When literature and cupcakes collide...

I recently went to an English conference with some friends and colleagues. However, this is not a post about teaching ideas and resources, it's a post about food (suppress your shock).

We literally passed out when we came across these delectable delights during the break. Scrummy cupcakes adorned with literary greats? Someone sure knew how to keep a gathering of English teachers happy! They looked far too good to eat but the teachers stoically managed.

Please don't ask about the company behind these cakes. I was too busy salivating to be that practical.

Border hoarder...

I like to add some pizzazz to my classroom displays by encasing them in these eye-catching borders. Why not showcase the students' hard work using something so fabulous?

A wavy border containing newspaper style text.

Multi coloured magic!

I purchased mine from Amazon but this style of border is quite widely available.

Bananas about bunting!

I have recently gone bananas for bunting; it's such a simple way of brightening up a space. Being an English Teacher, I literally squealed in delight when I came across literary bunting on Etsy (a brilliant webite where people can buy and sell handmade or vintage items).  I also purchased comic bunting because I am a bit of a closet DC/Marvel fan. The book bunting contains pages from Harry Potter, The Hobbit and Dracula.  The comic bunting is adorned with Spider-Man and Superman. 

The super talented lady who makes them sells through ‘Rosalind Ashberry's'. The link for the seller is here:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/156693287/made-to-order-book-bunting?ref=related-0

Dear diary...

Since I started teaching, my love of sketching and drawing had to take a back seat and did so for many years. As a child, I sketched endlessly and my works of ‘art' were strewn everywhere.  In a bid to reignite this passion my younger sister bought me this incredible visual journal as a present:

You are required to draw one sketch a day, for a whole year.  I recently completed this and the process of looking back at the year's drawings brings me such childish delight.  Many of my pictorial representations of the day are related to my teaching but here is a sample of all sorts of daily visual gems:

Why not try something like this?  You could even ask a different student a day to create a sketch; imagine a whole wall filled with a year's worth of their creations.  Now that would be masterpiece!

Accessorising my pasta...

So this is my third food post in a row which perfectly highlights my preoccupation with food. I mean, you'd think us teachers spent the morning's lessons daydreaming about our lunches (ahem). I accessorised another pasta dish (I had already mixed in a tomato and olive stir-in sauce) with green olives, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms and quorn fajita strips.  The end result was a humble dish that had been ‘blinged' and elevated in the taste stakes.  Yum.