Hall-passes for my Classroom :D

Welcome!

As you know the school year is nearly upon us... Where did the summer go? *sigh

But, I have been very busy (on Pinterest) and trolling around for lots of creative ideas (on Pinterest.) This one idea really caught my eye and I am fortunate enough to have a very sweet roommate. She is much craftier and more artistic then I am so I suckered asked her to create this.

How cute is this? Love it. Here is a pic of the whole thing (including the precious ribbon!)

My roommate created this using a flat board purchased at Hobby Lobby with black paint, white paint, black and white polka dot ribbon (also from Hobby Lobby) and clothespins from Dollar General. In total I probably spent $5. I already had the clothespins, black and white paint.

Directions:
1. Paint the back of the board black. Take apart the clothespins and paint them black as well. Give them LOTS of time to dry.
2. Begin decorating it with the white paint. I choose polka dots. Write the lettering on the clothespins in white. I wrote destination on one side and my name on the other. Give them LOTS of time to dry.
3. Using hot glue attach ribbon to the back with a pretty little bow up top. Make sure you place a dot of glue inside the bow itself (once achieved desired cuteness) to prevent it from coming undone.
4. Marvel at your creativity! (or your roommates)

So cute! And practical which is important. I don't like cute for the sake of cute in the classroom. It has to be practical or it's a waste of space and money.

(Bad segue coming your way now...) 

Why have this using clothespins you might ask? Well, because you spend money on buying some cute hallpasses that the students have to hold in their hot little (dirty) hands. Then when they get to the restroom to do their... business where do they put the passes? Hmmm? Where? Well, on the floor, gross. Or they keep it in their hands, double gross. Then they touch it after they have done their business... and BEFORE they wash their hands. Ew! Then the rest of the students use them, over and over again. Germs R Us indeed

So the coolness of using this is no hands needed. They grab one and clip it to their shirt when they walk out the classroom. Unclip it and place it back on the board when they return. Easy peasy! Little to no grubby hand touching! Woot woot!

I have a one clip for the girls, one for boys and one for the office. I made backups because you know someone is going to walk away with one or break one... or both. So we made plenty of backups.

By the way, I think you could nerd this up by adding a Gandalf accent. Like "You shall not pass! without a pass." And no I'm not suggesting you infect your students with your nerdy obsession with Lord of the Rings pff! No, that's a literary reference *cough

Nerd on fellow teachers! Nerd on!