Another Half-dozen Bulletin Board Ideas!

Good bye to the old paradigm of bulletin board being a "content delivery" system. By adding an interactive element, expecting students to contribute to the postings, you are transferring ownership to the students.  They begin to see the space as a place for contribute.  Here we are again starting another school year, with interactive bulletin board ideas for you!

Carpe Diem! - Seize the opportunity to give your students a voice on a bulletin board.

1. CAUTION!  At your local hardware store purchase a roll of yellow CAUTION tape and use it to surround your bulletin board as trim. Provide a center yellow paper template stating "CAUTION! These books will keep you awake at night!"  Ask students to contribute book covers for captivating page-turners.  I remember one at-risk student sharing that when he read the book, DUNK, (David Lubar) "It was so good and hilarious that I'd rather read than watch TV."  I hadn't read DUNK at the time, but took mental note that it must be a winner!  

2. Global Connections: Flat-world? Place hints on the board, and ask the students to figure out where this place is. The questions should or could, come from the news and cause the students to: identify keywords for correct searching skills, or increase their global exposure. A world map from National Geographic would provide a good background.

• Bujumbura is the capital of this impoverished nation. How can they crawl out from poverty?
• This nation is below sea level.... 
• Tell me about the city of Chittagong. How could we help them? 
• Timbuktu is a real city located at what longitude and latitude
• Where do the Hutu's live? 
• This country's currency is a Baht. How many would you need to purchase a $10.00 (US Dollar) toy? 
• Etc. - Or, ask the students to create questions for others!

3. WONDER WALL  - What are you wondering about?  Allow students to post their random questions and then teach them to find answers.  When the bulletin board gets full, you can teach a lesson on "investigating" or finding answers, keyword searching and more. 

4. Life's a Puzzle -- Using a colorful puzzle, ask the kids to complete the puzzle on the bulletin board, by gluing pieces in place when they find one to fit.  Every week include a puzzle-riddle near the board that they can contemplate as they look for pieces to fit. 

http://www.mathwarehouse.com/riddles/math-riddles.php 

http://goodriddlesnow.com

5. WANTED a Few Good Readers!  Have students  suggest titles and create Wanted Posters with book covers. Hang them on the bulletin board. Wanted a reader who [fill in the blank]!  Ex.  Wanted: A reader who likes to read murder mysteries and who wants to figure out who killed the mother!" "Wanted: Readers to learn about paranormal probabilities!"  "Wanted - someone to help me find another book this good!

6: Notable Quotable! Cut out some speech bubbles from copied black line masters such as those pictured below. Ask the students to find a great quote within their books.  For instance, I just finished reading, The Silent Boy, (pre-publication to be released Oct 2015...a page-turner-murder-mystery). While I'm reading, I always stop and note a good quote or two that I stumble upon.  In The Silent Boy, the main character comments, "Facts are solid things. You can trust them, unlike people."  These quotes can arose curiosity in readers and be a platform for discussion and discovery. 

In case you've missed previous ideas!...  

http://librarydoor.blogspot.com/2014/08/5-new-bulletin-board-ideas.html

http://www.librarydoor.blogspot.com/2011/08/information-literacy-bulletin-board.html 

http://www.librarydoor.blogspot.com/2013/07/common-core-bulletin-boards-ideas-for.html 

Good luck and feel free to post some pictures, of your creation! 

Research Bulletin Board Ideas

Since Bulletin Board ideas are some of the top hits on this blog... here are 6 more for you!

PLEASE, PLEASE  remember - Interactive bulletin boards are more engaging for students.  90% of the bulletin boards I see are "teacher delivery" of facts.   Your question should be:  How can I create a bulletin board where student's contribute to the content?  So these ideas reflect this premise.  These are ideas where the kids contribute content...thereby transferring ownership and fostering engagement. 

1 - Wonder Wall - What are you wondering about today?  - Light bulbs templates where kids can post questions that are either related to a deeper content investigation.... or just something random such as, "Why do insects have more legs than humans?"   You could launch this bulletin board by showing them a wonder from "Wonderopolis" - asking what they think on the wonder...and then show them the short video clip answer from Wonderopolis.

2 - Question Stems -- In order to incubate the ability to question, place a major topic-problem-picture-or fact in the center of the bulletin board.   Ask the students to come up with the ?'s about the picture-problem-fact etc.   That way the kids see how one question...leads to many more.  This incubates their questioning ability.  Change the central question weekly.  When students have free time, ask them to brainstorm questions for the central idea.  If you have time, investigate the big idea on Friday for closure and place a new question-picture-problem-or-fact  up for Monday.

3 - Fascinating Facts I Found -  Pre-cut fact "F's" out and have them handy for kids to jot down something new they learned in a book, on a database, or during research.  Contribute those to the FF bulletin board.

4 - Spring Board!  - Dress the empty bulletin board for Spring and then teach a database asking kids to find a great Spring fact for contribution.  Here's an essential Question for the middle:  EQ - Why is Spring important?  Ask them to use the "vocabulary of the discipline" if they can (i.e. vernal, equinox, rotation, etc....)

5 - Seasoning Reasoning - EQ: Which season is the most important?  Find me a fact to support your claim! - Once again, asking kids to contribute to the board builds knowledge.  When their peers post something, they'll be reading other's claims.

6 - Research Beyond Road Signs  - Catch attention at the secondary level by asking them to find more than the "obvious."  This is like research.  We must move beyond the obvious to the why, how, what if, does... Place that statement in the middle of the board! Ask students in your library with nothing to do...to find you these obvious duh signs as below!

Common Core Bulletin Boards Ideas for Your Library:

Focusing on the "shifts"  here are a few good ideas for interactive bulletin boards.  Remember, bulletin boards should not be static, but should be interactive making them dynamic.  Learning is not a passive activity but an engaged process.  With that in mind, here are nine new ideas to support the CCSS via your big fat bulletin board! 

1. Vocabulary shift -  Choose a label such as "Word Families - FIND A BETTER RELATIVE"   and place  papers with big bold simple academic  words printed on top such as:   ARGUE,   LOUD,   KIND,   LOVELY,    TRASHY,   RICH,    POOR,    UGLY,    YUMMY,    and ask your students to contribute BETTER word choices that will help them sound  richer, smarter, and ready for success.       These suggestions may include "relatives"  such as quarrel, boisterous, benign, exquisite, shoddy, philanthropic, destitute, hideous, scrumptious, etc.    
2. Vocabulary shift -   Your BB heading could read "Words are the Building Blocks of Success"  and then you can have pre-made/copied Lego blocks, building blocks, etc... for the kids to suggest "cool"  words they find within books.  Together all the students could build their word wall from books.  
3. Positive vs. Negative words - Another Vocabulary BB idea was suggested by a librarian from Ossning, NY:  Wanting to build vocabulary subtle differences in word meaning, Dawn divided her BB into 2 halves and labeled one side "positive words" and one side "Negative Words."  Her students built the wall with words innately having  subtle differences in connotations.  She said the kids "got it."  They had to critically view the word beyond just face value meaning.  
4. Citing Evidence from the text -  BB heading could read "Why Earth is a cool place: 100 places I'd like to see someday...."   and  whenever someone comes across something cool in their reading, they could "pin" it on your world map."  You could even have citation cards with the book and page number where the student read about this cool location, building, cave, mountain, sea, etc.  
5. Citing evidence - "Fiction or Fact" - True or False?   This bulletin board could have hanging cards posted.  Each card would contain a question a student had from a fiction book, that they had to investigate to ascertain whether this was fact or fiction.  This has often been called a "Wonder Wall"  when the purpose is to get kids to ask questions needing investigation.  
6. Close Reading -  "What did you learn today in a library book?"   Colorful index cards will provide your students an opportunity to share their knowledge based upon what was in print (rather than their opinion).  
7. Complex thought -  "Today I had to digest this difficult word meal:"  In the center of the board, you could place a captivating poem, with difficult words.  This doesn't have to be stodgyl, but could be Sid Fleischman's Headless Horseman Rides Tonight, even... Checkout the vocabulary in that book!   Or, a difficult quote needing digestion.   Challenge a few students to post a sentence that tripped them.  If they have to "stop in their reading" to digest something...then it deserves to be digested.  
8. 50%-50% mix -  With the CCSS claiming kids should read more non-fiction to build their "common knowledge"  or "prior knowledge"   you could have your students build their own "Knowledge is Power"  wall.   Once again using a template such as a power plug, lightning bolt (or something to denote power) you could have students write down great "facts" they found in their books.  
9. 50% - 50% Connection - Quotations worth sharing -  Challenge students to value ideas found in books by asking them to share meaningful lines found in either fiction or non-fiction texts.   Kids could denote whether this was in a fiction book or a non-fiction.  

Information Literacy Bulletin Board Ideas

The movement for bulletin boards is to embrace "interactivity."  Don't just post something that is "readable," but rather design a display that requires participation.   Pick a theme and see whether your students can:

• Suggest a contribution (great books, best non-fiction, best summer read, etc.)
• Find an answer to the question (How can I find a book? Why do you like the library? Why should you learn to read? etc.)
• Identify a date, time, theme, etc. 

You get the picture--not just read, but react.  Here are a few information literacy themed bulletin board ideas that require student interaction:

• "2 Truths and a Lie" theme--  Place three pictures on the board with correct and incorrect usage according to [MLA] citation and ask the kids to identify the incorrect -- place the answer underneath the original as it could flip up. 
• "2 Truths and a Lie" theme-- Place a few samples of correct/incorrectly usage of intellectual property (according to Carol Simpson - Copyright for Educators) and ask the kids to identify which is not kosher.  
•  Ethical Use of Information Scenarios... this might be more appropriate for secondary students, but if you use music, video, quotations, common knowledge, etc.,  you could really drive home one piece of AASL & ISTE standards.   
• Which Source Would You Use For...   Place color photo-copied covers of reference books or online information sources and underneath the cover place scenarios for which you might use the book.   Have a list of questions in the middle that might require the student to consult a source.  
• Why should I care?  -  Ask a question and invite students to thumbtack up the answer on your board (anonymously).  The questions could change weekly.    Why does it matter if you cite your source?   Why should I care whether I received my information from a credible source?    These essential questions might actually be a "learning objective" of your lesson and you could require the students to complete an index card on the way out with the answer (ticket to leave).  This will display evidence of student learning and will score you points on an observation.  You will have displayed evidence of student learning.   In addition, you have displayed student work, and can fill you bulletin board.   If you use a differing color index card each week, you could build a multi-colored display. 
• Is this source credible?  - Find bizarre stories online at Google Magazines (http://books.google.com/books/magazines/language/en?hl=en&source=gbs_slider_gbs_user_shelves_1004_homepage) and perhaps choose some stories from Weekly World News such as:

Ask the students why they would or wouldn't use the sources.  Be sure to include credible, accurate and reliable info in addition to wacky, questionable, etc.   If you have some weirdo stories, they'll be more apt to stop and read your display!   Enjoy.



Here's another  bulletin board idea from 2009:

On one side represent 
On the other print a Database title (or a few).

Cover the Google sign with garbage (litter, gum wrappers, Styrofoam cups, crumpled magazine ads, dirty napkins, et.al.. Stick in a few good website printouts (CDC, .org, LOC.gov, NYcareerzone, etc.) On the database side, place a few captivating printouts on high-interest topics as well as scholarly printout, etc. "Valid Information Resides Here"

This visual representation is one more additional way to "Market Information Literacy". Remember--we are living in a visually infested atmosphere, and that is the stronger default modality. Send me your photos if you do this and I will post them here! pjaeger@wswheboces.org  
_________________________________________________________________________________

Someone recently asked me for additional info lit bulleting board ideas.  Remember from earlier postings-- the movement for bulletin boards is to make them interactive, reactive--rather than static.   Here are a few additional ideas to ponder:

• We are living in the Age of Misinformation!  Which one of the following is true?
  (Place random facts both true and plausible--but not true.)
• If you were diagnosed with a disease, where would you go for information?
  (Place good and bad sources on the envelopes...Depending upon which source they choose, they would have a likelihood of getting well... "You lose...  Placebo... Find a new doctor....Congrats! You will likely recover...etc.
• What keywords would you choose to answer the following questions?
  (Question on the outside, keywords under the flap.)

• Library Lingo for Lucky Searching... "I'm feeling lucky" picture on Google.
  Can they  get a good hit on Google with correct Keywords?  You provide the questions. (Personally, I don't like this feature, but your students might have fun with this.)
• Information, Misinformation, Disinformation, Information Pollution & Information Overload.... Are you suffering from TMI?
  Statistics for Google being a Garbage Dump of Information? (Make up the statistics and see who verifies any of them... prizes for those who find out! No sources cited?)
• Sherlock Holmes style detective head with comment bubble, "What's your source?"   Have random facts that open with the source underneath.
•  "You can ACCESS anything with your phone...but how do you know it's true?"   Random Facts from the Internet.  Cite your source! 
• It's plausible, but is it true?   Investigate the source. 

Have fun.  Mix and match the ideas above to customize your own interactive bulletin board!

(image from Creative Commons: http://act1nowplaying.com/DickTraceyDetective1945.aspx)

See other posts on InfoLit Bulletin Board ideas:

http://librarydoor.blogspot.com/2015/08/another-half-dozen-bulletin-board-ideas.html

http://librarydoor.blogspot.com/2011/08/information-literacy-bulletin-board.html