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| "What a Catch!" |
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| "Fishing For Good Behavior" |
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| "What a Plant Needs" |
Above are a few of the ideas my mother included on spring bulletin boards. "What a Catch!" was one of her favorite themes because the net element included essays that each child had written about a sea creature for their science unit. She thought the combination of two subjects, both science and English, was a wonderful way to insure students remembered their learning experiences.
Bulletin boards can also cover topics such as discipline. The "fishing for good behavior bulletin board" was meant to reinforce class rules in a playful way. My mother would take a paper worm with a written principle of behavior on it, and place it on the hook of the fishing dog. Each child in the room would be represented by a paper fish below in the pond and some years her students would even craft their own fish. But, every student knew which fish was their own. She would then mark on a chart of good behaviors which fish were caught on the fishing line that week. Believe it or not, this was a successful motivation tool! Her young students would obey the rules just to see their fish get hooked.
The third bulletin board was based on the growth cycle of a flower and also the names of each element of a flower. Sometimes it is difficult for small children to remember ideas and names without seeing these over and over. Bulletin boards help to reinforce visual memory and stimulate the "hows" of what they are reading. In this way, my mother taught me that a bulletin board is a very helpful tool for teachers to train students with.
More Spring themes for bulletin boards:
