Calling All Teachers.....

[chemteacher]

Okay Ladies....I need some creative help for my bulletin boards at school! I am a high school chemistry teacher and want to make a cool BB. I have a cricut and cuttlebug....thought I could use some of my tools for stampin. Anyone have any ideas to get my creative juices flowing????

[craftygirl04]

Just me thoughts: how about a giant periodic table of elements, using your cricut to make all the letters and numbers. Make it colourful???? You could add some beakers and test tubes around the border.

[chemteacher]

Thanks for the idea...but I have a huge table in my room. I was looking for something else...I don't know what...looking for ideas...

[craftyteaspoon]

Here's my bulletin board idea: make a beaker (out of vellum maybe) and a bunson burner (flames could maybe be loose and vellum so they move?). Have bubbles coming out of the beaker with different chemistry topics? Maybe they could be out of little balloons and after the topic is covered how ever has the best attitude/behavior/whatever gets to pop it? So as the year progresses there are less and less topics to cover.

[chemteacher]

Love this idea!!! Thank you!!! Any others are welcome! I have more than one!

[boilergrad]

How about doing some molecular structures? You could use circle die cuts or a more creative shape. I always think that whatever is on your bulletin boards should be something you want the kids to remember. It's something they see every day, and having really useful info up there is more beneficial than something cute. Just my opinion though.

[canben]

Quote:

Originally Posted by craftygirl04

Just me thoughts: how about a giant periodic table of elements, using your cricut to make all the letters and numbers. Make it colourful???? You could add some beakers and test tubes around the border.

LOL this is what came to mind for me too! Do it in bright, fun colors and fonts. This way it's interesting to the kids. When I was in chemistry my teacher had the plain "poster" style one on his wall and after the first few months, I was bored of staring at it! But if you don't want to recreate it, you could always combine the 2 ideas, make a periodic table AND the beaker idea. You could also, if you made the periodic table, make "lines" from each item that makes something (H and O for example) and at the bottom of the intersecting lines put something related to water. Of course, this may give a little too much away at test time......

[chemteacher]

I don't want my Bulletin Boards to be just cute. I want the kids to remember stuff. I think I am going to use the outside bulletin board for the flask and flame with stuff we are going to learn. Inside I am thinking of doing one for each unit we cover....

For instance... here would be my first one...

Graphically speaking....

and then talk about the type of graph we make in Chemistry (kids always want to make bar graphs) with important hints!

[Suzy_H]

What about taking pictures of the students then having them put acetate over that and draw what they are "made" of in terms of DNA, molecular structure, elements, something as sophisticated as the level the kids are at. Get the kids involved them put those up. Make it a lesson for them and then post it to remember.

[AA2dancemom]

My suggestion is to use fabric instead of paper for your background. I have used the same pieces of fabric for three years. They look as good as new -- no holes, no fading, no tears, no writing, etc. -- and they were easier to hang than the paper. The best part is the fabric is cheap and comes in patterns or textures.

[apigonfire]

AA2dancemom!!! I love the idea of fabric... I mean, I've always heard that, but it took me until now to actually *get* it! Thanks for the idea!
~Kendra

[AA2dancemom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by apigonfire

AA2dancemom!!! I love the idea of fabric... I mean, I've always heard that, but it took me until now to actually *get* it! Thanks for the idea!
~Kendra

You're welcome.
What do you teach? I teach high school English, which means a new prep every year.

[sbergwil]

Thanks for the bulletin board inspiration. I'm going to try a fabric background too. I'm in a creative area (music) but I just don't enjoy doing bulletin boards. In fact, I usually have some students do them. The kids I asked to design it this year requested a blue background so they are going to get blue fabric!
And - teachers - "the A word" is here....August....Let's not think about it!

Susan

[chemteacher]

Thanks for the great ideas....I have done some fabric without much success. I tend to like the paper better...maybe I will try fabric again??

Anyone else have general BB ideas???

[*brailler*]

I make all my bulletin boards "working" bulletin boards so I don't have to change them--I am lazy. I teach first grade.
One bulletin board has the calendar activities on it--day of the week (ie Yesterday was..., Today is..., Tomorrow will be...) I have bears whose shirts with the day of the week is on it. We change the bear shirts every day. Then, on the calendar, we add the day to it, which is in a pattern--those velcro onto the calendar grid. We do odd/even with the day number, and we add a popsicle stick for each day of school. We also make different combinations of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters to what the number of the day is, and weather, we graph the weather-----that's my calendar bb. Another bb is a word wall---which has the 100 most used words under ABC headings---that takes up a lot of the wall.
Another bb is a math bulletin board---it has words, shapes, etc we will use in math.
At the beginning of the year, I usually display the calendar that says "I Know How to Read!" I put up environmental print on that one (environmental print is the McDonald's logo, stop sign, cereal boxes---stuff you find out in the environment and kids already know what they are by the shape and color it is--that is considered reading!)
That pretty much takes up all my bb space.
Outside of the classroom, we teachers cover the walls with what we call "wallpaper." Which is student work--I guess that may be too "juvenille" for teens to have their work displayed like that.
Also, at our school, especially with the upper grades, the teachers have the students do the bulletin boards/wall paper. They come up with some fantastic ideas and they love doing it! Why not have your students do the bulletin boards?
Anyway, just my thoughts
Have a pleasant day, for each new day is a gift!--Psalm 118:24
--Jeannie

[*brailler*]

Why not have a bulletin board serve as a word wall for chemistry words, etc.
I know a lot of the high school teachers do that in their classrooms. During an inservice day, we met at the high school and I saw some fantastic word walls in the classrooms. It would be valuable to the students.
Just another thought I had
Have a pleasant day, for each new day is a gift!--Psalm 118:24
--Jeannie

[gailwoo]

sorry, I don't have science ideas,
but I am doing one "Books take you to magical places" w/ flying carpet, etc,

maybe you can do similiar, with 'che

micals', or the elements from periodic table, bright colors, and show some real stuff made from those elements:

ie Sodium (Na) = salt packets (from fastfood plc)
Carbon (C) = pencils (?),
copper = a pc of copper pipe,
aluminum = alum. foil,

etc.

students can help you brainstorm the list, and when you start out, it can be a work in progress...


hth, gail

[AA2dancemom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by *brailler*

...
Outside of the classroom, we teachers cover the walls with what we call "wallpaper." Which is student work--I guess that may be too "juvenille" for teens to have their work displayed like that.
Also, at our school, especially with the upper grades, the teachers have the students do the bulletin boards/wall paper. They come up with some fantastic ideas and they love doing it! Why not have your students do the bulletin boards?
Anyway, just my thoughts
Have a pleasant day, for each new day is a gift!--Psalm 118:24
--Jeannie

I have had a "Wall of Fame" to showcase examples of good work for the last two years. Even my AP seniors have wanted to see their work displayed on the wall. Some of my students who have not always been successful in English classes were thrilled when I put some of their work on the wall. One is never too old to have one's work appreciated. In fact, the first year I had the wall, kids competed with each other to have their work displayed.
I have also have creating bulletin boards as one of the assignments students can choose to show their understanding of a unit. They show what they have learned, everyone else gets a review, and I don't have to do the bulletin board; talk about a win-win situation. Since the kids are getting graded on the board, they tend to do a good job.

[gailwoo]

sorry, I don't have science ideas,
but I am doing one "Books take you to magical places" w/ flying carpet, etc,

maybe you can do similiar, with 'che

micals', or the elements from periodic table, bright colors, and show some real stuff made from those elements:

ie Sodium (Na) = salt packets (from fastfood plc)
Carbon (C) = pencils (?),
copper = a pc of copper pipe,
aluminum = alum. foil,

etc.

students can help you brainstorm the list, and when you start out, it can be a work in progress...


hth, gail

[Honey Bee]

What about a Biography board--with photos of eminent scientists? One teacher I knew took photos from books or wherever, blew them up to 8.5 X 11 inch size, laminated them, and made a stunning bulletin board of the historic figures he wanted the students to learn about.

Perhaps scientists from one country or time period at a time.

If the photos are black and white, they look great with a bit of red behind them.

One could even have the scientists' discoveries nearby for them to match to the discoverer.

What about fun puzzles or problems for the students to solve? To get them thinking and expand their horizons.

Although I teach second grade, I had a chart of the Fibonacci numbers on one of my bulletin boards, and when students discovered something in nature that had the Fibonacci number, they'd get their name up there on an award ribbon chart with the object and the number on it.

I often use wallpaper for bulletin boards. I watch for sales.

I like the kind of borders that are suitable for all the seasons so I just have to change the displays, not the whole board.

Do you have a board with safety rules for the lab?

What about news clippings showing the need for knowledge of chemistry in everyday life? Jobs in the field?

Recommended reading lists of great writers on chemistry for your enterprising students.

All the best. Students do appreciate an attractive environment. It's worth the effort.

Honey Bee

[boilergrad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by *brailler*

Why not have a bulletin board serve as a word wall for chemistry words, etc.
I know a lot of the high school teachers do that in their classrooms. During an inservice day, we met at the high school and I saw some fantastic word walls in the classrooms. It would be valuable to the students.
Just another thought I had
Have a pleasant day, for each new day is a gift!--Psalm 118:24
--Jeannie

Oh, I love that idea! Word walls can benefit kids in so many ways. I haven't even given a thought as to what to do about my bulletin board. I'm a special education teacher serving kids with emotional disabilities, and my classroom is a cool-down room. So, I'll probably have cool down techniques and positive behavior support strategies on mine. I probably won't put a lot of detail into it though, in the event it ends up ripped.

I have used fabric on boards before, and it's EXCELLENT!