Twitter Bulletin Board

Story Plate

Students create a story plate on a book that they read. First  they cut out a circle on colored paper.  Next, they fold the paper in half and then fold it in half again. Then they cut a line on both folds. Next,  staple the paper to a paper plate and fold up each section up. On each section of the colored paper have the students write what you want them to draw or write on their plate. I had students draw or write; the characters, setting, conflict and resolution.  They can write the title and author's message around the edge of the plate.  

Story Cube

Students create a story cube by drawing various elements of a story such as; setting, character, conflict and resolution.

Character Trait Activity

Character traits give the reader insight into what a character might do next in a story. As I  read the book Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, students wrote down what Ferdinand did and said in each box. Then the students came up with character traits for Ferdinand. My students came up with; peaceful, gentle, happy and unique. When I got to the part of the book when the men choose Ferdinand for the bull fight, I had the students infer what they thought Ferdinand would do.  Since he displayed peaceful traits, many students inferred that Ferdinand would not fight.

Students drew pictures of the character on a sheet of paper with 2 cut lines.  Then they wrote what the character did and said.  Lastly, they came up with character traits. Students can pull sheet with the words through the sheet with the picture as shown on top.

Story Map Bulletin Board

Chalk by Bill Thomson is a wordless picture book.  I used this book with 3rd and 5th grade students. In the book, children find chalk at a park.  Whatever the children draw, it comes alive.  This is a great book to do inference with.  Then, the students drew pictures of the characters, setting, conflict and resolution.  This bulletin board is easy and meaningful. 

Students used artist pastels to draw pictures that were inspired by the  book Chalk. We also wrote letters to the author and added it to the bulletin board. Wow, I got a lot of compliments on it!

Poetry Bulletin Board

Poetry Bulletin Board

• Students fill a piece of paper with different shades of colored chalk 
• Students rub the colors together with kleenex
• Students cut out a tree ( I gave them a pattern) with back paper and glue it on the chalk paper
• Students write a poem to go with the picture

WHO WHAT WHERE WHEN WHY POEM

• WHO:  Snow
• WHAT:   falls in whispers
• WHERE:  on the trees
• WHEN:  during a moonlit night
• WHY:  so as not to disturb the life below 

PYRAMID POEM

• 1 WORD:  Clouds
• 2 WORDS:  Fluffy, white
• 3WORDS:  Drifting, shadowing, misting
• 4 or more WORDS:  Floats away slowly. Leaves sunshine.

I GOT A LOT OF COMPLIMENTS ON THIS POETRY BULLETIN BOARD!

Among the Hidden

Bulletin Board for the book; Among The Hidden
Students used metacognitive stem; I'm Wondering before, during and after they read the book. Each student wrote what they were wondering on sticky notes before they started reading the book, after each chapter, and when they were done reading the book. After each chapter we viewed the questions from the sticky notes and the students answered the questions that they could. The students discovered that their comprehension improved when they asked questions as they read! Also, view the post on my blog; Thoughtful Readers Ask Questions As They Read for ideas on how to teach this strategy.

Student blog on ways Luke could try to change the law

After the students wrote the blog, other students made comments on sticky notes.