They’re baaaaaaack! Tips for getting the year off to a great start
Success in dealing with those first days of school depends on planning and organizing now, and a number of Teachnet readers have shared ideas for doing so.
Classroom Decor
Classroom Display Alphabet
Free outline alphabet letters for you to download and print. This display uses 26 different fonts to give you a visually interesting display, and brings creativity to the letter recognition process.
How-to Tip: Bulletin Board Headlines
Whether you buy ready-made letters or use or cut your own for bulletin boards, there are some tricks for putting them up.
Bulletin Board: The Places We’ll Go!
Watch the video and follow these simple instructions to create your own “The Places We’ll Go!” bulletin board, or your own variation.
Bushes of Fun
Use this bulletin board to display childrens names on fruits and vegetables. Contents of basket can change from season to season as the year progresses. Keep your students in tune with what gets harvested when during the year.
Survive With a Good Book
Of course your students have favorite books, and your library displays many favorite titles. Use this bulletin board to showcase those and entice your students into reading!
Kindergarten is a Hands On Experience
Have your students pick their favorite color of paint to make their own hand prints on the bulletin board or have them work together to have a group picture.
You Otter Read It
This bulletin board could be used to display “excellent work” by students, what unit they have completed, or just a way to show their reading list for the year. Just hang each piece of paper or work under one of the friendly otters!
This could be the start of something BIG!
Use this friendly whale to invite your new students into your classroom at the beginning of the year and then inside have little whale name tags on each of their desks.
Sharp Students in Room ___
Let your students feel proud of the class they are in! Have them write their own names up on the bulletin board or have them draw their name on pieces of paper w/ whatever colors they’d like and then staple it around the pencil on the board.
Get work done by playing Homeworkopoly
Homeworkopoly is a fun way to encourage children to do their homework! Here are some basic instructions, but feel free to use your own judgment and change things around to suit your class needs.
Bring the Summer Into Your Classroom
If your students are suffering from the cold-weather blues, turn your classroom into a summer resort for a day or a week. They will get a chance to pretend it’s warm, and also do comparison activities that will put their brains to work.
Classroom Decor Ideas
Create custom spaces in your classroom to set a whole new feeling for the room overall.
Build a Classroom Pond
I have seen ponds at lawn and garden shops made simply by laying cinder blocks on the floor to shape the pond, then draping the liner over them and capping the top with a row of rock (which would be optional.) The goal is finding some way to shape the pond and contain the water safely. Read on.
Classroom Theme: Welcome to the Real World
“Welcome to the Real World” was a theme for the entire year which I used with my fifth graders last year to communicate responsibility, bring their grade school experience to a close, and increase their awareness of the community around them.