I love back to school time and creating memories that will last forever!
Back to school is the perfect time to start making those memories. Every year, I have a tradition in my classroom of taking every student's photo on the first day of school. My first year was a simple photo taken against the wall. Not too exciting. I wanted the photos to be more fun and creative. The photos are used as part of an end of the year gift that I give each student. I like to change it up each year. Most of my ideas are my twist on ideas I have seen from other blogs or pinterest.
I am including some of my ideas and how I made each of them in case you would like to implement them into your classroom or at home with your own student/students.
This is a quick and easy prop to use in the photos. I have a Cricut Machine and simply cut the number 2 out on black cardstock and used a white chalk marker to write the "year" and "Grade". You could also print a number out, if you do not have use of a Cricut or Silhouette Machine.
This is a photo of my son when he was in 2nd grade. I got his photo taken as well. Hence no smile face needed to cover his sweet face. He's in 7th grade now.
This is another fairly easy photo prop to make, I took an old frame I had at home and took the glass out. I made sure it was a frame that was light enough that students could hold up easily. Then, I spray painted it black, so it would blend into the backdrop. Again, I used my Cricut machine to cut out letters and flower die cuts. Glue dots helped secure the letters down to the frame.
One of my favorite purchases was a black photo backdrop which came with a stand. I initially bought the backdrop for my daughter's wedding reception. It was a great purchase, as I have used it over and over since then. I definitely got my money use from it. It has been used for several different purposes in the classroom. I purchased the backdrop off Ebay for around $50. They range from $30 and $100.
For these photos, I took the black backdrop and strung a string across the stand and overlapped crate paper and curly ribbon to add interest and color. I added a title and the sun for additional pizazz. Some of the students wanted to pretend they were surfing in the photo. Students loved having their photo taken in front of this backdrop! This was very inexpensive I probably spent $5 total on the paper at the dollar store.
Option 4 is another inexpensive prop for the first day of school. I bought a small dowel from Hobby Lobby and cut the rest out on my Cricut Machine. You could easily cut out your shape on cardstock and add lettering or write with a white marker. This was definitely under $5. I again used my trusted black backdrop.
Hobby Lobby carries a chalkboard paper roll for bulletin boards. I took my stand that came with the backdrop and draped the paper over the top bar. I added the lettering (made on the Cricut) and glued it onto the paper. The font was a chalkboard font. I decided not to write the year on the paper, so I could reuse the backdrop again. This is my favorite back to school photo taken thus far! I used this in my classroom last year. Total spend on this was under $10. I used my Hobby Lobby 40% off coupon to purchase the paper.
I like to take the class photo in front of my back to school bulletin board. We take a smiling photo and we usually take a silly photo. The first day of school can be hard for some students. This makes it a little less stressful. I had a student teacher last year and thought it was important to include her in all our classroom photos as she was definitely part of our classroom family.
I hope you found some photo ideas that will help your first day be memorable too! I love making the first day of school special and capturing it in a photo.
*** Here's an update to my newest photo prop for back to school 2017. I have a hollywood bulletin board which I will use for the photo background and the students will hold a movie clapper in front of them.
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