This past week, I had the extreme privilege of visiting my childhood elementary school to check out the newest and best in classroom decorations! Despite their busy schedules - meetings and last minute preparations before school started the next day - the gracious teachers at Hartville Elementary welcomed me into their colorful and engaging world; a world in which they will spend countless hours the next 180 days, impacting the lives of the children in our community. I thank you all for dedicating your lives to helping our children grow, both as students and individuals. Here's to a brilliant school year, ladies and gents! {And thanks a million for allowing me the opportunity to visit your classrooms! I had a blast!}

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Birthdays in Miss. Lisa's third grade classroom are a colorful affair indeed! Keeping with the ocean theme, her birthday cake coral is decorated with large, vibrant candles and her students are recognized using bright "sprinkle like" cutouts! The result is a super fun display that can be kept up year round!

Ocean Themed Birthday Bulletin Board

• Background: Aqua bulletin board paper.
• Title: "Happy Birthday, Mates!"
• Border: Solid black wavy trimmer.
• Decoration: On scraps of yellow and brown background paper {or any color of your choice}, use your classroom projector system to enlarge and trace a coral cutout, adding any detailing with a black marker or black craft paint. Complete the same process with the birthday candles. Select a clip art image to enlarge and trace onto background paper in various colors, adding an orange flame to the top of each, and creating using black marker/paint to add shape/detailing. Mount the candles onto the coral "cake". With the leftover scraps of colored paper, create "sprinkles" on which to write your students' names and birthdays.

Supplies for this bulletin board...