Classroom Calendar, Classroom Decor

I use a LOT of business card magnets.

I love them. SERIOUSLY. They are the best.

Every poster, anchor chart, label…and well ANYTHING that can go on my white boards gets backed with magnets.

One day after switching over my calendar cards for the new month it occurred to me that using magnets would make things a lot easier and this tedious job a lot faster.

All I did was take some of those adhesive magnets and cut them in half, then stuck them in the daily spaces.

I grabbed all of my laminated date cards and placed half sheets of the same magnets on the back of each of them.

Now, all I have to do to switch out the month is quickly just move the cards around. It seriously takes seconds.

They sell these magnets at Staples. You can grab them for even less over at Amazon.

Click here to follow my affiliate link to grab them at Amazon.

For the various events that happen during the month, I place little event cards over the tops of the dates on which they fall.

I stick those on with my other favorite thing… Fun-Tak mounting putty!

Click here to follow my affiliate link to pick up this AMAZING stuff in Amazon.

This stuff is AWESOME! It sticks to everything, leaves NO residue, is easily removed AND it’s reusable! Everything that is stuck to a cabinet in my room is stuck there using the blue sticking stuff {thats its official name in my room}.

Getting back to those event cards… I decided I needed new event cards for my calendar. I ended up making 36 new cards, plus a set of blank editable ones, too. I LOVE the bright colors.

As I closed out the school year I took a look at many of the labels and things in my room. I thought it was time to change more than just the calendar event cards.

My focus wall was screaming for a change.

These pictures are actually from a couple years ago . . . but not much is different about that board. Those LARGE headers were really bugging me. They had no “umph” to them!

I decided it was time for something a little more modern. What’s more modern than “app” inspired headers?

These headers are much smaller than what I had up there, but are brighter and easy to read.

The black and white polka dot lines are made with washi tape. OBJECTIVE is spelled out using 3d stickers. Both the tape and the stickers are from Michael’s.

I love how much “cleaner” they look and how they brighten up the space.

I think the objectives and areas of focus will be a lot more enjoyable to look at with this simple, yet fun, change.

That change led to another change. I felt the base ten/number word cards could use a little update as well.

All those bright and bold elements left my month and week cards looking a little sad and old, because, well, they were! NOW they have the same “app” look as my focus wall headers.

These cards sit below my main white board at the front of the room. The kids refer to them often when they write and during read/write the room. Having the abbreviations on them is a great improvement. I love that they are cute and a helpful tool for the kiddos. Now these essentials are cute and fun to look at, PLUS they add to the brightness in the room.

I then decided the Calendar headers could use a similar update. I put the calendar headers above the calendar using that Fun-Tak.

I really like the number line in my room, but thought I should bring some more cohesion into the room by creating a number line that went with the rest of the decor. Like my old number line, this one includes cues for odd and even numbers and/or counting by 2s (the placement of the colorful half circle at the top vs the bottom) and counting by 5’s (all of the 5s have yellow half circles).

In all, my decor overhaul led to a whole lot of fabulous elements that I am super excited about.

This resource has everything you need to brighten your room. It even has a set of classroom labels, calendar event cards and focus wall cards that are editable so you can create your own.

Click the pic to check it out in my store.

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Positively Learning

· Reply

June 14, 2015 at 10:28 AM

Magnets! This post just blew my mind, lol. I hopped over here after putting your decor set on my wishlist! Love it! Will you be reproducing this collection in any other colors (or B/W)? Thanks for considering 🙂 Jen

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· Reply

June 14, 2015 at 10:34 AM

Thanks Jen! Maybe I should take a poll about color options on my FB page to see what colors (or BW) I should do next.

Kristine White

June 14, 2015 at 2:13 PM

I wonder if instead of putting magnets on both the calendar and the calendar pieces (which could get expensive), if you could glue paperclips on the back of the calendar pieces that would then stick to the magnets? I think I might try a couple of these to see!

Thanks for the great ideas!

Erika

June 14, 2015 at 7:59 PM

Love the look of the new collection!

Lindalouhoo

June 14, 2015 at 10:35 PM

I love magnets too – so I can slap things on my white board and student lockers. I use magnet tape – you might want to compare $ to the business cards. It is thinner, but does a great job for me. Love the new design (but that's a lot of black ink). Perhaps a black outline on white with all the bright colors?

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June 15, 2015 at 12:54 AM

I tried that tape, but it curls just way too much and it doesn't last. The business card size are perfect for cutting down into small pieces and whatever I stick them to are set FOREVER. So in the end, I figuring it's saving me money and time. Black outline on white is a good idea. 🙂

Kayla Root

June 14, 2015 at 10:57 PM

What an awesome idea! I'd never though of buying business card magnets but now I know I need to. They are a great size and I can already think of a ton of uses for them! Thanks for sharing.
Kayla
The Chalkboard Garden

Miss Kindergarten

June 15, 2015 at 4:09 PM

I neeeed those magnets! LOVE the updates!

Missy Pea

July 22, 2015 at 8:39 PM

Two ideas that I got off your post:
#1- I'm working on my "calendar time" set-up for homeschooling and I love your idea of using magnets. I already had a white board that I was going to use but I wasn't sure if I could make it work (duh!).
#2- I'm going to make little magnets with the date on them for my "family management" calendar because I hate writing in the numbers every month. I might even make months-of-the year cards so that I don't have to write anything. Oh, and in two colors so I can use half of one month and half of another!