Bulletin boards are a mainstay of schools and, as I visit the schools, I enjoy seeing the many different bulletin boards on display. A bulletin board is an opportunity to send a message to everyone who enters the school: staff, parents, administrators, and, of course, the students. A bulletin board can send a message about a great club you can join; a fundraiser for a field trip; or is an opportunity to see examples of great student work. For the students, these messages act as incentives, recognition, encouragement and motivation. And, at every grade level, the message can be very different!
At Lamprey River Elementary School:
1. Pirate Bulletin Board. Students gave their opinions about the pros and cons of being a pirate.
Why I Like Pirates: Why I Don't Like Pirates:
They have swords They are boyish
They are mean They are scary
They have ships I just don't like them
They have hooks They have hooks
2. Several displays/bulletin boards on apples: the parts of an apple; how you like apples (as juice, applesauce, pie etc.); the life cycle of an apple; and the results of a science lab on "Does an apple sink or float?"
3. On the bulletin board labeled "First Grade Hopes" students wrote what they hoped for as first graders: to be better in math; to learn to read; to learn to write; and, of course, "for first grade to last a long time"!
4. Students wrote about "Where did your feet take you this summer?" Some of the answers included: catching trout; Niagara Falls; looking for crabs; swimming; and feeding a llama.
5. After reading the book Wemberley Worried, students wrote about "What makes you worried?" Responses included: trees falling down; a flood; bad dreams; if we lose air; and skunks at night.
At Raymond High School.
1. Constitution Day. This display covered much more area than a bulletin board and featured a 10X larger than life eagle with posters on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights
2. French words that students might already know such as, paper mache, mousse, grand prix, and hors' doeuvre.
3. A bulletin board with information on 'National Recovery' month and a phone number for help.
4. A display of pennants from many colleges.
5. Displays of student work such as an assignment called, "Teach a Math
Topic to a 6th Grader". Student results included problems featuring
fractions, word problems, negative and positive numbers, and decimals.
At Iber Holmes Gove Middle School.
1. An "I am what I eat display". In a huge circle, students made pictures of healthy things they eat and put their names on each of the items.
2. A board titled "Really Awesome Memorable Students" has Ram O' Grams on it for students who are being recognized for such things as: Including others; being kind; encouraging others; and being helpful.
3. A bulletin board with suggestions to help students get a good night's sleep.
4. A number line showing the relationship and progression of positive and negative numbers.
5. Posters on the 5 themes of geography with examples of each one. The students found many different examples of each theme that were reflected in the individual posters.
This does not include all the art work and classroom artifacts that are in our halls- a topic for another day. Our displays and bulletin boards are certainly messages to their peers and teachers about how our students think and learn. And, by the time I publish this blog, many of these will change with new ideas and messages!
