Back to School Bulletin Board-With a Purpose

I know it is Summer and Back to School time is so far away for many of us…but if you are a teacher, you know that you are already thinking about how to improve everything in your classroom and all of your lesson plans.  I’d place bets that a lot of you teachers have already been hard at work, at least mentally, getting ready for the new school year!

In ECE we like everything we do to be intentional.  Every part of our day includes some kind of learning.  Even at snack time we will talk about what shape our cracker is, which of our five sense are we using?  How can we remember our good manners…it goes on and on.

I begin my year with a bulletin board that not only welcomes the kids, helps the parents learn the names of all the kids, but also adds an element that I use to show progress through the year.  In other words…it is VERY intentional.

The board is outside my classroom door.  It is big-in fact I have 2 classes, morning Preschool and afternoon Pre K, so I break it into 2 separate boards.  It starts out with these flowers with empty centers and names placed boldly on each flower.

I have the words “Watch”, “Us”, “Grow” placed across the board above the flowers.  I have laminated the flowers, stems, and leaves so I don’t have to make them each year.  I added the grass last year and I kind of like it.  
During the first week or two we do a center activity where we look into mirrors and notice our faces, usually during our “About Me” unit.  I ask the kids to notice their eyes color, hair color, if they have nose…where does it go on their face?  Do they have eyelashes?  Eyebrows?  Then I offer large circles in several flesh tones for the kids to re-create their face…we even add yarn hair!
The faces then go into the center of the flower with their own name on it!  I usually take a photo of each flower-including the name so I remember who it is!  The photo then becomes part of their end of the year progress book for their parents-which will show a current self-portrait…it’s amazing to see the change!
Here are a few examples.  The face with red hair is one of my Preschoolers ages 3-4, the other 2 are my Pre K kids, ages 4-5.  This way, the parents can also see the progress from the Preschool (3-4) to the Pre K (4-5).  It showcases developmental progress from one year to the next.  
I love this project, and so do the parents.  I think this is one of my favorite bulletin boards of the year!

This is just one of the activities in my “About ME”  5-day lesson plan available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  Just follow the link below for this on a other ‘done for you’ lesson plans.
All About ME 5-day Lesson Plan for Preschool, PreK, K, and Homeschool

Enjoy!