#2getherwearebetter- Bulletin Boards

I am so excited to link up again with Angie from Lucky little Learners and Ashley from Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd.  I've said it before, but these two are my blogging idols.  They are all about collaboration and sharing ideas.  They created this monthly link up as an opportunity for teachers to come together and share their ideas.  I've gotten so many great ideas from all the teachers that have been linking up on the second of every month (together we really are better)!

I have to admit I cringed a little when I found out this month the topic would be bulletin boards.  I love bulletin boards...from OTHER teachers.  I can't stand creating bulletin boards.  I don't have the patience to get them looking the way I want them to look.  Every time I get an idea from a blog or Pinterest, my boards never come out like the inspiration and I become frustrated.  However, bulletin boards are a requirement.  Fortunately, I only have a couple of actual bulletin boards in my classroom.  I try to set them up so that they are as low maintenance as possible and don't require me to change them frequently.  

As much as I don't like to do bulletin boards, I also can't stand having blank wall space.  So in addition to my actual bulletin boards, I'm sharing my other wall displays (things that I would put on a bulletin board if I had more).  

This is the largest board in my classroom.  I used to divide it in to two smaller boards by using two different borders and two different colored backgrounds, but that was too much work.  Now I use this as my classroom word wall.  I add words as we learn them.  

This board is located in the front of my room.  Instead of "Star Student" I do "Top Dog" since our school mascot is the Lab.  The Top Dog for the week fills out the poster, or creates their own and I hang it on the board.  Often times students bring additional pictures that get hung up next to the poster.  

This is my book recommendation bulletin board that is next to my classroom library.  In the pockets are slips that students fill out if they've read a good book.  They fill out the title, author, location in our classroom library, and a quick statement about what they liked about the book.  I then hang the recommendations on the board.  Students who don't know what they want to read can look at the recommendation board for ideas. I find that often students like to read the same books as their friends, so this is a quick way for them to see what their friends are reading.  I find that it also encourages discussion about books!  This year, I will add books discussed during our Book Talk Club meetings to the board (you can read about that here). 

Here's my calendar (which is on my board in the front of the room instead of an actual bulletin board).  I put the whole calendar up at once instead of day by day because I find that it helps with calendar skills.  Next to it is a blank bulletin board.  This is where I display student work (student work is also displayed throughout the room and in the hall).  It's blank now because this was taken before school started.  Last year I started covering my board with fabric, and I'll never go back to covering them with paper.  I did try to use wrinkle releaser on the purple fabric, but the wrinkles didn't come out.  Once the board was covered with student work, the wrinkles weren't as noticeable (that would've driven me crazy).  

I've covered (see what I did there) all the actual bulletin boards in my classroom.  Here are additional wall displays that would be on bulletin boards if I had more (which I'm glad I don't)!

This is my content word wall.  I display words with pictures relating to our units of study and keep them up year round.  I like to review concepts throughout the year, and I found that the students really referred back to this word wall to answer questions.  It was also awesome to have up as we filled out our end of the year memory books!

I hate to have blank wall space.  This is right above my bathroom door, so not in a very obvious spot in the classroom.  These are posters of all the famous Americans we learn about in 2nd grade as well as the people they learned about in K-1.  

I still have a teacher desk.  I don't use it as a place to sit and work, but as a place to store 10 years worth of junk!  We have a poster maker (a large printer that blows things up poster size).  I blew up some of Krista Wallden's clip art to decorate my desk, but I think this would make a cute welcome back to school bulletin board!

This is a small section of wall next to my desk (I told you I don't like any blank space), but this is also one of my favorite spaces.  I put all the photos of my past classes here.  It's so fun to remember my former students and think about what they are up to.  It's also fun when I have siblings and they find their older brother and sister on the wall.  I switched schools this past year, and a fifth grader came down to deliver something and found a picture of his older brother (from my previous school) on the wall!

Since I haven't been able to get in my classroom yet this picture (and the following ones) is taken from the floor in my house, but you should get an idea of what the display will look like :-)  This is my birthday display.  Once I get my class list, I'll write each student's name and birthday on the correct cupcake.  

This is my clip chart.  I had debated about using one this year based on all the blog posts I read about getting rid of the clip chart.  However, the way I use it works for me and my class, so it's back for another year.  

Punctuation marks "posters".  I will display this as a reference for my students. 

My final "bulletin board" is my class job chart.  Each student in my class gets a job.  Their names will be on strips of card stock with Velcro so they are easy to change every week.  

Thanks so much for checking out my bulletin boards.  I can't wait to hop through the other blogs that have linked up to get more ideas for the coming year.  Maybe I'll be so inspired that I get over my dislike for having to put them up :-)