I’ve had this ongoing dilemma with my cabinets–they seem like great “wall” space, but I can’t ever seem to figure out what to put there. It was a time consuming process just to get student work or resources up on the cabinets, and even more of a struggle to get them to STAY up there! On top of that, when students walked too closely, or backpacks brushed against it, the corners became messy and unpleasant to look at. This past year, I have FINALLY found the fix! I call them the Sacred Scholarly Scrolls. I was inspired by all the “Keep the Quote” posts that I saw on Instagram that used this scroll style and I was determined to make my back cabinets more meaningful than leaving them empty–which just left me feeling full of defeat.
As excited as I was to put these up at the start of the year, I’m not going to lie, I was a bit skeptical. It might have been another failed attempt, so I’ve waited until now to share this. Let me tell you, those Sacred Scrolls of mine have been up since August and are proving that they can withstand the test of time!
Make your Own Scholarly Scrolls
It really doesn’t take much to get these set up and the only things I had to purchase were the hooks. It was also around Back to School time so Target had their paper rolls in the Dollar Spot for only $3 each. I’d also recommend checking out Bullseye’s Playground Online, where they sell Dollar Spot items in “bulk.” Since the Target near me doesn’t have a great selection of Dollar Spot items, finding it online was amazing!
Supplies:
- Paper Rolls such as these or wait for Back To School Time at the Dollar Spot
- Command Hooks (I think I used 5 lb, but 3 lb are likely to be strong enough)
- Mounting Putty
- Yarn or String
- Laminated signs to post above the paper roll
Get your students involved!
Make your scrolls meaningful! Use them as anchor charts or places for students to process learning by keeping track of vocabulary or questions. With our curriculum, we use the Guiding Questions and Performance Task throughout an entire module which lasts a few months. The Academic Word Wall continues throughout the entire school year, and the Domain Specific Word Wall changes based on the module. The fourth scroll (on the right) also changes for each module, depending on the need or interest of my students.
These scrolls have opened up some new job positions in my class too!
- I have appointed a GUARD who helps me monitor the scrolls. The guard is in charge of making sure they are all lined up straight because they occasionally tip from side to side. I tell them that this person must take their job VERY seriously and when we have students from other classes join us, the guard must help keep others a safe distance away!
- Having a SCRIBE is another necessary position! Because the scrolls are in the back of the room, having a scribe allows me to talk to students from any part of the room and I tell my students that being the scribe is such a high honor because it means that they are neat and have great listening skills!
- SCROLL CUTTING CEREMONY: For some reason, I imagined this ceremony to be like the changing of the guards at Arlington National Ceremony–but with epic drum music playing. The selected ceremony leaders took ten paces right and ten paces right at which time the scissors were bestowed upon them. They cut the scrolls and are given the right to keep them.
