UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Are you stressing out about getting your room ready before school starts? Have I got a plan for you! Take yellow caution tape and wrap it around your door. Post a sign for parents and students that says:

“This room is under construction because it will be ‘home’ for all of us this school year. It is important that the children help me decorate it with their artwork and personalities. Please come visit us in a week and see what we have created!”

How about some crafts your students can make to decorate the room?

Welcome to the Neighborhood
Make a house from construction paper for each child. Fold the paper in half vertically. Open. Fold in the top corners to the middle. Fold up the bottom. Let children write their name on the front of the house. They can open the house and draw their family. You could also ask child to bring in a photograph of their family. Add some trees and a school and you have a great bulletin board.

                   


Class Quilt
Use group art to create a visual representation of the “community” in your classroom. Give each child a 9” square and have them decorate it with pictures of themselves, drawings of their families or favorite things, collage materials, etc. Punch holes in the corner of each square and tie together with yarn to make a quilt to display in the classroom or hallway.

                                               

Friendship Chain
Give each child a strip of construction paper to decorate with their name, symbols of favorite things, or designs. Staple the strips together to make a chain. Remind the children that your classroom is just like that chain. Everyone must work together to keep it connected and strong. Drape the chain over the doorway.

                     


Fit Like a Puzzle
Take a large sheet of poster board and cut it into puzzle shapes. (You will need one puzzle piece for each child in the room. Mark the back of the piece with an “X” so they will know which side to decorate.) After the children have decorated their piece, challenge them to put their pieces together to make a puzzle. Glue pieces to another sheet of poster board to create a picture puzzle for your classroom.

Make a banner with the words above to go on your door.  Remind your children each day that they really are the WORLD'S GREATEST STUDENTS.

These bulletin board themes have been around since the "dark ages" when I started teaching in 1969, but some things never go out of style!

Lights, Camera, Action! (Photos of Special Events)

A Great Batch (Gingerbread Cookies)

(Teacher’s Name) Bunch (Bananas)

Round Up for a Great Year (Horses)

Lookin’ Good! (Giant Mirror)

Kick off for (Grade)! (Football & Goal)

Join (Teacher’s Name) Team! (Pennants and Pompoms)

Welcome Super Stars (Stars)

Swim into a New School Year (Fish)

Bloom in (Grade - Flower Garden)