actual book!   :)

I love doing simple, but eye-catching displays like this!

Until next time,

- Miss Woodward

Monday Made-It: Birthday Board

Today, I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made-It!

Here's what I recently made!

For my birthday board this year, I wanted something that would take up very little space.  I really liked this birthday board, so I decided to recreate it myself.

I wanted to use the back of a bookshelf for my birthday board.  Here is what I started with:

I drew cupcake wrappers and cupcake tops for each month.  I used a marker to embellish each one a little bit.

I used my school's die-cut machine to cut candles in different colors.  My candles are about four inches tall.

I cut the flames off of the yellow ones...

And glued them on top of each colored candle.

I love this little glue roll!  It comes in handy for so many things. 

Pretty soon I had a bunch of candles!

On the board, each student has a candle with their name and the day of their birthday.  Then I grouped them according to month.  It's a great visual for kids to see which month has the most birthdays and least birthdays.  It also helps me keep track of who has a birthday coming up!

What do you think of the finished product?!

How do you display your class' birthdays?  I would love to hear about it!

Until next time,

-Miss Woodward