Hello! My name is Rachael from The Classroom Game Nook Blog. Thanks to Rachel Lynette for allowing me to share some tips with her readers today!
As you might guess by the title of my blog, I’m a big fan of classroom games to promote a meaningful and engaging learning environment. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that most students would much prefer playing a game with their friends to review an important concept over reviewing using a textbook or a worksheet.
Now, you might think that bulletin boards and games have nothing to do with each other, but I’m here today to tell you that they have EVERYTHING to do with each other. When I taught in the classroom full-time, I loved putting up a beautiful bulletin board display. After stapling up the final piece, I’d stand back and admire my work (OK, and maybe call a colleague or two into my room to validate my work with their “ooos” and “ahhhs”…). The only problem: My students could care less that I spent two hours after school putting it up. In fact, they hardly noticed. (Womp, womp…)
That all changed when I started using my bulletin boards for games! And now, you can, too!
Step 1: Don’t just put up your completed unit bulletin board at the beginning of the unit and leave it there hoping your students will notice.
(“Mrs. ____, you are soooo talented at creating meaningful and beautiful bulletin boards for us!” <—not going to happen!) Instead, put up the pieces WITH your students. Begin the unit by putting up only the topic headings:
Step 2: Continue to add pieces to your bulletin board as you learn about your unit.
Step 3: Use your bulletin board to play a review game!
This is where you check how well your students have paid attention to your bulletin board throughout the unit! Check out these fun ways to use completed bulletin boards to engage your students in review games. These games can be played with bulletin boards for any concept or grade level.
What cute ideas!!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Julie
The Techie Teacher
I like your ideas. How could you have a literacy game on a bulletin board in the lunchroom? Where individual students when finished with lunch could challenge themselves from their seat to find the answers… There could be a flap and a reveal of the answer when you line up to go to recess.
Hi Cindy!
I love the idea of having a literacy game on a bulletin board in the lunch room! It’s a great way to keep students engaged and keep the lunch room chaos to a minimum! You could put activity sheets (to go along with the game of your choice) in a file folder and staple the file folder to the bulletin board!
Check out this “I Spy” activity I did on a bulletin board that might spark an idea or two! It’s not a literacy game, but you could take the idea shown in the post and make it your own!
http://classroomgamenook.blogspot.com/2015/10/create-i-spy-interactive-bulletin-board.html
Thanks!
Rachael
http://www.classroomnook.com