Speaking of bulletin boards: what will you have up at the start of the year?

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I have 4 bulletin boards in my classroom and I'm not really sure what I'm going to put up to start the year off. What are you putting up?
 
I have 4 boards. Two of them are used to post their autobiographies, one is used for the OCR concept/question board, and the last one is used for math. The second week of school we make a prime/composite hundreds chart on the math board. Everybody participates in making the bulletin boards!
 
I'll have reading strategies on our Harry Potter board, our job board, our morning meeting board with the Tribes agreements, a science board (blank to start, I think, but with a magic schoolbus), our social studies board (also blank, but with a magic treehouse theme), our word wall (no words yet), our writer's workshop board, our writing traits board, and our math museum. I'm lucky-I have a ton of boards to play with. Oh-I'll have our super slueths (mastery club) chart on the back wall, and a parent information board.
 
I only have 2 BB's so I turn my other white board into a BB. I always put up a calendar and a welcome board. The white board has library checkout system, info. board, behavior board, etc.

On my welcome board I try to put up something that looks nice, but with some pieces that the kids can decorate on the first day (when things are crazy). Last year I made a giant hot air balloon and put Soaring Into 4th Grade. I cut out clouds and let the kids deco. the clouds to go around the hot air balloon. This year the board will be We're On a Sxxxxxxxxx Safari(My last name starts with an "S".) I'm not sure what the kids are going to make yet. I'm trying to find jeep patterns or I may make tropical-looking leaves.
 
from left to right as you enter my room:

Science-just title "Mrs. teach_each1's class gets Eaten" and Magic School Bus. Will use it to post anchor charts and experiment posters

Social Studies- "Rights and Responsibilities" class will create class constitution first week of school

Math- I have no cute title here. I'm thinking Math Mysteries and using magnifying glasses to highlight tricks, strategies and helps as we learn. They're redoing our math curriculum this week so I'm not even sure what I'll be teaching first.

Reading-"Unlock a Good Book" for our reading strategies area.

Back of Library- "Toadlly Good Work" student work board

Writing-"Write On" focus on our 6 trait. Student examples of traits.

Famous Missourians are on the cornice space of this area

Back wall of windows that look into storage-Word Wall and Vivid Vocabulary


I also have sides of file cabinets and spaces for job board, calendar, SSR and Writing continum
 
Ya'all are lucky! We have so many things that "must" be displayed, that there isn't much room left for creative boards.

We must have:
-a word wall (since we add 5 words per week, it must be large enough to hold 200 words by the end of the year... or you have to retire some of them half way, which is a lot of moving around.) This always takes up a huge amount of space, because the words must be large enough that they can all see it from their seats. It must be in A-B-C order.
-calendar math board with all of the monthly components in Everyday Counts. This also takes a large bulletin board.
-Content word walls -- one for social studies, one for science, and one for math. (so that is 3 small boards). This can be for just the quarter and doesn't have to be in A-B-C order, so small boards work fine for these 3
--A reading wall -- with the tips for good readers and "what good readers do" display that is mandatory.
--an internet safety board (small) near the computers with mandatory posters provided by the district on internet safety.
--the antibullying poster.
--the small guidance counselor display with passes to the guidance office. we also have to have one for the nurses office -- but I combine them onto one small board
--an AR bulletin board. This one goes in the hallway, thank goodness.
--a pocket chart for library cards -- this one also goes in the hallway.
--a large hallway display that must be related to our SOLs and contain 80% student work. (Obviously, for the first week or so, it is a "Welcome to __ grade" type of board.)
--We are also supposed to have samples of excellent RECENT (within 2 weeks) student work in all subject areas on display at all times.

So, any room left over, we can do what we want with.. hmmm.. I don't think I've ever had any room leftover.

Ya'll are lucky!
 
RainStorm said:
--We are also supposed to have samples of excellent RECENT (within 2 weeks) student work in all subject areas on display at all times.
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SERIOUSLY?!? Does your administration want you to change bulletin boards instead of teach? That's a crazy requirement. I could understand if you just had to have ONE subject with recent work at all times, but all? Yikes.

I only change my student work every 3-5 weeks.
 
snickydog said:
SERIOUSLY?!? Does your administration want you to change bulletin boards instead of teach? That's a crazy requirement. I could understand if you just had to have ONE subject with recent work at all times, but all? Yikes.

I only change my student work every 3-5 weeks.
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Hmmm... :whistle: Do I sometimes forget to write the date on the assignments, so nobody will realize how long they've been up there? Nah! Not me! I wouldn't do that!
 
I have one welcome to 5th grade bulletin board that says "Look who POPPED into Miss Mylastname's homeroom. It has popcorn holders on it and student names on the popcorn.

I have a bulletin board that is called Math Mobs. I have the students already divided into their groups. This is for when we have group assignments, I don't have to take time to put kids into groups, it's already set in stone.

I also have a bulletin board reminding kids about what they can find on our math webpage. I get so tired of keeping the webpage up to date, yet only a handful ever look at it. I'm hoping the bulletin board will help with more of them "remembering" to look it up when they are at home.
 
In my room I have 3 regular size boards and a bigger on that I divide in half. One has my under the sea job helpers, the second one has all of my morning meeting/calendar routines, the third has the stuffed animal reading strategies posted. My big board that's divided in half has math vocabulary/math posters, and the other half is titled "1st Grade Treasures" and has a treasure chest on it with student names written on the gems.

My word wall is on my closets, which take up about one whole wall.
 
I have one huuuuuuge BB that I will break up into three smaller ones. On the left side, I will have a "What are we learning" BB where I will post 7th grade LA standards. The center BB take up about 1/2 the huuuuge BB, and I will post outstanding student work there. The right side will be a "For your information" BB that will have all the important informational documents my school hands out (lunch menu, schedules,calendars, etc.)
 
RainStorm said:
Hmmm... :whistle: Do I sometimes forget to write the date on the assignments, so nobody will realize how long they've been up there? Nah! Not me! I wouldn't do that!
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lol! I would do that! Haha! Thats funny! I'll have to remember all these tips when I get a classroom!
 
My back to school bulletin boards:

hallway welcome board: fourth grade super stars (students' names written on star cutouts)

Super Star Work: where I will place student work. Their first writing assignment will be their goals for the school year so I will hang up those papers

Math board: math vocabulary and posters from the first math unit (place value, I think)

Reading board: Follow Text Signposts (text features in nonfiction material)

Word Wall

Science board: Life Science poster and vocabulary
 
Writing board--huge pencils with the five stages of writing on them as a top border, a prewriting poster, a narrative graphic organizer, the standard, and blank pencils ready for sample hooks and good sentences.

Math board--Calendar math, Mountain math, two blank 100's grids and two long adding machine strips ready for lessons.

Science board--five beautiful photographs of 3 types of erosion and a photograph of the Rocky Mountains and one of the Appalachian Mountains. I download photographs onto photo paper. They're spectacular. I haven't thought of a title for the board yet. (Studying Earth Science first) I'm thinking about a globe and the five pictures arranged around it. I have more to go when we get more into the lessons.

A miniature board behind my desk for my notes.

A miniature lunch choice board. (Still working on it.)

An attendance display on the door. (Look who's "popped" in!) Balloons with their names on it.

Those are the boards. Lots of other posters and things.
 
My bb in the hallway will have a jungle theme with kids' names on monkeys and the title "Swing on into 5th Grade" or something along those lines. I'll have my Take Note bb by the door done up with calendar, jobs, lunch menu, etc. One needs to have a religious theme (parochial school) but I'm not sure just what I'll do yet (I have a few to choose from). The others are still up for grabs, one will be blank as it awaits student work.
 
iheart5thgrade said:
I have one welcome to 5th grade bulletin board that says "Look who POPPED into Miss Mylastname's homeroom.
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A sign I'm very near exhausted? I read this and thought it said "Look who POOPED..."
Now I'm sitting here rolling with laughter because I'm trying to picture what THAT particular board would look like!:lol:
I'm sorry iheart - your idea sounds so cute, I just periodically forget how to read.
 
~Calendar bulletin board with birthdays on it.
~STAR student bulletin board where students photos will be posted as they earn the awards.
~Writing Bulletin board...not sure what I'll title it yet (on cupboards) I will put current writing projects up and switch them out every so often.
~Art bulletin board where current art projects will be displayed.
~Math bulletin board with math strategies on it/might do math projects to put up on it instead...still thinking about this. Also will have math estimation on another set of cupboards with a weekly prize.
~Reading bulletin board by reading group table to display weekly skills. Bananas for Reading...

Outside classroom BB: Swinging into third grade...monkeys and bananas.
 
MiddleGradesLA said:
I have one huuuuuuge BB that I will break up into three smaller ones. On the left side, I will have a "What are we learning" BB where I will post 7th grade LA standards. The center BB take up about 1/2 the huuuuge BB, and I will post outstanding student work there. The right side will be a "For your information" BB that will have all the important informational documents my school hands out (lunch menu, schedules,calendars, etc.)
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We were told we should start posting the standards for each class, but there are so many! The LA standards take up four pages alone, never mind science, math, social studies, and religion. I honestly have no idea how to post all these or where to put them. It's not like anyone looks at (or understands) them anyway.:unsure:
 
We are also supposed to have samples of excellent RECENT (within 2 weeks) student work in all subject areas on display at all times.
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We have to have this too. I jut worked on mine tonight actually. I'm doing a board where I will just have to change out the work, and not the theme. I got some wooden die cuts (can also use bath tub sticky things) and hot glued clothes pins on the back of them. They will attach to a line across the bulletin board. I used all tropical things (fish, flip flops, beach balls, parrot, pineapple) and the title is "Tropical Treasures". I can just unclip the last work, and clip the newest. All I have to do is write the new standard on a sentence strip and the EQ.
 
runsw/scissors said:
We were told we should start posting the standards for each class, but there are so many! The LA standards take up four pages alone, never mind science, math, social studies, and religion. I honestly have no idea how to post all these or where to put them. It's not like anyone looks at (or understands) them anyway.:unsure:
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I came up with an idea for this. I put all the subjects that I teach on laminated strips with magnets on the back. Then I can move them around on the board as I need to (they are stacked in the order we will be doing them for the day). So now I'm going to make laminated strips with the standards in 'I can...' phrases (I can use graphs for information) and put the standards next to the subjects on the board. So I put 'I can add double digits' next to the math strip. Then at the end of the lesson, we'll do a secret thumbs up/thumbs down, so kids can evaluate themselves and are aware of what they should be taking away from each lesson.
 
I have two BB in my classroom. One is a rotating board of mostly SS/Science topics...right now it's map skills in anticipation of school starting. The other is our behavior board, card pockets, where our rules will go, etc.

I've designated one wall as our math wall. It has a 100s chart, Word Problem strategy poster, and current math strategies.

I've cluster together writing tools, definitions of the traits, paragraph hokey pokey, transitional phrases, etc...together on a wall as well.
 
Jem said:
I came up with an idea for this. I put all the subjects that I teach on laminated strips with magnets on the back. Then I can move them around on the board as I need to (they are stacked in the order we will be doing them for the day). So now I'm going to make laminated strips with the standards in 'I can...' phrases (I can use graphs for information) and put the standards next to the subjects on the board. So I put 'I can add double digits' next to the math strip. Then at the end of the lesson, we'll do a secret thumbs up/thumbs down, so kids can evaluate themselves and are aware of what they should be taking away from each lesson.
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I'll have to think about this. My front boards aren't magnetized, so I'd need to come up with something else. Again, we have so many standards I could spend a month working on the strips and still not get them all made. It just seems like the powers that be are trying to make things more complicated than they need to be. :sigh:
 
This year I'm not putting up any cutsie schmootsei bb. Everything is going to be instructional, informational, behavioral, etc. I'm putting up things that I will refer to the whole year. After I get all that stuff, if there's any room left, I have a few Mary Englebrite posters I'll scatter around. I've gotten a lot of things off the internet from other teachers' sites (thanks) like genres, fix it strategies, choosing the right book, poems of the week, reading strategies, writing process, etc. We use this stuff all year, and I'm using my bbs for them this year. In the past, I've always tried to have one seasonal bb....not this year...maybe just a poster on the door or something. I hate changing out bb. It is my least favorite thing to do.
 
ahsila said:
A sign I'm very near exhausted? I read this and thought it said "Look who POOPED..."
Now I'm sitting here rolling with laughter because I'm trying to picture what THAT particular board would look like!:lol:
I'm sorry iheart - your idea sounds so cute, I just periodically forget how to read.
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That is SO funny, ahsila. We all have days like that. That would make for an..um, unusual...bulletin board!
 
I will have bulletin boards for:

- Now Showing (student work)
- Quiet on the Set! (classroom expectations & essential rules)
- Screenwriter's at Work! (writing process & 6-traits)
- The Green Room (Workshop Way)
- We're Poppin' Through Math! (math focus wall)
- Lights, Camera, Read! (reading focus wall)
- Live from the Red Carpet ... an Interview with _______ (student of the week)
- Meet the Cast of Room 253! (camera cutouts with student pictures in the center)
 
runsw/scissors said:
What great ideas! I'm guessing you are sticking with the Hollywood theme?
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Yep! :) I'm really looking forward to seeing how my room comes together with the theme since this is the first time I will have ever done one. I'm hoping my students get as excited about it as I am!!
 
ahsila - that cracked me up! Too funny.
RainStorm - sounds like you work at a school like the one I just left - bless you.

I think I'm going generic Welcome Back this year because I will have different grades and subjects. Actually, I haven't had time to think about it yet, but I love the ideas given so far.
 
I forgot that I have one board already done. At the end of the year I had my kids decorate t-shirt cut outs with little pictures symbolizing some of the things we did during the year. These are haning on "clothes lines". They also cut out little flip-flops and wrote L) favorite thing about 5th grade and R) one piece of advice for the incoming 5ths. The flip-flops are lined up on the "grass" under the clothes lines. All I have to do is uncover the board and voila!
 
Calalilys said:
Yep! :) I'm really looking forward to seeing how my room comes together with the theme since this is the first time I will have ever done one. I'm hoping my students get as excited about it as I am!!
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I hope you post pictures, I liked seeing your pictures from last year. :)
 
cinaminsweet said:
I hope you post pictures, I liked seeing your pictures from last year. :)
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I'm glad you liked the pictures I posted last year. :) I will definitely post some once my room is all set up. I'll be in my room most of the week, so hopefully I'll have some by Friday.
 
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