Summer is Over {Bulletin Boards}

Summer flew too fast this year.  Meetings started yesterday, and Monday will bring the kids.  I think I'm physically ready, I know the classroom bulletin boards are.  Don't mind the other mess, I'm still trying to finish up.  

Here's what is done.

Walking into the room, our Student Work Wall is the first thing you'll run into.  I like having a spot for each student to hang their work.  I like using student numbers so it's easy to know who still hasn't turned it in.  This bulletin board changes on a weekly basis.  

Right next to the work wall is now our Word Wall.  Most of my bulletin boards are interactive, meaning that things are added throughout the weeks and over the course of the year.  The word wall will house the different academic vocabulary we learn during our daily Wonderful Words Meeting.  Yes, I know I still have to lug in water for the water cooler.  :)

Between the Word Wall and this VOICES board is a small blue board that eventually will hang student faces - The FACE of a Reader.  The VOICES board is our main writing wall.  It's moved since last year.  VOICES stands for Voice, Organization, Ideas, Conventions, Excellent Vocabulary, and Sentence Fluency.  Under the letters (that came from Ladybug Teacher Files), I have written main points of each category.  During the first few weeks of school we have different mini lessons that bring them to life.  That white anchor chart holds the beginnings of Rainbow Edit.  The kids will fill that in later on too.

On the other side of the classroom we have our classroom library and our Reading Board.  The colored paper will house anchor charts for FACE (also from Ladybug Teacher Files).  We will have more mini lessons as we go over the strategies (Fluency, Accuracy, Comprehension, and Expanding Vocabulary).  FACE is simply just CAFE from the Daily 5.  Those blue cups are Marzano's Thinking Clouds from Tonya's Treats for Teachers and the yellow pocket chart is Prove It: Citing Evidence Cards from Joanne Miller.

Under the whiteboard I have Superhero Parts of Speech.  I love these cards, they are so cheerful.  Since we work with grammar everyday it was important to have them up.  I grabbed them years ago from Scholastic using their bonus points.

On the other side of the whiteboard we have 4 little pocket charts to hold our main weekly vocabulary cards.  One for Reading, Math, Science, and Social Studies.

I moved my information board to this side of the classroom since my desk is now over here.  My old eyes can't see the calendar from across the room.  :)  Also on the whiteboard is my behavior chart, rules, and helper cards.

I now also have a Data Board.  It will contain our class averages for our assessments.  I want us to see how we are improving as a class.  We will also have the standards we are currently working on.

You can probably tell that I use a lot of fabric on my walls.  Some are sheets (which are thick and needed to be put up with pushpins), some are just normal fabric from the clearance rack.  I love how the colors are so calming, they make me happy.  The tops of the boards all have paper borders, but for the bottom I use wide navy ribbon.  The ribbon doesn't get wrecked when kids lean on them while sitting on the floor.  You can probably also tell that I love pocket charts.  It makes it so easy to just drop in an index card, or a student exit slip, or a vocabulary or standard card.  I'll show off all my pockets charts in another post since I'm realizing I forgot to snap some pictures.  Another day...

This week is flying by and I'm not done with my to do list and to get mentally prepared for the big task of new technology, new math curriculum, and new standards. Back to laminating, copying, lesson planning, cutting out contact paper for name tags, and updating my Back to School Powerpoint.  So much for a relaxing weekend...

Hope you have had a great week!