Tricks of the Trade: The Wonders of Velcro

One of the most helpful discoveries I've had during my teaching career has been the many uses of Velcro dots for classroom organization.

HIGH-FIVE CHART

You may have seen my High-Five chart in this earlier post or floating around Pinterest.

Each week I stick the words to practice on the chart so that students can high-five them as they read them on their way out the door.

The chart has Velcro dots attached to it, so changing the words each week is simple!

The backs of the high-five words have the other half of the Velcro dot.

MORNING MEETING AREA

CLASS JOB CHART

I used to use pins to change out the student jobs, and this made tons of little holes in my bulletin board.

I purchased Velcro dots, and stuck one half onto the actual bulletin board:

The other half of the dot is stuck to the back of the student bird name card.

Now I can switch the jobs every day without ruining the bulletin board or the bird name cards.

The front and back of the bird name cards:

To be even more resourceful, I affixed the names onto the fronts of the birds using Velcro too!

front view of job name card

back view of job name card

This allows me to use the birds year after year without having to buy a new set every time.

CALENDAR

I used to use sticky-tac to attach the calendar numbers onto my class calendar.

It never stuck very well...and often left a gooey residue on the calendar and number cards.

I now use Velcro dots.

Each square on my calendar has a Velcro dot on it.

The backs of the calendar numbers do too. They are so easy to attach and remove!

WEATHER CHART

My weather chart gives options for pictures as well as words to complete the sentence "Today's weather is..."

I've put a Velcro dot onto the space to be filled in the sentence, as well as on the backs of the weather words:

I've done the same with the corresponding weather pictures:

ANCHOR CHARTS

They are perfect for switching out pictures on anchor charts, too!

Velcro dots make things so easy to switch, without ruining your bulletin boards.

They allow you to reuse things time and again.

And best of all, strips of Velcro dots can be purchased at the Dollar Store!