Tissue paper and glue can really make your classroom theme stand out!

Students can make some amazing things for a classroom theme with paper, tissue paper, and watered down glue. Take a look at the colorful animals in this Animal Print Classroom/Jungle/Rainforest. The students are going to love these big decorations because they helped to make them. It's going to be a great year when the students have a room they want to learn in every single day!  Read more  

Animal Theme Classroom Tic Tac Toe Boards

 Wouldn't these Tic Tac Toe boards look great in your Animal Print classroom?  I made these Animal Print Tic Tac Toe boards for a Gifted Leadership event called The Shoe Carnival. Our GT Leadership middle school students headed up a carnival to raise money for Amy for Africa when they were taking 26,000 pair of Sketchers to Uganda. So, all the carnival events were focused on shoes, socks, feet, and toes and ALL with an African decorative touch. The event was a success and we surpassed our fundraising goal.

I also knew these Tic Tac Toe boards would come in handy in the classroom.
Tic Tac Toe can be pulled out for those rainy day recess games.
They can be used in math class and not just for simple Tic Tac Toe. You can tic tac toe multiplication facts, factors, multiples and many other great games. Just look it up on Pinterest!
Once the students know some of the other games, these Animal Print Tic Tac Toe boards can be put into your Centers rotations, too.

I took one piece of white poster board and cut it into 4 pieces.  I ran copies of a tic tac toe board (just Google it) in a color to match my theme and picked out Duck Tape to coordinate. (so, this idea will work for whatever your classroom theme is)  I glued the tic tac toe board onto the poster boards and then put Duck Tape around the edges by taping it half-way along the edge and then flipping it over and taping down the other half onto the back of the board. (see photos)

These versatile Tic Tac Toe Boards will stand the test of time. I also have some that have a page protector pocket in the center so I can switch the game out and students can write on them with an Expo marker.
If you make some to match your classroom, post a photo in the comments - I'd love to see yours!

Dog Theme Classroom Photos

Another great way to make your Dog Theme Classroom warm and inviting  is by having dog photos around the room. You can get photos in a good size for a small investment. (sharpprints.com has a 16 x 20 for $5) You can put them in poster frames and really make your classroom one that the students will never forget, especially if the photos are of dogs that we know, like these.

The top photo is of Rupp. He comes to Crossfit Countdown with his owners sometimes and we've watched him grow up. Isn't he adorable?

This photo is of Daisy. She's my 12 year old Jack Russell Terrier.  The photo below is of Mikko, my "grand-dog." He belongs to my son, Ger Sasser and my daughter-in-law, Cassie. He's always at the box, too, and the students sometimes hear a story about him or see him on Instagram.

Dog Theme Classroom Cozy Floor Area

If you have room n your classroom for a comfortable and cozy floor area, you can continue the dog theme there.  You won't have to spend a lot, either. My students love this area of "The Doghouse."

I bought the black and zebra print dog bed at TJ Max for $22. It's a large dog bed and the kids love it. Two students can comfortable read on it and they love that it's got an embroidered bone on it. (Retail $75 - how could I not buy that?)  

The red and bright blue floor pillows are floor pillow inserts from Walmart. I was going to sew pillowcases for them that would be long-wearing and easy to bring home and throw into the washer and dryer and it just CAME TO ME - this idea - in the bathroom towel section. I pulled a large towel off the shelf and folded it over the floor pillow - TA DA!  I came home and folded the towel in half and sewed down the sides, inserted the floor pillow insert, and shut the opening with double-sided toupee tape ( from Sally Beauty - that stuff has a thousand uses)  Now, they are big, they match the room, they are sturdy, and economical. They're very easy to pull off and run through the laundry cycle.

I bought the light brown dog at Walmart for $10.  (I've since received another as a Christmas present form a student.)  The dark brown dog is on loan from a student - she wanted to add to the collection.

I found this beagle second-hand. They have all different breeds on Amazon. He's sturdy and the kids love him. I have a teacher-friend who has a German Shepard stuffed dog in her room she found for $4 at a church rummage sale and it's German Shepard-Sized!

I also have two ultra-fleece throws with a dog print on them that are well-loved.

When the students go to this area they know they can have one pillow, rug, fleece throw, or dog. They go by the rules. They name the dogs, too.

We also have a dachshund that plays a song when you push a button and the tail wags and the ears go up and down. They work hard to earn a "song break" from that little dog.

So, keep and eye out and add to your collection. Kids love to have a place that they love to get on the floor and read or research or do math games.

Zebra Table

Don't you love when some creative idea just hits you and you make something - it doesn't take long, and it comes out just like you want it to?  It happened here.  My daughter has the Animal Print Classroom that you see on this blog and I have the Dog Theme Classroom. I was helping her the other day and she has this system with the student names on sticks. As the students come in the door, they pick their stick up off the table and put it in the cup for lunch from home, or the one marked Cafeteria. The table was bare last year, so I'd picked up the zebra fabric and was going to just cover the table that day....

When I placed the fabric on the table, I just "Saw" him in my mind - Zeke, Zeke the Zebra, we named him.  I pulled up zebras in Google images on my phone, grabbed black, red, and green sharpies and a white poster board. About twenty minutes later I was double-stick taping Zeke's head to the wall just behind the table outside the classroom door.

I used black yarn to tie the fabric to the back legs - this gave him more of the illusion of being a zebra. The table legs near the wall didn't seem to need it. We had a little piece of furry zebra fabric that hadn't been used yet, so I cut Zeke a tail and wrapped the end of it with several short pieces of black yarn. Then I used heavy-duty double-stick tape to "Pin the tail on Zeke." lol.

Isn't he cute? It's like he's looking back at the students each morning to see what they are doing....

Now, I am going to have to make a dog table for my classroom. I will share with you as soon as I can get it done.  Maybe a dalmation....maybe a beagle......

Dalmatian Costume

Since my new classroom is dog-themed also, I am just adding to the fun decor that came with me. In going through costumes the other day, I came across this flannel dalmatian costume I'd made my son, Ger, when  he was little. So, I brought it to school and put it on a a stuffed doll and sat it in the director's chair - pretty cute, especially since we are approaching Halloween. ( I haven't decided if he will stay after halloween or not, but I think he will.)

This can work for many different classroom themes. Think about your theme and if there are costumes that would easily work into your creative decor.  An animal-print theme could have any of the jungle animals costumes to match, like the do-it-yourself lion costume I just saw on Pinterest.  A Harry Potter-themed class would be easy to find, buy, borrow, or make one of the characters, muggle or otherwise. Dr Seuss classrooms are big now and that would be fun!

Even if your classroom doesn't give you any ideas for a costume to match your theme, you could dress up a stuffed doll as a mad scientist for the science section, or a colonial girl, or something to match the book you might be reading.

I'd love to hear about your ideas! Your students will notice your imaginative ideas and even come up with their own. My students pull this little dog up into their small groups so he won't be left out......

How's Your Weather?

When students come into the classroom in the morning, they pick up the clip with their name on it and clip around the edge of the "How's Your Weather?" chart. This gives teachers a heads-up on their emotional weather. Equally important, it gives each student a quick opportunity to self-assess the climate they are starting the day in.

Most days everyone is on SUNNY or CLEAR - that's why I made them larger and on opposite sides of the chart. The other choices usually get noticed so teachers can go by and (in a few seconds) have a little conference:
"I see that you're STORMY today..."
"Yes, everyone was rushing around at home this morning. It made me cranky."
"Everyone has mornings like that sometimes. I hope you can just go from here and get SUNNY."

Sometimes students move their clip to a better emotion later in the day but it's mostly just a morning thing.

At the first of the school year these choices were put on a whiteboard space and students would write their name on the board, but I knew there had to be a more efficient way, so this is what I did:

I drew up a plan. I cut posterboard for each area and glued it to a posterboard. I put the question in the center since there's no clip-action there. The last thing was to put duct tape on all four sides all the way around. It's folded back halfway. This was to reinforce the poster where the clips will be moved so it will last. The poster is now on the whiteboard with big magnet clips.

YOU can make it to match your classroom theme or colors easily. Attach a photo here and share because we would all love to see them!