Photo Booth Fun

There are two bulletin boards for the library--one inside and one outside. The outside one I rotate monthly (when all goes well) but the one inside the room I like to make interactive and keep it for the whole school year. Last year, we had a world & US map and pushpins for students to mark the settings of books they read. It was mostly 5th & 6th grade that used this, and here's the map we came up with:

I totally forgot to save the interactive version of this map before exiting the tab, so it's just a screenshot, but it give you a good idea. Obviously, we read from many others too, but these are the ones the kids submitted.

This year, I thought it'd be fun to do a green screen/photo booth area. I'm not exactly sure how it will develop throughout the year, but I'm hoping it turns into something fun. I'm still looking for a good app that will allow green screen use or an app similar to the computer version of photo booth that replaces the 'backdrop' with an image. That's what I had the teachers use, but I'm hoping for an app for the kids since they all have iPads.

I bought some simple props to use to share our love for books.

I found these wood speech bubbles at Michael's, and painted them with chalkboard paint. I didn't think to sand them first, so they don't erase super well, though. I'll have to fix those soon...

I also got some other fun wood pieces and painted them fun colors. I was trying to find things that both girls and boys could enjoy, but it was kind of tricky. I'm keeping my eyes open for new things to add.

I put the wood props, along with some nerdy glasses (some from Target's dollar section and some leftover from my birthday party last year--don't judge) in a basket near the bulletin board.

I hung a fun picture frame, and the speech bubbles on the board with pushpins. There are extra pushpins on the board, so the props can be moved around. I hate the yellow/green combo, but I'm hoping to use the green as a green screen, like I said. The worst part is the local news came in and shot in my room looking towards this board! Bah!

Why couldn't they have shot towards this wall...?

Here are a few staff photos using the props. We just used the backdrops in photo booth on my Mac since I haven't found an iPad app that I like. Obviously I need to get some better lighting, because the shadows make the backdrop disappear and you can see through. The kids had fun looking at these on their first day, though!

Me, bragging about how many books I read this summer and holding up four of my favorites.

Our guidance counselor, Ms. Cline, showing her love for When You Reach Me.

Sixth grade teacher, Ms. Kremer, hanging out on the moon with The Serpent's Shadow. This lady reads like crazy and I love it!

And, finally, our business teacher, Ms. McCarthy, hashtagging her love for The Hunger Games.

Hoping to have some great fun with this during the year! Will post more pictures as kids take them.