Word Work Centers & A Class Sign {#Create2Educate}

Nothing gets me more excited for the school year then crafting and Back to School Shopping!

So, when Michaels emailed me asking if I could go shopping and make something for my classroom, I jumped at the chance!

My projects of choice: Easy Word Work Centers and a Washi Tape Class Sign!

Word Work Centers

I love providing a variety of activities for students to practice their spelling and/or vocabulary words during Word Work time. I want this time to be fun and engaging, but without enough materials, it can oftentimes become a management nightmare.

Thankfully, I found some simple and (best of all!) cheap solutions to help your students stay working with words!

Each of these supplies cost less than $2! The plastic letters were clearanced for $0.99, the stamps were $1 and the magnetic tins were $1.50. Yahoo!

These will easily make great Word Work Centers! There are duplicate plastic letters so students can make a variety of words, and I can easily store them on a cheap pizza pan or cookie sheet when they aren't in use. Plus, with the see-through top, it's easy to find which tin holds what color letter!

The stamp sets are my favorite! In the past, I separated stamps by letter into drawers (click HERE), and that worked well, but caused traffic jams at the stamp station during Word Work.

This time, I will have kids grab a set of stamps and an individual stamp pad (washable, of course), and head back to their tables to work, freeing up space!

Before I opened the stamps, I took a picture and shrunk it down to 1.5" high. I then printed and taped them to the side of the tin. This way, if a stamp is found, we can easily locate the style without dumping out all of the stamps to look.

I will probably end up storing these on a tin and the stamp pads in a separate bin so I can make sure they are closed tight at the end of each Word Work time.

Washi Tape Class Sign

I am so excited to be job-sharing with a super-talented teacher this year! It's going to be a fabulous year ahead and I wanted to design something that would identify our class and match our color scheme (navy, teal & white-- more pictures soon as we get things up!).

Of course, I had to use washi tape since I am in love with it! I mixed and matched two sets and also bought some large white letters. They didn't have numbers, but no worries since the E can be flipped upside-down to make a 3 :)

I love washi tape because it's thin, easy to move, and comes in so many great colors and styles! I started by placing down strips of alternating tape from the center out. I then folded over the edge and finished it off by taking my darker color and going around the outside to make the edges look nice and neat.

The end product is beautiful and matches my classroom colors perfectly! The white shows through the washi and really makes the designs pop! I will Mod-Podge the tape down after I'm done debating about final placement, then I will glue-gun the letters together and hang it with a ribbon or set it near our window. I am so excited that both our last name initials are included in this, too!

Michaels #Create2Educate Sweepstakes

If you're into creating your own Back to School projects (and who isn't?!), then you'll be excited to learn that Michaels is giving away a $50 Gift Card every day from August 1-15!

Here's how to enter:

• Create an original back-to-school project and upload a picture of it to Instagram, using #Create2Educate and #sweepstakes.
• While you’re there, tag @MichaelsStores, too.
• The contest runs Friday, August 1 through Friday, August 15.
• A random winner will be selected daily and will receive a $50 gift card to Michaels.

So, head over to Instagram now and check out all of the great #Create2Educate projects to help get you inspired!

Good luck and happy crafting!