We teamed up with Eileen as she prepped her classroom for the coming school year. Eileen bought decorative accents from Schoolgirl Style, printed them on Pacon Card Stock, and used several other Pacon products that coordinate with the woodland theme she chose.
The Pacon products Eileen used throughout her room:
- Bordette - Flame, Azure and Brown
- Fadeless® Bulletin Board Art Paper - Natural Burlap, Classic Dots - Red and Shiplap
- Pacon® Natural Kraft Poster Board
- Pacon® Self-Adhesive Letters - Red and White
- Pacon® Anchor Chart Paper
- Pacon® Demonstration Number Line
- Pacon® White Card Stock
Eileen comes to us from Omro, Wisconsin, and we're happy to turn our blog over to her so she can share all the details!
I have been with the Omro School District almost literally forever. I graduated in Omro, and have volunteered and worked at the schools since I was in college. This small community means a lot to me.
I’ve had a teaching license for eight years. In that time, I’ve substitute taught, worked part-time as an Academic Intervention Tutor, and part-time as a Special Education/Early Childhood teacher but, this will be my first official full-time teaching position with my very own classroom and my very own students. I’m so excited!
Before
After
I decided to do a woodland theme, and I feel like I’ll keep this decor for a few years. It’s so warm, inviting, fun, and “homey” that I could see myself being happy with it for a while. But, no matter how many times I spend a few hours in my classroom I always leave saying, "It's almost done." I'm sure it will always be a work in progress.
So far I have spent over 30 hours in my classroom. Everything changed once I started decorating, so it took longer than I anticipated.
I think the student “Brag Board” (pictured below) and the simple Shiplap board with clips for anchor charts (pictured above) will allow for me to make quick changes and keep the decor meaningful to my students. The beautiful Fadeless Designs papers and Bordette Borders should allow me to keep the basis of the decor pretty static without it being boring.
Everyone who has come to peek at my room has commented how the Fadeless Designs papers I used give the space a homey feel. One teacher thought the Shiplap was real wood, and actually was startled when she touched the Natural Burlap to find that it was smooth paper, and not the rough fabric that it mocks.
Another great thing about the Fadeless Designs papers is that they give you reference points for hanging. I have such trouble hanging things in a straight line, but the lines on the Shiplap and the patterned dots on the Classic Dots helped keep me straight.
The Self-Adhesive Letters give such a clean look when put on bulletin boards. Gone are the days of reusing letters littered with staple holes on bulletin boards. These babies look good even after moving them around multiple times. I also love how you can stick them to any surface to make more wall space purposeful while maintaining a clean look.
Adding the Azure Bordette along the cork board strip above the dry erase board gave the board a little more character and was literally a two minute project.
Layering two colors of Bordette together is a simple way to add another pop of color and interest to your boards.
The Natural Burlap paper was an easy way to cover up my dated cabinets. I also used it on the board by my desk. This paper is a nice neutral pattern that worked well with my theme.
This year I am also trying flexible seating. I'm really excited and nervous to test this, but I think a lot of students will benefit from it. I was lucky enough to have my mom sew pillow and chair covers that match perfectly with the Fadeless paper!
My motto is "less is more". For me, using the quality textured Fadeless Design papers and Bordette Borders gave my room a feeling of completeness without hanging up tons of other stuff. Very little of what I put up was purely for the purpose of decorating, most of it has an educational purpose or is there to help the students take ownership in the room.
Details are important. Not itty bitty details but, details big enough to pull the room together and easy enough that they won’t take all day to complete. Putting the Classic Dots paper in picture frames to make decorative (yet useful) dry erase boards brought the dots pattern to the other side of the room and pulled the whole room together.
