Critical Thinking Bulletin Board
Here is just a quick bulletin board I put up at the beginning of the year. All you need is some construction paper and tissue paper to make this one work. I kind of think I should have added more fire towards the top. What do you think? What do you think this rebus says? Ideas?
If I had more time to make this board at the beginning of the year, I would have added white Christmas lights behind the tissue paper to add a flickering effect to the fire.
Have you figured out what the board says yet?
SET THE WORLD ON FIRE–great back to school theme!
Cute Winter Bulletin Board
I wish I could say I created this bulletin board, but I did not! I saw this bulletin board a colleague of mine made. She said she actually saw the idea on Pinterest. They are little snow globes that the students made with themselves inside of them. They decorated the scene inside the snow globe. The “globe” part of the snow globe is actually a clear plastic plate with a rounded edge. The teacher was able to have the children make these to go with a writing piece the children had done. Aren’t they cute?!
Does Investing in the Stock Market Scare You? A Few Tips!
I am one of a few teachers who decided to teach the stock market this year–to be specific the Stock Market Game. Our state funds this to teach students more about economics. To play this game, there is a $15 fee for each team to participate, but this is funded by grants from Economics Arkansas. In your state there is sure to be a link to a game you can play and funding provided through grants.
The games begin at certain times of year. For example, the game I am playing with my students began January 16th and will end April 20th. AND NO FEAR! The best part about playing this game is that you don’t have to know anything about the stock market! I have even told my students that I am not an expert at the stock market, but I just know a little–I am learning along with them. To be fair I have invested a few hundred dollars with Scott Trade in the past. I made some money, and I lost some money.
There are TONS of ready made resources and after you get through the initial explanation of stocks and how the game works, the students will be completely engaged in playing. They will want to look stocks up at home and learn about businesses. What better way to teach math, social studies, geography, business, and economics than playing a real life simulation! You will be fostering investors for life! 🙂
If you want to find out about playing in your state, you can go to stockmarketgame.org. To find out who to contact in your state, you can type your zip code in here. Now if you want some resources, the stock market game website has PLENTY of resources for you to use! I also will let you borrow some items from my state 😉 at economicsarkansas. That link will take you to a live binder. We have a wonderful lady leading the way in our state to provide us with all of these resources!
Now below, you will find a quick and easy bulletin board I threw together to make students think and also to reflect the stock market learning we will be doing. After the first few lessons, the students figure out the “plexer” or message on the bulletin board. The message is “Buy Low, Sell High”
I hope you have the opportunity to play with your students and are able to use some of these resources. Initially it does take a lot of class time, but after you get your students started (2-3 weeks for about 2 hours a week), you will be able to spend just a few minutes of class to allow your students to look at their portfolios. Happy Investing!
You Can Use an American Flag to Teach Math! {Giveaway}
Use Your Old Cardboard Box for a Clever Bulletin Board!
I collect trash at times. Sometimes because I always think, OH! I could use that for something!” Other times I collect trash for school projects. In particular, I especially collect small cardboard boxes in which items are mailed to me. One day, I had a brainstorm and the beginning of this bulletin board emerged. Most of the time bulletin board ideas just come to me. In this case I thought of this clever puzzle to put on the board using a box. I used colorful tissue paper to put inside the box and hot glued it inside. Next, I used different fonts of different sizes to make the words “Think” in different colors. I attached these all around. Now, what do you think this bulletin board says?
You guessed it! Think outside the box! 🙂
Do You Need a Great Parent Involvement Bulletin Board?
One of the last things my principal asked me to do before I left school for summer is to make a bulletin board to advertise our need for “Watchdog Dads”. Well, that is exactly what I did, but with a creative flair! We had some clocks lying around, so I decided to use the clock to make a watch on the wall with a little riddle.
As you can see the clock makes up the watch.
Then, I used push pens to attach the clock. The clock is just hanging on them.
My principal wanted me to use the T-shirts on the board…so here you have one with the shadow of a head stuck inside.
I hope this gets lots of fatherly attention for back to school! If you want to learn more about Watchdog Dads, you can go here!
A New Bulletin Board Idea
Are you in need of a fall bulletin board idea? Look no further! Have your students help you create an advent calendar of sorts. With this bulletin board, I had 30 children write something they were thankful for and tell why they were thankful for it. Each day I flip over another square so that we can see another day of thankfulness. I bought 6 inch square card stock from the scrap book section and the little clothes pins at Hobby Lobby. I already had some twine and the fake fall leaves to embellish the board. You could repeat this idea with Christmas or any month really. The items that are displayed may be different but the same concept could be applied.
Are You Taller Than a Third Grader?
With the combination of special programs and snow days, our time to teach all of the standards before our 3rd graders’ PARCC test is running out. With this in mind, I made a graph to help third grade out using the data from the whole 3rd grade with a fraction line plot. This type of graph and fractions are not as familiar to third graders because they haven’t been exposed to line plots in earlier grade levels. I put the graph in a central location where other grade levels could see it. That way other students could experience measurement and interpreting graphs as well.
I started out with an area by the water fountains for repeated exposure to student traffic.
Next I put up a strip of this amazing ruler like tape that I got at Office Depot when they had all of their special masking tape at back-to-school time. The tape counts every 12 inches. So in the picture below, I marked off every twelve inches with little triangles that mentioned that each 12 inches was 1 foot. Next, I marked off the fractions of an inch with stickers. I marked off the halves, thirds, and fourths so that students could easily see the relationship between the graph and the tape measure.
Then I had students come a few at a time and measure themselves to the closest fraction of a foot. Students recorded their X’s on sticky notes. The only reason I had them record their X’s on sticky notes is because this ensured having them all the same size. Line plots can make data look skewed if students don’t draw their X’s the same size. Plus on the PARCC assessment when students drag X’s on the line plot graph questions, students drag the X’s into little boxes which makes test question boxes resemble sticky notes. Students got to initial their X. Also, if students in the least bit chuckled about anyone else’s height because they were short, I immediately told them they wouldn’t even get to put an X on the graph. After I graphed most of the students from two classes, I only had two students who didn’t get to put their X on the graph because of this reason.
Here is the whole picture of everything with a more than willing model :)…
Sooooo Cute Spring Bulletin Boards!
Each year a pair of teachers are assigned a month to do the cafeteria bulletin boards. We were given April. With all the pressure of upcoming testing and the additional stressor of losing time to snow days, I didn’t have much creativity roaming in my brain. This board started out as me just wanting to make a simple spring flower to cover up lots of space fast and then… the board looked empty so I decided I must add a little lady bug. I made the flower petals from bulletin board paper folded over and over before I cut similar to when making a paper fan. This helped me not have to cut out a LOT of different petals separately. Then the flower and lady bug idea kept growing and growing and growing…
We have an upcoming science fair so we decided to tie in a science theme along with the spring theme. We made a larger lady bug with an investigating magnifying glass over the top for the second bulletin board. A hula hoop wrapped in black paper strips was used to make the magnifying glass. Then laminating film was stretched over the magnifying glass to look similar to glass. Rolled up black bulletin board paper was used to create the handle for the magnifying glass.
We have gotten so many compliments on these boards about how they brighten up the room. These are on either side of the stage in our cafeteria. I hope these help spark an idea for your spring bulletin boards too!
