Personalize Hallway Display

For several years I have wanted to showcase student work in a way that recognizes the creator of that work and is in keeping with my goal of sustainability, I wanted to avoid the waste of time and resources involved in laminating, taping and stapling projects to walls and bulletin boards.  Another teacher started hanging photos of their students in the hallways using diploma frames from the dollar store.  This gave me the idea to create my own, reusable frames that could display work by using clothes pins, hot glued to the frames as a quick and zero waste display method.  I used 3 clothes pins per frame to accommodate different sized projects.  When it is time to switch projects, the student finds their frame, I unclip the old project and hand it to the student to take home and then clip on the new project.  Kids love seeing their photos and showing their work this way.  As a bonus, if they forget to write their name on their projects and I don't catch it, it is easy to to identify their work.

Each child's name and photo are displayed in the frame and the work is hung below on clothespins.

Each frame is hung by a loop of yarn to a push pin/thumb tack.  These are surprisingly sturdy.  I've only had frames fall when acted upon by outside forces.  If the glass breaks I rehang the frame without it.

At the end of the school year, the student takes home their photo and I keep the frames for the next year.

Phone log

One of the greatest helps to me in the category of parent communication has been my phone log.   Calling parents has often been a daunting task for me but I know the parent teacher partnership creates a strong climate of cooperation in my class and my school.  To help make this task less daunting  I created a simple book with a page for each child.
I attached a class list to the front cover  and create an index by numbering each child, in alphabetic order and assigning him/her the corresponding page in the book.  I wrote each child's name on his/her page and the phone numbers for the parents.  I put a pen in the binding and Viola!  I can contact parents with a flip of the pages!
I like to have students call/ talk to their parents when they are dealing with a major behavior incident or if they've come back from a major behavior incident and can report a good day and for simply wanted to report a good day.  I want my positive phone calls to out number my negative ones.  We usually do phone calls during free play time.  I jot down a note in the book when a parent is called and the reason so that I have a report.