Displaying Student Artwork

Sharing student work is a great way to create a sense of belonging and share accomplishments in the classroom. This board is purple fabric with a decorative border, white swiss-dot letters and labels.
A cricut is a perfect tool to quickly produce inexpensive lettering. I used the white swiss-dot textured paper with the hopes that it would pop on the purple paper.
The labels are secured with white tacks so they can be moved to accomodate different sizes of artwork.

http://www.cricut.com/

Star of the Week - 2011/12

Star-of-the-Week is a great way to get to know your students and to encourage them to get to know one another. I used this board at the kid's eye-level to display what they brought from home. The frames are laminated tagboard from a scrapbooking store. I used a gold glitter pen to add a little glitz to each one after they were laminated. Then I created a poster page with the shapes of each frame and instructions for what pictures they should use; i.e. "My Pet" or "My House." They could cut out magazine pictures, draw pictures, or use real pictures to fill each frame. I included a baggie with the poster and the instructions for a family member to help them cut each out. Then they brought the baggie in and I put them up for a week. I start with myself to connect with my Kindergartners. :) I should upload the poster PDF for download!

Hopes And Dreams/Rule Creation - 2011/12

There are just never enough bulletin boards, are there? This is my "Hopes and Dreams" board from last year, which was a big piece of paper and boarder masking-taped up to the wall. I considered it very negative symbolism when the whole thing would be on the ground in the morning and I'd have to add another 20 pieces of tape to the bag and re-stick it up before the kiddos arrived. However, now I see it as a symbol of what we teachers do daily. We remind everyone of why we're at school and keep our goals in sight. We uplift and inspire, and occasionally stick everything back up when it all comes crashing down! It's too bad that this photo wasn't a video - you'll notice the bulging corners of the "board" because the whole thing was about to slide off and bite the dust. I'm happy to say that I have a new bulletin board (a real one!) for our Hopes and Dreams this year!

"Hopes and Dreams" are a part of Responsive Classroom, by Origins from the Northeast Foundation for Children. I am trained in Responsive Classroom and believe in it's validity and ability to empower teachers and students. Here's a link to find out more: http://www.originsonline.org/responsive-classroom .

"Hopes and Dreams" are a part of the Rule Creation process:
1. Establishing why we come to school.
2. Listing our hopes and dreams.
3. Brainstorming a whole bunch of rules!
4. Sorting the rules into Place, Self, and Each Other.
5. Grouping them into positively stated, general rules (no more than 3-5).
6. You add a rule as the teacher.
7. Publishing and displaying the rules with class signatures.

There they are beneath the pumpkin! This is the list from last year. (I didn't get a picture until October? No time!) The beauty of student created rules is the ownership that comes with them. Students are more connected to the guidelines and understand their purpose more clearly. The signatures are great when it's time to point out that we agreed to follow the rules. (Rule number 2 actually came from the kiddos! Score!)

"Guess What?! I lost a tooth!"

Kindergarten is where it begins... Those gosh darn teeth won't stay in! Those wiggly teeth can be bothersome, mom and dad want to pull them out, when they do come out sometimes they bleed, and then you have to try to chew without them. But we are proud when we lose our teeth!It's a right of passage that we make the most of. The tooth fairy comes! And brings me money! (The going rate is getting higher...) And my teacher records it on our chart. Woohoo!

I cut out teeth shapes from white paper, printed off month labels, and laminated them. When a kiddo says, "Guess what?! I lost a tooth!" I get out my permanent marker and write their name on that month. I usually extend it into a math lesson as well, where we count the names on each month and fill in a bar graph (during calendar/math time).