Creating a Student Work Wall Display With Clipboards

This year, I was moved to a new classroom. I'm still teaching fifth grade, but I swapped classrooms with another teacher so I had to move up to the second floor. When I found out that I had to move, I was concerned about the layout of my new room. Not only was I losing wall space because wall of my room is windows, but I was also losing a bulletin board. When I first started in my district, my principal asked me if there was anything that I needed. At that time, I had just one bulletin board in my room. I asked her for an additional board so that I could have one area designated for displaying student work and she ordered one for me. I loved having a designated space where I could celebrate the work my students had done. So, the problem with moving to a new room was that I now had to go back to just one bulletin board. How was I going to display student work and anchor charts, posters, etc?

Then I found something amazing. As I was scrolling through Facebook, I saw that my friend Nikki at Teaching in Progress posted a picture of some really adorable clipboards that she found at The Dollar Store. I thought they were so cute, but I already have a set of clipboards for my class, so I really didn't have any reason to buy them. Then, all of a sudden, it dawned on me! I knew what I could do with them! I could put them on the wall to create a student work display area. I have an open wall area right by the door where it would perfectly. So, I was off on a mission to find enough clipboards for each student. I really wanted to be sure that each student had their own designated spot to display their work. It took three Dollar Stores, but I found 30 of them! (I don't have 30 students, but I wanted to be on the safe side, because I know I will have a big class this year).

Then I had to decide how I was going to get these clipboards to stay up on the wall all year AND not damage the walls. I spent a lot of money on Command Strips since they always come off the wall easily and hold items on the wall very well. Home Depot had a great deal on them so I lucked out. Then it was off to school to see if my idea would work.

26 clipboards and 104 Command Strips Later…SUCCESS!

I've added a student since then, so now I am up to 27 clipboards and 108 Command Strips. The wall is final ready to go. For open house, each paper said _________'s Future Masterpiece. As for me, this display is MY clipboard masterpiece!