Fun Back to School Chalk Portraits

Looking for a fun and creative way to capture your students' or child's First Day of School?  Try these chalk portraits for a bright and cheery memory keepsake!

I started with a couple of boxes chalk from the Dollar Store...  I got a few extra boxes just in case!   Next, look for a clear spot of sidewalk; I took my son's picture so I used the sidewalk near our home.  But if you're using this method for your school students, your playground should have a big area you could use.

Next, think of what kind of text you'd like to have on your portraits:  Back to School, First Day of ______ Grade, Happy New School Year, etc..  There's a gazillion things you could use for these.   My son is in third grade this year, so I chose the saying, "Hello 3rd Grade".

Now, I have to start with my son HATES to take pictures.  And I'm a perfectionist that loves to take photos, so I have to keep taking them until I get just the right one!  So here's some of the 12 or so I took...

Then he started to get tired and just went wild...

Finally, we ended up with the Back to School portrait for the year...

I would recommend you plan out first where you want the child to sit and when you have your "masterpiece" drawn on the sidewalk, have them sit right in that place and no where else.  Otherwise, like my son, they'll want to touch and play with the chalk and get it all over their new white shirt we got for the pictures.  So plan out the entire picture taking experience in your head first!

Start the Discussion:

• What did you do for your first day portraits?
• What did you use... a printed poster, chalk, handmade sign?
• What are your suggestions for taking perfect Back to School portraits?

I'd love to hear you comments to the questions above or about anything you'd like!

Until Later My Friends,

Yay! Or Yikes! Honest Feelings About Back to School

You know it's Back to School time when you have to buy supplies for 19 students and everything is sold in packs of 18.   Or how about when you realize the school's most "notorious" student has finally managed to get up to your grade level and is on your class list...

Hello Friends!   Today we're talking about our honest feelings about Back to School.  It's ok; we're all going through it and have those love-hate feelings about all the different aspects of finally saying goodbye to the last day of Summer and walking back into the classroom.

Here's my thoughts about Back to School:

Reminds me of...  Back to school always reminds me the week before school started like when I was in Elementary School.  I was SOOOO nervous!  Isn't that strange how after so many years in school (both as a student and teacher) we STILL get nervous about that first day of school?  Does that ever go away?  I don't think so.  I know picking out that first-day outfit is always the hardest for me... Am I the only one that just can't decide?

Makes me want...   Back to school makes me want to pull all my hair out.  The worst part is all the professional development meetings we have to attend as teachers, when we NEED to be in our classrooms putting up bulletin boards and setting up desks.  But, no!  We need to sit through meetings that really sometimes don't seem that necessary; or the information could be passed along through an email.

Drives me to...  Back to school drives me to drink more Diet Coke.  Friends, I'm addicted to Diet Coke.  I admit it.  I need a group to join or something because when school starts, I swear, the first thing I do is fill my mini-fridge with Diet Coke.  My students look at me drinking it with this stare like... "Please let us go get a drink" and I'm like "Not until Bathroom Break time!"  Sometimes I feel bad, but they drive me to drink it.

Makes me need...  Back to school makes me need to drive to Target and Walmart to go get a gazillion more supplies because they added a student to my list.  Then took one away.  Then added two more.  Then took three away.  Long story short... I still need more darn supplies because the package only has 32 and I have 34 students!  I HATE that!  Does this happen to you too?  Or you need to make yet ANOTHER name tag for the student they added and you ran out of name tags.  OMGosh!  Or you use yellow notebooks for your journals and no store in your city has yellow notebooks anymore because they're sold out.  So you have one student with a purple journal and the rest are yellow.  I will stop right there because I could go on and on...

Causes me to...  Back to school causes me to learn how to get up before the sun comes up.  What?  It's pitch black outside and I have to get up?  What's wrong with this picture?  We're so spoiled in the Summer when we can sleep in.

 Makes me think...  After all is said and done, when those cute little faces walk through the door on the first day, back to school makes me think I'm so lucky to be their teacher.

I'd love, love, love you to take a little time and share your Back to School feelings!  If you'd like to link up, please use the image below.  Save it with your information and use it in your own blog post.  Make sure to link back to my blog and then come back and join in the link up below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Until Later My Friends,