With the seasons changing and the weather warming up. I have started spring cleaning and the feeling of wanting everything bright, new, and clean reaches even my VIPkid classroom. That's right! It's time for a backdrop change! The last time I changed my backdrop was for Chinese New Year in January. It is time for some change!
My current backdrop has a design painted directly on the wall so I haven't been able to use it much for decorations. For Chinese New year I had paper lanterns and of course Dino and his new friend the Rat. And then, of course, I have my name posted so students can see.
I teach classes in my garage so there is only so much I want to do with my backdrop. I want to keep it minimal but I also want it functional and fun!
First thing first, paint the wall. I decided if I really was going to start fresh I needed to get rid of the geometric design. I love it but it doesn't work well in class.
The painting went quickly- I already had all the materials I needed to give myself a blank slate. I think it took me 15 minutes to paint. I removed all the lanterns and the other decorations that I had up.
I've seen a few posts on Instagram about teachers adding chalkboards to their online classrooms so I thought I would join the fun! Now, I didn't want to leave my house to buy anything because of social distancing and coughing *yuck*. So I used what I had in my house.
I found this awesome piece of cardboard. It was really thick and big! I cut it down to 22x 28 inches. Luckily I had chalk paint!
I painted several coats, like 4 coats of black chalk paint. I just wanted to make sure it was completely covered you know? I can't even tell you how exciting I was getting at this point. I usually go to bed at 9 pm (I'm an old soul in a young body. Just kidding! I just really like sleeping). But I stayed up until 10:30 pm to finish this project!
Coloring time! Ok, this really was the best part! I had five colors of chalk markers- pink, blue, orange, green, and white. I decorated the chalkboard with my show name to make my classroom a little more professional (a show name is a name that VIPKID gives to identify with. It's the name parents will recognize for you). I added some fun elements that I could use in my classroom like numbers and shapes. So much fun!
I hung my chalkboard up and added a fun kite for Dino and Rat to play with. I also found the banner I used in my very first classroom backdrop a year ago! I think it is a great addition to the overall look (I recentered the banner after I took this picture so no judgment).
I then decided that the rest of my classroom needed an update! I have been using a cardboard box as a table for my lamp and some of my props. We had a shelf in the shed that I painted and I replaced that with the box. I also repainted the one of the other shelves in my classroom.
Now I am ready to teach! I am so excited to see how my students react to this new change! I am just thrilled with the way it turned out!
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