[LM_NET] HIT: Back to School Bulletin Board

[Katie Farrington <kmfarrington@GMAIL.COM>]

I had several requests for a hit on this topic. Enjoy!

Katie Farrington
Media Specialist, Grades k-8
Belmar Elementary School
Belmar, NJ
kmfarrington@gmail.com


I am currently not in a library...but I am doing my practicum. I coach
volleyball and saw a neat team wall themed with iPod. You could do the same
with a library... teens are very into their iPods! Fill the board with
things like iRead iWrite iLearn iKnow iImagine iKnow iLove iLive iSearch and
have iLibrary somewhere in the center of it all. You could make an iPod
graphic and make different applications (where the icons would normally show
up on an iPod) be pictures of kids in the library throughout the first few
weeks of school....so it could be almost finished when school starts, and
need just a final touch?!? Or put book titles and great back to school reads
on the application buttons too!
Just a thought. I can't use it right now. Maybe you can. :o)

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I did one last year that's pretty easy.  At it's easiest:  You get a
coloring book page of a cow and copy it multiple times. Next cover your
bulletin board in light blue paper  if possible, and draw grass on it or use
green construction paper on it for grass.  Place the cows on it.  Type up a
speech bubble with MOOOOve on down to the Media Center! and have it coming
out of one cow farthest from the lmc door.  A cow near the door of the
center has a speech bubble that says "Got books?"  That's it! Sounds like a
bad joke doesn't it??

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Get one of those huge bags from the Container store and color over those
words in the small print. I put that bag with fluff coming out of it and
a huge pencil I had in the classroom that said School Is In. So the
board says, Contain Yourself School Is In

This year I made a huge frog, over pink and green fabric with frogs
leaping all over the place, with the words, Leap Into Reading! All the
AKA's love the colors, I love pink and green together! I just downloaded
some different clip art frogs and found the cutest, stringiest one to
enlarge. Everyone loves this board.

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We put up a sign that said Welcome Back, Bulldogs! Then we put maroon and
grey bulldogs and paw prints scattered around with book jackets. The
background paper was black, and the book jackets were on alternating maroon
and grey (school colors).

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My back to school bulletin board says, Vacation may be over, but there are
still journeys to take, with some posters that say "Go Anywhere with a
Book". It's gotten lots of compliments.

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A blue background and a tree from brown construction paper. Using the
die-cut machine, I made leaves in fall colors (red, orange, yellow), and on
each leave, I wrote a title of a book or an author. I scattered the leaves
around the bulletin board, as if they are falling off the tree. Using
letters in a coordinating color, I wrote "Fall into a great book." Trees and
leaves are available at teacher supply stores, too.

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As easy, already designed element I have used is seasonal flags that are
available at home stores and discount stores. Sometimes they have have
words, but it is easy to develop a literacy caption to go with the flag. If
you need other elements, the color scheme is already established.  Use book
covers, authors, genres as words.
Examples:
Snoopy at a typewriter - "What's Your Type?" Names of genres on colored
paper all around the flag.
Autumn Leaves - Fall into a good book
Snowmen _ Book Buddies
Cabin in the Woods - Cozy up with a good book
Butterflies - Flying high with good books.

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I work in a K-5 school so I am not sure if these are too juvenile but here
goes:
Quack Quack Welcome Back  (with ducks and Doreen Cronin book covers)
Let's Kick off a Great Year (with footballs and goal post)
Leap Into Reading (or a Great Year)  (with frogs, lily pads, etc.)

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I put up WELCOME in as many different languages as I could find

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We have a 3-D board that we use each year.  I buy silk leaves and put them
on the board above a tree trunk that I made out of poster board and colored
with oil pastels.  We staple them above the trunk to look like a tree and
then hang faux apples on it and have the words say Welcome back, Colts (our
school mascot).  When autumn comes, we change the green leaves out for fall
leaves, and change the words to say Fall into a Good Book.

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How about doing the word read in different languages and colors

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I have used the slogan 10 ways to improve your reading- read, read(10 times)
I used a different font for each one and used colorful paper as a backdrop.

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the magic of reading
pick one, anyone
 with a hand holding book covers like a  deck of cards when someone does a
magic trick

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I use the bulletin board outside of my K-2 Library for book reviews.  I
cover it in colored paper, use cut out letters to spell "Read anything great
lately?  Tell us!", buy index cards in many different colors and put up a
sample review.  I then encourage the kids to tell us about anything they've
read that they would recommend to others.  The index cards and pencils are
stored on the desk and the kids can take cards home, use their own paper or
write reviews once they've selected their books for the week.  By the end of
the year, not only the board, but the entire surrounding wall is full.  The
kids love seeing their reviews posted and will use the board to read other
reviews.....plus it solved the need to create multiple bulletin boards
throughout the year.  It's worked great for me!

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You could use a US map you might have on hand or I bought mine at Target in
the going back to school area.  I used book covers that were interesting and
made die cuts of multicolored hands to hold the book covers.  Pretty quick,
easy and colorful.  I need that with two schools to cover.

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I don't know if you can use this idea or not at the elementary level. But I
set up a display with the theme "Put Your Best Foot Forward" decorated with
bare footprints, pictures of shoes, and flipflop footprints. Along with the
board I use a pair of shoes I bought at Goodwill. With those I've diplayed
lists of Notetaking Tips, Study Tips, etc.

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One of our schools has a checker/chess board and it says "Check in and check
us out"

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I have been doing a "What did you read this summer" board and had the
teachers contribute to it. I might also have the older grades contribute if
I don't get m uch from the teachers.

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For my beginning of the year bulletin board, I took one of my daughter's old
backpacks and stuck it up on the bulletin board.  Then, I took book jackets
I had saved and made it look like they were spilling out of the backpack and
across the bulletin board.  I made two signs which go above and below the
stream of book jackets:  "Back to School" and "What's in YOUR backpack?"
 Kids really like checking out the jackets (they're usually from this year's
new books) and inevitably a kindergartner will ask, "Is that a real
backpack?"

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READ-Y for a new year?  Then add covers of various back to school books from
the library.  Either scan and print the cover or use the cover image found
in many library online catalogs or on Amazon, Titlewave etc.
@your.library   Then indicate various highlights of your library such as
books, magazines, computer catalog, online databases, online encyclopedia,
special projects etc. etc.  You can even fashion a small holder for
brochures about your databases etc. or for slips of paper with the URL of
your library page, online databases, online encyclopedia, catalog etc.

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My board currently says, "Books Are Brain Food" at the top, and "Feed Your
Mind!" lower down. I have a real picnic tablecloth stapled to the board,
paper forks and spoons and mustard/ketchup bottles, and real paper plates
with book jackets in them.

Another one that's pretty quick is this:  Side view outline of a head, with
only the brain inside, and the caption "This is your brain." Next to that,
the same head with a much bigger brain, and this caption:  "This is your
brain on books."  Then below:  "Any questions?"  You can add "See your
librarian." after "any questions", if you want.

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Our first back to school bulletin board was quite simple:
We titled it *Get Your Books On*
We had school supply items displayed along with new books (you could use
jackets or color copies of scanned covers too).
We included information on how to get a public library card, and school
spirit items.
Not too creative but easy and to the point.

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for the last 3 years i have done a "Mrs.Hawkins' Summer Vacation" themed
bulletin board.    Digital photos - mostly with me in them! of places of
interest i visited and things i kept busy with - always one of me with a big
stack of books reading in my easy chair - delivering Meals on Wheels to the
needy, building a dollhouse, sewing, etc.     i include blurbs about the
places i visit - including a little history, trivia, etc.    my students
absolutely love it when they come back - and it even generates lots of
conversations with students AND staff!

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