I was teaching 8th grade English at a small country school for the past two years. During this time, I was overwhelmed by the “crosswalk” from the old California State Standards to the new Common Core State Standards and failed to give the “look” of my classroom the proper attention. Yes… I said it… “I neglected to freshen up my bulletin boards, etc.”!

One of my goals this summer was to come up with an actual “theme” for the year and decorate my classroom accordingly. I just accepted a new job at a prominent high school in one of the top school districts in California…. Yes, I am EXTREMELY excited and anxious all at the same time! I will be teaching English 9 and am directing the “Peer Counseling” co-curricular club on campus! After much thought and hours and hours of searching for “the best classroom themes” online, I finally found the ultimate theme for my new classroom (and now I don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier): “Reading Will Take YOU Places” – which is a fancy way to say “Travel Themed Classroom.”

I have a zillion ideas related to this theme and only hope that I have enough time left this summer to get them done! The first thing I wanted to do is create a few things that I found on pinterest. I created these “READ” wooden blocks to display on top of one of my bookcases. I felt like they were perfect for “Reading Will Take YOU Places” theme! I didn’t even look up the “directions” for this project…. That’s right – I just went for it!

Materials:

1. 1 Large Road Map

2. Wooden Blocks (perfect letters from Amazon)

3. Mod Podge (matte)

4. Some Type of Paint Brush

5. Scissors

Directions (my own):

1. Cut out different sized strips of “map”.

2. Cover a portion of the wood block with mod podge.

3. Lay a strip of “map” on the area where mod podge was applied.

4. If strip is larger than surface area, bend it around the block (as if you were wrapping it).

5. Apply a “good” coat of mod podge over the map strip that was previously applied.

6. Repeat this process until the entire block is covered in map strips.

7. Let block dry for a few hours and VIOLA!

I plan to create similar wooden letters sporting the name “Ms. Groeneveld” tonight, but they will be rockin’ a slightly different “look”! Cross your fingers because I’d love it if they turned out similar to the vision I have in my mind 🙂 Come back soon to check them out! That’s all for now!

You can see my “Name” Classroom letters here!