Thank you to ASTROBRIGHTS® Papers for partnering with me on this blog post to create pennant letters for the classroom. I received payment, trade, and/or products from Astrobrights in exchange for promoting their products. However, all opinions stated are my own and I only promote brands and products that I use and love. This post also contains affiliate links. I receive a small commission each time someone makes a purchase through one of my links, which helps to support the blog.
It’s that time of year once again! Teachers are back in school, back in the full swing of things, and summer already feels like a distant memory. Of course, back to school season always seems to have a few surprises in store for teachers, students and administrators. The biggest surprise of all: staff changes that occur after the first week of school. We’re currently going through one of those big transitions at my school when a new first grade teacher, “Miss T”, was hired after the first week of school. Poor Miss T was ecstatic about her new teaching job, but more than a little overwhelmed by the empty classroom before her. While she wanted to instantly create the cutest classroom possible, she needed to focus her time, energy, and attention on content and building relationships with her brand new students.
Fortunately, I happen to teach right next door and I always have a full supply of Astrobrights paper and cardstock on hand for any decor emergencies. And with Parent Night nipping at our heels this week, I’m pretty sure the situation qualified as a decor emergency!
Miss T did a little hurried classroom shopping on her own and bought a few borders and basic decor items to start decorating. Eager to help, I asked if she had a theme in mind and her response was classic chalkboard.
Selecting A Color Palette
Every great classroom design begins with a strong color scheme. I wanted to help Miss T make a big impact with minimal effort, but first we need a little direction. We brainstormed possible color schemes and decided to keep the classic school theme going with our color palate. We selected red, green and yellow to compliment the chalkboard borders and calendar pieces that had been purchased.
Astrobrights makes the best, most vibrant papers for classroom use and we decided that Re-Entry Red®, Gamma Green® and Solar Yellow® were the perfect accent colors for Miss T’s chalkboard theme.
Make A Big Impact with Pennant Banners
The clock was ticking as we prepared for Parent Night, so we got right to work on a simple project that would make a BIG impact. You may recall the pennant banners that served as subject area headers on Markeda Brown’s first grade classroom when she won the Astrobrights Brightest Teacher makeover last year.
I loved those pennants so much because they were easy to print, prep and hang. And thanks to the durability of Astrobrights cardstock, no laminating was required!
The boards in Miss T’s classroom looked fantastic thanks to the bright paper and chalkboard boarders, but the room was so sparsely furnished that we needed to add a little extra impact to help the space feel a little less empty. I printed three subject headers for Miss T’s bulletin boards. The letters were printed in a pattern onto Re-Entry Red, Solar Yellow, and Gamma Green cardstock.
Stringing the trimmed letters into classroom banners was super-simple. I cut a 1.5″ slit near the top corners of each letter and strung them onto 7/8″ black grosgrain ribbon.
The finished results made a big, beautiful impact in Miss T’s classroom.
Shopping Guide
You can easily recreate the same look in your own classroom. Here are the materials and resources we used to create this look.
Re-Entry Red Astrobrights Cardstock
Gamma Green Astrobrights Cardstock
Gamma Green Astrobrights Cardstock
All three cardstock colors are included in this multipack of Astrobrights cardstock on Amazon:
We labeled Miss T’s word wall with Black Series Word Wall Alphabet Headers, which are available in my TpT store. Daily Five reading resources are from Lyndsey Kuster. Click any of the images below to add them to your classroom.
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Miss T’s bulletin boards were also trimmed with fadeless paper and chalkboard theme borders and accent decor. Click any image below to purchase them on Amazon.
Free Classroom Pennant Letters
Add a bold pop of color to your classroom with my FREE Pennant Letters. Just click the image below to get started. Enter your email address and the pennants will be delivered right to your inbox. If you can’t find them, be sure to check your spam folder. I recommend using a personal email address, rather than a school email due to the high level of filters that administrators put on school email accounts.
I personally love the extra bold pop that the black pennant letters bring to the classroom. I printed all of my pennants on my laser printer, which is much more cost effective than an inkjet printer. If you’re concerned about draining your printer, a low-ink pennant style is also included in the download.
Here’s to a great school year that’s fun, engaging, and bright!
The post Quick and Easy Bulletin Boards</br> with Free Pennant Letters appeared first on Kinder Craze.