Decor & Themes

If you have an Instagram account, Twitter account, or Facebook, you’ve seen it. THE lightbox. The “must-have” teacher accessory of the back-to-school season. If you’re anything like me, you might have been intrigued the first 36 times you saw it. You might have even scoped it out on an unrelated run to Michael’s or Jo-Ann’s. If you are me, you likely messaged with your teacher BFFs hoping they too would have the little voice in the back of their head saying – what in the world?!

Which leads me to…

#1. It is just one. more. thing. to manage.

I don’t know about you, but on more than one occasion my classroom calendar has been two months behind. Once it said December after Spring Break. If I’m being completely honest, there are times when my pile of papers to grade is taller than my three year-old. I would be the teacher that has “Welcome Back!” on my lightbox in February. Or I’d have the vocabulary words from three units ago displayed in lights during my formal observation. I know myself. This would be one more thing on an ever-growing list of things that I’d have to keep track of and well, I wouldn’t.

#2. It is just one. more. potential distraction.

Full-disclosure: my rising second-grader has autism. He is highly distractable. He is the kid that will ask you about the Cold War (no, really) in the middle of your read-aloud about Thanksgiving. He is the kid that will stare – incessantly – at your lightbox while you’re trying to direct his attention to everywhere (anywhere, please for the love of Ticonderoga, anywhere) else. Lightbox-related job? He’s all over it. In fact, he’ll probably obsess over it. My point is this: there are likely to be some kids – maybe even many – for whom the lightbox will be a complete distraction. Negative-value added. My kiddo is one of them. And I can think of several past kiddos in my own classroom for whom it would also be true. Which leads me to my third and final point…

#3. What does it have to do with student achievement, really?

Now I know you might be thinking – geez, Sarah, could you be anymore of a killjoy? Yeah, I probably could be. And I totally acknowledge that the above question sounds like I could write the “active monitoring” manual for any number of state tests. More and more, though, this is a question I’ve been asking myself when I’ve been making decisions about my classroom. Student achievement is absolutely not the only thing I care about – I care an awful lot about my kiddos as tiny people, too (I mean, I spend my free time making things to that effect). But the most important job I have is to make sure each of my kiddos can experience success. I’m just not sure how a lightbox does that, especially when I consider points #1 and #2 above. There are other ways for me to display quotes, vocabulary, or emojis. For me, the time I spend making accessories for or updating the lightbox could be better spent elsewhere… and the risk of distracting my most vulnerable students is too high of a cost to bear in my classroom.

My bottom line is…

None of this is to say YOU shouldn’t buy one. I’m all about the #doYOU spirit. But for my fellow fence-sitters out there – my friends that scroll past trends like this on Instagram and have not-a-cool teacher guilt (it’s a thing, people!) – you’re not alone. Whatever your reason for not buying a lightbox (or single-handedly clearing out the Dollar Spot), it’s okay. I’m with you.

Going into my third year I feel MUCH more comfortable than I did my first two — but I still have those beginning of the year jitters much like any teacher does!

One thing that I felt was missing my first two years was cohesion that first week of school. There are so many tasks that need to be completed — paperwork, baseline assessments, learning routines, learning and practicing procedures, getting to know you activities, etc. — but there’s nothing that really binds it all together naturally!

Last year, at the end of the first week, I swore to myself that next year — next year there’d be a theme. Bear with me here, but I have #reasons. Here are my top two:

Engagement. Thematic teaching — even of procedures — ENGAGES children. And that’s the most important thing, I feel, the first week. Hooking them into the power and awesomeness of your classroom and learning!
A back-up plan. When you’ve got a theme, there is SO MUCH you can do with it to extend beyond what you’ve already structured or planned. Did those lunch-line procedures take a lot less time than you’d planned? Awesome, well it’s rockstar week, so let’s have a silent air-guitar contest!

I’ve been mulling over my first week of school theme ALL summer. I’ve been eyeing some clipart sets… and brainstorming… but nothing special was happening.

Then Krista Wallden {from Creative Clips} posted her Rockstar Kids. I literally GASPED in the middle of Target. I looked kind of like this:

I posted a little about this on Tuesday, but believe it or not {and those of you that know me will BELIEVE it!}, I couldn’t stop thinking about this theme.

So I kept creating… and creating… and creating…

And now I am SO. STINKIN’. EXCITED. about the first week of school!

So that’s my little dude. Modeling his own first day sign. That I added to the pack. {Let’s just ignore the fact he’s seriously going to Kindergarten.}

I said to William, “Which bracelet do you want to model?” and without hesitation, “THE DUDE WITH THE GUITAR!” Alright then, son!

Guys. Guys. I originally made this craftivity and made a sample, and then I thought to myself, “Self, why don’t you make one for you?” So I totally made my own as a goal-setting/tone-setting for the year and I can’t wait to share it with my team and my kiddos! Then. Then my husband showed me a video of kids reacting to technology and stuff from when I was a kid, and I had this brilliant idea:

Summer%2BMixtape%2BCraftivity%2B(Collage).png

I’m just going to let you soak it in for a minute. Seriously, who remembers waiting for your favorite song to come on the radio and then scrambling to hit record?! Me. This girl. And that song was totally from New Kids on the Block. I cannot wait to explain what the heck that thing is, and what a mixtape is! {Also? I totally loved reflecting on what an awesome summer this has been!}

I also — in my #can’tstopcreating glory — added a few other gems:

I’m lovin’ the editable note paper and important dates sheet! I’m already loading mine up for Meet the Teacher so that parents have it in hand LONG before Back-to-School night! {Also, how cool is it being a Tour Manager for a week? In my mind I’m in some cool European city!}

I also cannot wait to have parents fill out little notes of “Fan Mail” for their kiddos during Meet the Teacher! Some kids, especially those that are new to the school, really need the extra encouragement and lovin’ that first week, and I am so excited for their families to be able to provide that!

Our first Social Studies unit is our district Code of Behavior/Citizenship — and one of the first assessments we do is a quick check of student understanding of our rules. This really gives me an idea of who is internalizing what we’ve talked about this first week, and where I need to do the most re-teaching and re-modeling! I also made posters. Because I can’t help myself and someone needs to take away my computer. Who’s going to volunteer?

I’m going to leave you with the VIP passes I made for myself… I’m still deciding what color ribbon to attach it with. Thoughts?

The Top 3 Reasons I Don’t Need a Lightbox

#1. It is just one. more. thing. to manage.

#2. It is just one. more. potential distraction.

#3. What does it have to do with student achievement, really?

My bottom line is…

Make the First Week a Rockin’ Success