Class Syllabus Infographic

Handing out a paper syllabus is so 2008... haha! I thought I'd try something new and creative for my students this year and appeal to their visual sense as well as make the information easier to understand and process for students and parents. Here's where I got my "pinspiration":


I decided to try to build one from scratch and it took just as long as you think it would! I ended up using Piktochart, just as the owner of the above syllabus did. Making an account was easy. I just used my work Google account and signed up for the free account immediately. It took less than a minute.

They have pre-designed templates that you can choose from, so I found one that seemed like it would fit my purpose. I chose the Minimalist template and got to work! I opened my traditional syllabus and began conveying the information that was already available onto the template. I decided that I wanted the information to be chunked in blocks like the one I found online, but I wanted to use a bit more color. See for yourself:

I'm really proud of how it came out! While it's not perfect, I don't think it's too bad for a first try! I really wanted to print a big size from my classroom, but I had to get a little creative because the poster maker at work can only print from PDFs... so I Googled "JPG to PDF converter" and used the first site that came up to convert it! It worked great. If I had the Pro version of Piktochart I would have been able to simply download it as a PDF, but they only give you the options of low to medium resolution JPG or PNG files. You also have to put up with having their logo on the bottom. Not a big deal really... especially since I just cut it off on my poster! 

When you opt for pro, you also get access to their full library of templates, no logo on the bottom, and way more upload space. I'm fine with the free account for now, but if I use this much more, I might ask my school district to look into it for me. Pro is priced at $29 a month (!) but if you're an educational institution or non-profit organization, you can get it for $39.99 a year.

Valentine's Day in the Middle

Middle school students are too cool for Valentine's Day cards. Just because they are too cool to hand them out, doesn't mean they don't want to receive them! I love being able to surprise my students with something that makes them feel noticed and cared for. Being acknowledged is a major part of the psyche of a middle schooler, at least in my experience. So while looking for Valentine's ideas for the sprout I came across an idea perfect for an English classroom.

Here's what I pinned:

I followed the link in the pin to Etsy to purchase and download the PDF template for the tops of the baggies.

Here's all of the supplies I used in order to create the valentines:

Martha Stewart Crafts Bone Folder, Wilton 100 Count Party Bags 4"x6", Swingline 747 Classic Stapler, Cheez-it Scrabble Junior, , Fiskars 12 Inch Portable Scrapbooking Trimmer, White cardstock (purchased from RAFT San Jose)

I started out by cutting out all of the little cards and trimming them to the correct size. It's really important to have sharp scissors or a scrapbooking trimmer so that this part goes smoothly. I ended up cutting out a LOT of them as you will see, so the sharper your blade, the easier this part will be.

Next, I had to fold all of the little cards. For this step I used the bone folder. Yeah, you could just use your hand to fold it, but the bone folder makes the crease so sharp and makes really fast work of your project. It also helps keep your project clean and free from hand oils. Here's a video I made (with my knees!) that shows how to use a bone folder.

The next step is to fill the bags with the Cheez-its, then fold over an inch and a half or so at the top of the bag. I chose to fill the bags with 10 Cheez-its each. I needed to make sure that I had enough for my whole project and I didn't want to to over fill the bags either.

Finally, I took one of the cards that I pre-folded and placed it over the fold I made at the top of the bag. I then used my stapler to put one staple on each side of the card, to secure it to the top of the bag.

I think they came out pretty cool! I ended up making 160 of them! I would definitely do this project again. It was an easy way to do something a little extra, wasn't too expensive (I think I spent about $30 because I already had the bone folder,stapler, trimmer, cardstock, and a few of the bags, left over from another project. So they came out to a bit less than 19 cents each). Make stuff for big kids, too! everyone likes getting a Valentine!