February is the month of romance, right? So what better place to show the love than the library? I made an quick bulletin board asking students to write what they loved about the library (thanks, Pinterest!!). All participants were entered to win a box of Valentine's Day chocolate... the responses were overwhelmingly positive! Just look at all the positive things written by students and staff about our library! Here are some close-ups below! The lucky winner was drawn on February 29th... congrats to the student and staff member who won!! If you are thinking that you wish you'd known about this post sooner, it's not late to ask your patrons what they love about the library just because February is over... you could do a similar board for School Library Month!
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Collaboration is king in schools - the days of shutting your doors and teaching just your content are long gone. Our students are are collaborating every day in classrooms as well, and that's a great thing! Very few jobs require that a person work totally alone - we need to be teaching our students how to work together. What better way to do that than with whiteboard tables? I didn't have the funding to buy new furniture (let's face it, very few of us do, right?)... so with a small investment, I made my own! My amazing friend Dan Lindner allowed me to come visit his Makerspace at Pleasant Valley Elementary, and he had already painted several whiteboard tables in his area. He had a lot of great tips and tricks for me to make sure that the painting went well, which I will share with you here. If you know me personally, you know how much I HATE to paint, and how terrible I am at painting in general. With Dan's guidance, I was able to get these done in a few hours! Supplies:
Step 1: Tape off the edges of the tables. Use good painters tape and take your time. I didn't do this very well and it shows in my final product. Step 2: Prime all the tables. The whiteboard paint is essentially clear, so you will need at least 3 coats of primer. You'll need to let them dry for at least 30 minutes in between coats. I had 4 tables that I was painting, so it wasn't really an issue for me. I went through and painted each one, then started over, then started over again. Here goes the first coat: Here is the difference between one and two coats of primer: Step 3: Prepare the whiteboard paint. This is VERY important. There are two cans in the kit, A and B. Can A is the activator, Can B is the base. You will pour Can A into Can B and stir... and then you have ONE HOUR to use the can before it is no good. Other people have used it for up to two hours without issue, but you will need to be fast and you will need to not be interrupted. I would suggest that you let the primer cure for a few days and then select a date after school to do the actual whiteboard layer. Step 4: Paint the whiteboard paint. I did two coats per table, and I moved quickly. The whiteboard paint is very, very thin. A little goes a long way. I was able to do two 8 foot tables and two smaller trapezoid tables (see photo above) with one kit. Step 5: This is the hardest part... WAIT. You have to wait for the whiteboard paint to cure completely before you write on it, or you risk "ghosting" - the marker will not completely erase. I believe the kit says to wait 3 days, but we waited a week just to be sure. The kit also recommends that you do not use neon colored markers, but I did and it was totally fine. Don't be afraid to use whiteboard spray to clean your tables, and a good eraser or microfiber cloth. Here are my tables, waiting... waiting... waiting... Step 6: COLLABORATE!! Now it's time to write, draw, create, and collaborate on your brand new whiteboard tables! Woohoo!! I used one of the longer tables to create my collaboration station. Check out the post on it here!
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About the AuthorHi! Welcome to my blog! My name is Christine Hurley. This is my 17th year of teaching - I've taught Kindergarten, 4th grade, elementary media, and now I am in my 6th year of teaching middle school media! Archives
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