Art Education Daily

Monday, October 10, 2011

Easter Bulletin Boards

Children celebrating the coming of Spring with bunnies and cookies.

Write an egg-citing story

"Bunny Tales" bulletin board

"Announcing The Egg Factory"

The next set of photos above show young students celebrating Easter in their classroom. The essays were about bunny tales that the children made up. There is also ''an egg factory" depicted above that was located in the reading corner of her classroom. Children colored their own eggs for this display. It is good to design bulletin boards that give children the opportunity to participate actively in decorating their classroom. This reinforces their sense of ownership and accomplishment in their own education. Their learning spaces should look positive and fun by all means! If children want to decorate their eggs with shapes, colors or even religious symbols, teachers should let them express themselves freely. It is not up to the teacher to control every child's "way" of integrating their own faith or interests into art projects. A compassionate teacher merely provides the space and opportunity for the freedom of expression and learning in the arts. Public school teachers may be tempered by the state, but the children are certainly free to express their own religious beliefs. The government pays teachers with taxes that originate from people with many religious faiths and this is why teachers should be tolerant of the religious differences of their students. But students are free participants in public schools and operate under less restrictive policies. In my mother’s rural classroom, most all of the children came from some sort of Christian culture. In contrast to the classrooms of yesterday, essays and art assignments that make room for multiple perspectives on faith topics should be anticipated in contemporary, public school districts.

More ideas for Easter Bulletin Boards:

Autumn Celebrations Bulletin Boards

A Pumpkin Patch bulletin board

"Purr-fectly Wonderful Cat Tales!"

"It's Owl-oween!"

"It's Owl-oween," up-close.

"Haunted Helpers"

Above are some marvelous ideas for fall bulletin boards that are sure to please, not frighten, little ones. My favorite is the pumpkin patch at the top. It's full of autumn colors; I can almost smell the cinnamon in the air and feel the crunching of leaves under my rake.
The Purr-fectly Wonderful Cat Tales bulletin board is for children's essays. In this exercise, the students were assigned the task of writing a creative tall tale about a cat. It's Owl-oween displayed essays by children based on facts, not superstitions, about owls. Children learned the difference between what is true about these remarkable creatures and what is folklore. They also completed a fun art project with paper owls to go along with the unit. And the small "haunted helpers" bulletin board showed students which classroom duties they would be assigned that week. Each child would have a little ghost assigned to him with his name on it. If your ghost was seen behind the tombstone with a certain chore written on the front, then you where expected to take care of that duty.

More links to Autumn Bulletin Board Ideas:

Thanksgiving Bulletin Boards

Natives and Pilgrims are displayed on the bulletin board

A pilgrim girl with a very large turkey leg

A corner view of Thanksgiving bulletin boards.

A Mayflower corner

My mother always used Thanksgiving time as an opportunity to teach her young students about the discovery of the new world and also about the lives and identities of Native Americans and Pilgrims. Students would often write stories about Thanksgiving themes or papers about American history. These would then become part of the bulletin board display.

The migration of geese is a bit more unusual subject for autumn bulletin boards but it is nice to study a less traditional theme now and again during the holidays as well. Migration is an ordinary and noisy event here in the mid-west. As a child I would look forward to watching the gathering and flight patterns of giant flocks of birds, not just geese, during the Autumn season. Including reminders of these kinds of everyday changes in the environment of a child's education can help them to remember practical scientific information.

"Some Like It Hot!" a unit on migration

More Thanksgiving Day Bulletin Boards:

Matter, Math, Industry, Continents, & Planet Bulletin Boards

"What's The Matter"

"Action Fractions"

How we use plants

The continents

Fast facts about the planets

The five sample bulletin boards above show students how to subcategorize information about the topics they are studying. This helps develop important methods of retrieving information from their memories. Many studies have shown that if children can learn "how" to think visually about what they know and how to retrieve facts from those visualizations, they will test better. In this way teachers are stimulating the learning processes, not just decorating their bulletin boards.

More Ideas for Science Bulletin Boards:

Winter Subjects for Bulletin Boards

Winter subjects are sometimes practical ways to resolve the problem of working for the state and balancing student sensitivities during religious holidays. Teachers frequently must find ways to entertain or instruct that will help all children to enjoy learning and participating in the classroom during the holiday season. For some of you reading here, this is not a problem because you are teaching in parochial schools. However, my mother taught in a public school, so many of her bulletin boards had to address topics that all of her students could relate to.
The above bulletin board called, "winter safety" displayed a very large penguin with illustrated ideas that depict winter safety rules. The rules included in this bulletin board were: don't stand on your sled, don't skate on thin ice, dress warmly and don't throw snowballs. Although, I don't really know what else one should do with a snowball. Perhaps, Johnny got into a little trouble for "winter zeal" over his holiday?

The next photograph of a bulletin board was of a winter theme called, "Cold Catch." This project was about short stories describing igloos, penguins and Eskimos.

More links to winter themed bulletin boards:

Christmas Subjects for Bulletin Boards

The next selection of pictures show children's artwork during the month of December in specific. Stockings are always fun to color and design. These children made up their own patterns and pictures. Giant paper carolers sing silently in the corner of this classroom and the teacher displayed a paper tree on her bulletin board along with essays about how each child will celebrate the holidays. Some teachers consider these Christmas subjects to be less about religion and more about American Christmas practices in general. It is up to the individual teacher to determine the benefits and deficits of the celebration of popular holidays in their classrooms. I will include a wide variety of bulletin board ideas on my blog, both secular and religious.

Christmas stockings hung by the coat rack with care.

Christmas stockings hung by the bookcase for Santa

caroling sweetly

Christmas tree bulletin board

More Ideas For Christmas Bulletin Boards:

Bulletin Boards For Reading Corner

"Sneaking Up On a Good Book"

"Best Sneaker Forward!"

An apple orchard in the reading corner.

"Poppin' Good Study Habits!"

"Don't Monkey Around!"

The first and top example of a "reading corner" or what may now be in most classrooms, "a computer corner," is a bulletin board that shows off students’ book reports. The second bulletin board is what most teachers refer to as a rewards chart. If a child completes a task promptly or obeys particular class rules well, he gets to tape a sneaker with his name on it, on the wall along with other fellow students. The "Poppin' good study habits" bulletin board is the same type of rewards bulletin board. Students who finish their projects on time are rewarded by inclusion with others, posted where everyone can see their good efforts. The "Don't monkey around!" bulletin board is a motivational bulletin board based on good study habits. Bananas are taped up on the wall when each child is recognized for excellent study habits. Last but not least, the apple orchard is a pleasant welcome for new students and invites children to relax and read a good book quietly when they have completed their studies.

More Ideas for Decorating Your Classroom Reading Corner:

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