Meet the Teacher

     At the beginning of the school year, create a Meet the Teacher board. Display pictures and honors you have recieved.
     On my personal meet the teacher board, I included my teacher certificate, which lead to a great segway for my 5th graders who then asked what exactly does it take to get that piece of paper. Promoting an education beyond H.S. was important for many of my boys and girls to hear about.
     Also showing accomplishements like recieving "Student of the Year" and "Swim Captain" in H.S. shows them to aim high throughout their education. There will always be a reward for those who try thier best.

Learning Goal

Identifying an Essential Question (EQ) is paramount these days in the classroom. Telling the students straight forward, this is what we will be accomplishing today during this lesson is the new norm.

Setting this up in any classroom can be simple. Electric tape works wonders on white boards. It comes off easily and looks strikingly clean on the board. By marking out boxes for each EQ, it becomes easy and neat to add new learning goals for each day or unit. While the picture does not demonstrate a completed EQ set, each of these boxes would have a statement or question.

For example: If the state standard demonstrated that the student should be able to understand that all matter is composed of parts that are too small to be seen without magnification, The EQ might read: How small is an atom and can we see it with a naked eye? 

The picture shows 5 EQ boxes for Reading, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Writing.

Providing an EQ for the students will guide instruction and give students direction as to what is expected for the days lesson.

Cute Bulletin Board Alert!

I love this bulletin board! While scrolling through school websites, I saw this picture on the <http://www.alcottschool.net >website and had to post it! It did not have a description with it, but think about all of the great opportunities this lesson could explore.

You will obviously explore some art mediums in creating the self portrait people. The way this particular board is done, the teacher has either slides or zip lock bags to hold the child’s work.

·         With this, you could keep the little people up for a length of time and switch out some of their best pieces of work.

·         Or you could make it more them-like and create a specific piece of work for this board. Example: Have the students write, draw or both about the kinds of good work they can do.

·         Then take it a step further and challenge them to do a new job at home and write about that experience.  

Interactive Bulletin Board

Try this interactive bulletin board on your 1-6^th Graders. It tests their knowledge on location of the world’s Continents and Oceans. Relatively simple to make:

Materials:

□   Bulletin Board or empty wall space

□   A large World Map with or without labels

□   Labels for each Continent and Ocean (Options: Computer and printer, construction paper, markers, glue, glitter, etc.) Students can even help create this part of the board.

□   Velcro with Sticky on one side

□   Three Envelopes (Labeled Oceans, Continents and Check Your Answers)

□   A small sheet of paper with the correct answers on it: (I suggest taking a picture of the map with the labels in place, print the picture and insert it into the “Check Your Answers” envelope.)

□   Use this fun quiz during free time, centers or as extra credit.

□   Laminator (optional)

□   Banner Paper

□   Create a title for the board

Assembly:

1.       Attach Banner Paper to Bulletin Board

2.       Laminate the map and labels.

3.       Place a small strip of Velcro on the back of each label and its counterpart on the map where it belongs.

4.       Attach map to center of Bulletin Board.

5.       Label envelops and attach centered toward the bottom of the board.

6.       Attach the title for the board at the top.

7.       You may want to attach a border around the outside of the board to give it a finished look.

How to Play:

The student takes a label from the envelope labeled continents or oceans. The student then places the label on the appropriate Velcro spot on the map. When the student feels their answers are correct, they can check their answers by taking the piece of paper out of the “Check Your Answers” envelope.

Teacher’s Note:

I really enjoy using this board in my classroom because it is entirely student directed. I use it as a center primarily. The students enjoy testing each other and timing themselves to see who can do it faster. I leave a stop watch near to board and let them come up with the timing idea on their own. Enjoy!