Month: August 2019

Our friends at Hammermill have some great ideas for teachers who are busy decorating their classrooms. Decorating shouldn’t be stressful for teachers. It should be a chance to get creative and show off your personality. DIY classroom decorations are easy to make, and they can help add some fun to your classroom. These classroom decorating tips below will help you get your classroom ready for back-to-school.

 

Introduce Yourself

The first day back to school can be nerve-racking for both kids and teachers. You can help make the transition back easier by creating a poster that introduces yourself to your students. Add photos and include interesting facts about yourself. You can include your hobbies, pets and where you went to school. This can help break the ice sooner rather than later.

Encourage the kids in your class to create their own posters that introduce themselves. Put the posters up on the wall so students can get to know one another more quickly. Providing opportunities for you and your students to get to know each other is a great way to create a welcoming environment in your classroom.

Welcome Students Back

One of the easiest ways to decorate your classroom for back-to-school is to welcome your students by hanging a DIY, easy-to-make welcome banner. You can add scholastic imagery to the banner to help add some fun to it. Ready to hang one up in your classroom? Check out our Welcome Banner Template.

Add Some Color to Your Classroom Decorations

Bright colors can help add some pizzazz to your walls. Adding colorful decorations that reinforce your first lesson plans for the year can help introduce students to the subject matter they will be learning. Try printing out a quote and putting it on a bright background to hang on a wall. The quote could be from a novel they will be reading or one from a significant point in history they will be learning about.

Need a colorful paper to post important dates and classroom announcements on? Check out our Colors paper. It comes in an array of fun colors to choose from.

Get Creative with Your Bulletin Board

Bulletin boards provide a place for teachers to display important announcements and dates. They are also a great space in your classroom where you can get creative. You can customize your own border for your bulletin board with paint and glitter. Collaging the backboard of your bulletin board with relevant newspaper or magazine cut outs is an easy way to reuse material you already have. Get creative and have fun with it!

We hope these tips will help you decorate your space for the first day of school. Have fun decorating, and be sure to share pictures of your decorated classrooms on social media using #PaperforSchools. We recommend using Hammermill® Premium Color Copy Cover 100LB for classroom decorations.

Call us or visit us online to order yours today!

800-638-0983 or www.jacobsgardner.com

 

 

Our friends at Smead, are masters of organization. All of their products are available for next day delivery when you order with us! They have just come out with their Top 10 list of Time Wasters, and ways you can avoid them to be more productive.

1.   Joining the crowd: According to employees, here are the top 5 ways they waste time at work: Gossip (42%), Social interaction with Co- Workers (32%), Snacks and Breaks (27%), Meetings (23%), In-Office Noise Distractions (24%). (Source: BrianTracy.com) Are you part of this crowd?

2.   Checking email often: Limit checking for email, and responding to it, to once or twice per day, in “scheduled” 30-minute increments.

3.   Lack of motivation: OK, so maybe your job isn’t the best thing since sliced bread, but it’s bringing in the bacon. So, why not make the most of it? Write up a bunch of 5-minute rewards and enjoy one every time you reach a 30-minute work goal. Another possibility: Challenge yourself to do something you’ve always done better, faster, or cheaper.

4.   Allowing interruptions: While some interruptions are necessary, most are nothing more than obstacles to you getting your work done. When you’re working on something important, reduce interruptions: close your door, allow your calls to go to voicemail, and don’t keep checking email and/or text notifications.

5.   Waiting for something to happen: While you’re waiting for something to happen (perhaps you’re on telephone hold or are waiting for a file to download), do something else.

6.   Not organizing your messy desk and filing system: The messier your space is, the more time you’re going to be wasting searching for things. Remove clutter and get things organized!

7.   Going to, or hosting, unproductive meetings: All meetings should have specific goals, only involve key people who will be working on those goals, and ultimately result in positive, measurable changes. If your work meetings are mostly gab sessions (or complaint forums), there’s a lot of time being wasted.

8.   Doing things manually: There are so many digital apps that can help you be more productive at work. If you’re doing tons of things manually with paper and pen, research how you can do those same things automatically instead. It may be worth it for you to call in a productivity expert for ideas.

9.   Never writing down instructions: When you learn something new, take notes. The next time you have to do it, you won’t have to rely on your memory, and you won’t have to waste time trying to figure out how to do it…or waste someone else’s time asking again.

10.   Recreating the wheel: Before you start something “from scratch,” be sure to research first to determine if someone has already done it before. Duplicating work that has already been done is a major time waster, and very common in businesses

Maria Gracia

Visit www.GetOrganizedNow.com?smead for a FREE Organizing Idea-Pak to help you organize your home, your office, and your life!