At the start of the school year, it is very important to create a welcoming and engaging classroom environment for your young students. An effective and fun way to do this is through student-created bulletin boards that are based on popular read-aloud books.
These displays not only brighten your classroom but also convey to students that their work is valued, fostering a sense of pride and community. They are such an easy and effective way to build connections and set a positive tone for the year ahead.
Since these craft activities and bulletin boards are based on books that are student favorites, they will capture their interest right from the start! They are the perfect way to keep your little ones busy and engaged in a meaningful, fun activity.
Benefits of Student-Created Bulletin Boards:
- Encourage Creativity: Engaging students in creative activities helps them express themselves and develop a love for learning.
- Build Connections: Working on a shared project helps students bond and feel more comfortable in their new environment.
- Value Student Work: Displaying students’ creations shows that their contributions are important and appreciated, boosting their confidence and sense of belonging.
- Set a Positive Tone: Starting the year with a collaborative project sets a positive tone for the rest of the school year.
The Crayons Go Back to School Bulletin Board and Writing Craft
Start the year with a fun, meaningful back-to-school craft and bulletin board based on the beloved read-aloud book The Crayons Go Back to School by Drew Daywalt. The book’s charming characters and relatable themes make it a hit with kids, and the associated craft activity helps you get to know your students better.
Each student gets a chance to express their thoughts and feelings about school by writing and drawing on their own crayon cutout. It’s a great way to start conversations and build connections with your new students. By sharing their favorite parts of school and what they are looking forward to, students get to know each other and feel more comfortable in their new environment.
Arrange the students’ crayons on the bulletin board along with a title. Displaying student-created work is a powerful way to convey that your students’ contributions are valued. This fosters a sense of pride and community within the classroom.
How Full Is Your Bucket? Bucket Filler Student-Created Bulletin Board
Introduce and reinforce the concept of being a bucket filler with engaging activities based on How Full Is Your Bucket? For Kids by Tom Rath and Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud. The bucket-filler classroom management strategy is a concept that is simple for young students to understand and encourages good behavior and kindness to others.
These activities will help build a positive classroom community and teach students bucket-filling behaviors. The basic gist of the books and bucket filler theme is that we all carry around invisible buckets that represent our level of happiness. Our buckets get filled when we receive love and happiness from others or when we spread love and happiness to others. When our buckets are full, we feel happy.
Our buckets spill or empty when others are mean to us, when we feel sad or when we are cruel to others and “dip” out of their buckets. When our buckets are empty, we feel sad.
The objective is to keep everyone’s bucket full by being bucket fillers, not bucket spillers or dippers. Bucket fillers fill each others’ buckets by being kind, following the class rules, sharing, and caring for each other.
I love using this bulletin board display as a reminder of our bucket filling behaviors!
Students cut out and decorate a bucket, then draw / write something that they do to be a good bucket filler.
Display all of their buckets around the title “We are bucket fillers not bucket spillers”.
The Little Engine That Could Growth Mindset Bulletin Board
This student-created bulletin board based on the classic book The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper will inspire students to develop a growth mindset.
During and after the story discuss the difference between the little blue engine’s mindset and the other two engines’ mindsets (the little blue engine had a growth mindset, the other engines had fixed mindsets).
Then, discuss how the little blue engine kept telling herself “I think I can, I think I can”. She believed in herself instead of doubting herself. Talk to students about “self talk” or their “inner voice” and how to change their inner voice to a growth mindset voice.
Students create a classroom display that will be a visual reminder of the story and its positive message.
Each student thinks of a goal or something that they want to learn or accomplish during the school year and finishes the sentence “I think I can…” on a train car, reinforcing positive self-talk.
Make a class display by connecting the students’ train cars to an engine that says “The little class that could”.
I wasn’t able to fit the entire display in the picture. At the end there is a caboose that says “We can!”.
Our Class is a Family Bulletin Board with Crafts
Create a warm, welcoming classroom environment with this display based on Our Class is a Family by Shannon Olsen. It helps children understand, in a very sweet way, how their class can also be their family. It is a wonderful book for strengthening and building classroom community!
This student-created display is a visual reminder of the concept in the classroom. Students draw a picture of themselves and write their names inside a picture frame (a simple enough craft for young learners at the beginning of the year).
Create a class display by hanging their pictures around a “home Sweet Home” sign to resemble family photos hanging on a wall.
If you want to kick off the school year with these thoughtful, engaging displays that will make your classroom a vibrant, welcoming space, they are available in this money-saving bundle. This bundle not only simplifies your back-to-school preparations but also helps you build a strong, connected classroom community right from the start.
- Engage Students Instantly: Capture their interest with fun, story-based activities.
- Simplify Planning: Everything you need for a seamless setup is included.
- Celebrate Student Work: Displaying their creations shows that their contributions are valued.
- Foster Community: Build a sense of pride and belonging from day one.
- Encourage Imagination: Inspire creativity and positive self-expression.
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