I’ve tried several different lunch and attendance systems over the years, but I think I’ve found my permanent solution. I’ve used it for a week now and LOVE it!
Step One: Buy 92 cent Wal-Mart cookie sheet.
Step Two: Use painter’s tape to layout your design with enough categories for all your lunch options, plus a “home” for resetting the board.
Step Three: Lay out your magnets to make sure you’ve left yourself enough room. I bought the magnets at Wal-Mart too and they have foam adhesive on one side. I thought this would help with the next step.
Step Four: Replace ugly painting tape with cute 88 cent decorative tape from Wal-Mart’s back to school section now that you’re sure the layout works. If you’re like me, you’ll also decide that you want the magnets to move from left to right like reading a book and flip your entire tray around. 😉
Step Five: Peel off the adhesive backing and add colorful sticker labels (you know, the yard sale kind) to your magnets. Number them for each student.
Step Six: Use a marker to label the sections with your lunch choices. I used a dry erase marker so I could change them later if I needed to, but it kept wiping off so I switched to permanent marker.
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Optional Step Seven: Make one for the really awesome new teacher down the hall who said she wanted one too, but we all know new teachers have enough other things to do. =) She has a rock star themed room, so I used tape that matched her colors. It was also 88 cents at Wal-Mart.
I was able to make both boards for less than $5. Money well spent!
Those are adorable! Love the tape on yours!!
Halle
Across the Hall in 2nd Grade
Love this idea of using the cookie sheet! I want to make one for the class to earn brownie points when they are complimented by another teacher on their behavior.
I had a similar idea in mind, and I love the colorful tape to split up the sections. Did you hang this on a wall somewhere? I'm having trouble figuring out how to hang mine. Thanks for sharing!
What a great idea and it's cheap!!! 🙂
Just diving In
Adorable! I was just thinking that I needed to come up with some sort of idea for my lunch count, and here is a great one!
So cool. We don't have options at lunch – they get a tray or they don't. Luckily, I don't have to worry about it:)
I also like to use this method as a quick way to take attendance. Whomever has not moved their magnet for lunch…. quickly verified… is absent!
I love your step by step directions and any project that only requires me to go to one store is a winner!!
Amanda
The Teaching Thief
I love your lunch board. I just made one with a magnetic white board, magnets and vinyl designs from my Cameo. It isn't as inexpensive as yours, but I am happy with how it turned out. You can see it on my latest Monday Made It post. It is so nice of you to make one for a friend, too. 🙂
Julie