Get Your Mod Podge On....Journal Covers

Raise your hand if you are ONE exhausted teacher!!! Trust me, both hands are shooting straight up right now. It is amazing what we have to do to pull off the beginning of the year and it always seems to get the best of me! BUT...we have been having a BLAST in second grade and I must say...I am pretty certain that I have the most fabulous class EVER! They are precious and so excited about school and learning which is any teacher's dream.

I am hoping to have time in the next few days to post all of our beginning of the year activities that we have been doing over the past several days! Until then, I did want to share a quick little activity that we did today and it is so darn cute! I seriously thought of this idea at about 10:00 p.m. last night and had to make a quick Ingles run for magazines! Thank goodness it is less than 1 minute from my house!  Oh...the life of a teacher! :)

Student Journal Covers




This year, it is my goal to motivate my students to become creative writers. I want them to incorporate their own voice like never before and strive to make their writings unique and interesting.  So, to inspire the students, I allowed them to tap into their creative side by creating journal covers. I gave each student magazines to begin cutting out things that either inspire them or things that represent their personality. We used Mod Podge to attach the clippings.  Let me say...it was a total HIT! They loved, loved, loved this activity and were begging to begin writing in their journals. {I had to explain the importance of allowing the journals to dry first!} This was also a great "Get to Know You" activity. I allowed the students to show off their journals and explain why they chose each clipping to represent their personality and interests. I hope this allows the students to really take ownership of their journal and create powerful writings filled with creativity!!!


I think it is safe to say that my students have the Bieber FEVER!

On a little random note...meet two of my new students:
ELVIS
The Biebs!

Happy Wednesday Friends! Wow...I have almost made it through my first week of school! Is that crazy or what?

6 comments:

  1. Wow! I so love your student's journals. Hmmm now how can I do this with 35 4th graders? They would love it. Great idea!

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  2. Don't you just love Modge Podge? I used to do About Me collages on posterboard, but started having them make them on composition notebooks instead. Their homework the first week is to gather photos and things that tell about themselves. They really enjoy using them throughout the year.

    ❤Jodi from...
    ★★The Clutter-Free Classroom★★
    Helping Teachers Get Organized

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  3. I love this activity! What a great way to do an "All About Me" project and inspire them to take ownership of some of their things in the classroom!

    What magazines did you buy for the students to cut up?

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  4. I love love love your idea!!!!

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  5. i totally do this with my students as well. It's a whole big writing journal lesson which includes our expectations. I generally just use scrapbook paper sraps, stickers, and other embellishments.

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  6. Yay! You got your background back! I love decorating journals too... but I love how the rockstar theme carries into it. I had never thought of doing that!

    Amanda
    http://www.oneextradegree.blogspot.com

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