Bulletin Boards 2GetherWeAreBetter Linkup!

 

Ah, bulletin boards.  Most of us have a love/hate relationship with them.  When I started decorating my room before my first year as a teacher I was completely lost when I looked at my bulletin boards.  As you will see in the pictures...they're huge.  They go to the ceiling and take up much of the room on the walls.  We basically have 1 enormous bulletin board in the classroom that spans 2 walls.  Then we have another GIGANTIC bulletin board ourside our classroom and yet another one for all 2nd grade classrooms to share.  I had no idea how I was going to fill these!  Well let me tell you...it has never been a problem.  :)

Here are some quick pictures so you can get an idea of how many bulletin boards I have.  First these are in the hallway.  The first we share with all 2nd grade and the second is mine alone.  I want to say we figured out they were about 15 feet wide.  The bottom two pictures are from inside my room. 

 First I want to tell you some of the most important things I have learned about creating bulletin boards.

1. Do not make it something you have to change constantly throughout the year.  Be honest...we don't have time for that.  Not with the millions of other things we are busy doing on a daily basis.

2. Make sure they are something you will use and refer to constantly.  Just putting things up to fill up space...not a good idea.  This was definitely something I struggled with my first few years due to the sheer size of the boards.

3. Fabric, fabric, fabric!  Did I mention fabric?  After years of putting up new bulletin board paper due to fading, I finally heard about this simple idea.  I'm on the 2nd year with my fabric and it still looks as new as the day I (with many helpers) put it up.  I have heard bedsheets work for this, but I personally went to JoAnn Fabrics.  They give teachers a discount!  Plus, I bought the colors that were on sale!  Love it!  TIP: DO NOT BUY PATTERNED FABRIC  Oh. My. Goodness.  That took forever to line up and there are lots of spots that I hide with my computer cart...

Now for the details of my boards.  :)

The board we share as a second grade we use for our Monster Mastery Club.  We got this idea from Amanda Madden over at Teaching Maddeness.  I do believe she got the idea from someone as well and adapted it to her monster theme.  We adapted it as well to fit with Indiana and our needs.  For this the kids have "extra credit" options they can do as part of their homework.  There are 80 choices.  When the students complete one they bring in the paper and turn it into us the next morning.  They then get a monster to put on this board.  For each mastery club item they complete afterwards another star is added to their monster.  Once students reach 15 stars they are then moved the the Hall of Fame!  The plan is for them to stay in the hall of fame indefinitely...of course a lot more went for it then we expected the first year.  So that may take some altering.  :)

This is the board I use to display student work outside my classroom.  I wanted a way to show what my students were working on but without the hassle of constantly changing my board.  This was my solution.  I hot glued tacks to the back of clothespins that I put on apples.  I then pushed the tacks into the bulletin board.  It has looked slightly different through the years depending on my classroom decor, but with the same concept.  I use clothespins for the students to hang their work from.  I have used paperclips in the past but they do not hold up as well as clothespins.  The students decide what they want to hang up and what they want to take home.  Some students keep many items hanging while others prefer to only do one at a time.  It is completely up to them!  No work on my part and yet they feel ownership and pride over their space!

I apologize if it is hard to see the pictures!  This board is where I display my CAFE and Daily 5 anchor charts.  As you can see the CAFE is currently empty.  As the year starts we will fill it up as we learn the strategies.  I have this in our "family room" which is where I read to the students and do my mini-lessons.  It is perfect placement to refer back to ones we have already worked on.  My CAFE charts are from Christina Bainbridge, Elizabeth Walen, and Natalie's Nook.  I love that most CAFE and Daily 5 things are freebies!  I also have some parts of speech signs my students refer to from Lindsey Hill.

This bulletin board is where my students behavior cards are kept.  I use a simple card system for my behavior management.  The "we're learning about" sign is where I put anchor charts we create during the week based on what we are currently working on.  The genres signs are from Aynsley Patton.  

This bulletin board is where I hold our calendar meeting during math.   It contains the birthdays as well as typical calendar activities.  Once my class list is finalized I add the students' names under the months for their birthdays.

Across the front of my room I have my alphabet, number line, and my Whole Brain Teaching classroom rules.  You can grab these here in my TPT store.

My final bulletin board is where I learned about what a terrible idea patterned fabrics are.  I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture but there is a huge awkward line down the 3rd column of letters as well as 3 tiny rectangles in the bottom left where I had issues getting fabric to line up pattern wise.  It was not fun.  Trust me.  This is similar to a word wall.  I am trained in Orton-Gillingham and use that with my students.  Therefore, I chose to implement a red word wall instead of a typical word wall.  Red words are words that do not follow the rules and you cannot spell phonetically by sounding out.  Often times they are very similar to most sight words.

Whew!  Thanks for sticking with me through that LONG post.  Make sure to link up your bulletin board ideas with #2GetherWeAreBetter!