A Bulletin Board For Every Season.

Or at least a bunch of bulletin boards for the end of the year.

I've been blessed with lots and lots of bulletins boards in my classroom, as well as a huge wall in the back that is perfect for displaying student work.

Sometimes I'm really slacking on my bulletin board and my room ends up looking like one giant corkboard. Other times, like now, it actually looks like a real classroom.

We're currently sporting two seasonal bulletins (both counting down the days until summer) as well as one that's been up for a little bit longer.

We've got a working bulletin board with a library pocket for each student. Inside each pocket is an index card. At various times throughout the school year, we write a journal on the index card as opposed to writing in our journals. I provide the prompt and when the students are finished writing, they put the card into the pocket with their picture. The students can then read other students responses during centers or when there is extra time. Our working bulletin board was a big hit when we were talking about Dr. Seuss and each student had to write about their favorite Dr. Seuss book. Ironically, book recommendations are way cooler when they come from your friend as opposed to your teacher.

Our countdowns to summer are probably my favorite parts of my classroom right now. And not because we're counting down the days, but because I actually like the way that they look.

"Don't be and Angry Bird! Only _____ days until summer!" And the student helper of the day gets to write how many days left on the little Angry Bird. The student helper of the day also gets to pop one of the Bad Piggies balloons each day to reveal an special activity. Things like "write in marker instead of pencil", etc.

Our second countdown to summer and seasonal bulletin board includes a paper chain, a balloon rainbow, and pictures of each student wearing sunglasses. The bulletin board says "Our future is so bright, we have to wear shades!" and each student got to wear Miss Caitlin's sunglasses for a picture. We're pretty big on displaying pictures of the students in the classroom, as well as their work. After all, it's their classroom too.

And lastly, we had a little Language activity at the culmination of our unit on verbs. The students colored a picture of an Angry Bird and then had to write a sentence including a verb on it. They LOVED it. LOVED. It. As long as I make anything related to Angry Birds, the students will pay attention. Definitely something to consider for next year.

Miss Caitlin learned a valuable lesson in bulletin board making this year-- a border can make or break the whole bulletin board. You would think it doesn't. But it does.