The Polar Express

This is my MOST FAVORITE thing we have ever done!  The Polar Express is one of my favorie books, and we made it come alive!  As you can see, we started with the engine at one end of the hall.  Our principal was the conductor!  The kids loved that!  Then we made three cars, one for junior kindergarten, one for kindergarten, and one for first grade!  We added every child's picture to look like they were riding on the train!  You should have seen their faces when they saw the train for the first time...PRICELESS!!   Under each child's picture is a bell with student writing on it.  We also had a Polar Express Day!  The students wore their pajamas.  In the morning, we rotated between our six classes and each teacher had a different activity planned revolving around The Polar Express.  We focused on math skills, social studies, reading, etc.  One activity was, of course, reading the book.  After lunch, we watched the movie!  It was a fantastic day!  I wish I had a picture of one of the cars without kids in front of it, but I don't, sorry.

Christmas Decorations

You have probably seen this door on Pinterest!  My co-worker and I both had it on our doors and then we made the barn connect both of our doors.  We turned the childrn into reindeer with their handprints.  The writing on the bulletin board is an application to be one of Santa's reindeer!  They had to write why they thought they would make a good reindeer... really cute!  We also had a Reindeer Day!  We wore antlers and did reindeer activities all day!  It was a lot of fun!

Elephant 3D Bulletin Board

This was another one of my favorite bulletin boards.  Just seeing the kids' faces the first time when they saw it, made it all worth while!  The students wrote on peanuts, "I will never forget...."  Some of their answers were the sweetest things!

Pumpkin Patch Bulletin Board

Another Grandparents' Day bulletin board.  The students' pictures are on the leaves, and the students wrote why their grandparents were special.  We typed what they wrote and put it on the little pumpkins.

Log Cabin

We made a log cabin with a gian cardboard box, and toilet paper rolls.  I put it up in November for the Pilgrims.  In December, we decorated it to look like a gingerbread house.  Unfortunately, I am not allowed to put it up anymore due to fire codes.

Beehive door

Tree Bulletin boards

The first picture was our first 3D bulletin board.  The apples had the students' pictures on them, and on the inside they wrote about why their grandparents were special.  In the second picture, we turned the apple tree into a Christmas tree.  The lights were made from their students' names.  They wrote on ornaments and the presents at the bottom.

Christmas Bulletin Board

Each child made a stocking to hang on the fireplace.  We made the fire to look 3D.  We also had a nice/naughty list. We put a few teachers on the nice list, but put our principal on the naughtly list!  Although we thought it was funny, some of the kindergartners got upset about it.  They just couldn't believe our principal would be on the naughty list, so we ended up marking it out and putting him on the nice list!!!

Flag

One year, we had a patriotic theme for our Grandparents' Day.  The students' handprints made the lines and the 50 stars had our students' pictures on them.  We  had a banner that said, "We love our country and our grandparents!"

Penguin bulletin board

This is by far one of my favorite bulletin boards that we have done!  It was huge!  His body covered the whole bulletin board, then we added the head!  After a study of penguins, each student wrote several facts about penguins on the baby penguins!  I don't know if you can tell or not, but the penguin is 3D.  We have learned after doing many 3D boards that it is easier to staple wads of paper to the board and then put the paper on top of it.

Another Grandparents' Day Bulletin Board

We did this one a few years ago.  We took pictues of all the boys with a jersey and helmet in a football stance and the girls all had pompoms and were in a cheering pose.  We also took pictures of our class on the football stadium cheering as the crowd.  The students had written why their grandparents were special.  We typed them out and put them on the footballs!

Grandparents' Day/Halloween Bulletin Board

Every fall we celebrate Grandparents' Day which is a huge deal where I teach, so we always do something special with our bulletin board for our grandparents!  Since it was in October, we incorporated the spiders and we read our students Charlotte's Web.  We do the spiders every year, but this is the first time we have put them on the bulletin board.  I made the giant spider web from glue and glitter and it says Our Grandparents are...  Each student made his/her on web and picked one word to describe his/her grandparents.  Earlier we had asked each student to make a scary face and we took their picture but they didn't know why!  The spiders are so cute, we leave them out all year long!

Dr. Seuss week, part 2

This was also an idea from Pinterest, but we changed it a little by using the students' handprints as the hair and using the child's picture as the face!  The kids loved being changed into one of the Things!

Valentine Bulletin Board

This was our Valentine Bulletin Board.  The Sweetheart box is 3D with some of the students' work behind it.  The students wrote Love is..... and basically had to describe what love meant to them.  This was some of the most amazing writing our kids had done all year long.  They were sooooo sweet!  The box is actually in the middle of our board.

toothbrush

For Dental Health Month - Got this idea from Pinterest!  Very cute!

Popcorn bulletin board

This was our bulletin board from the beginning of the year!  We love to to a lot of 3D bulletin boards!  The popcorn box is just a piece of posterboard that I colored.  I folded the sides so it would stick out from the bulletin board.  The popcorn pieces each have a child's name, and on the back is a folded pipe cleaner stapled to the board so they will stick out too!

100 Day Tree

This was our 100 Day tree!  Each student wrote about something he/she had learned about the first 100 days of school.  The owl pattern is from a 100 day packet I found on Pinterest.  We made our own 3D tree from brown bulletin board paper.

March/Spring Bulletin Board

The students from both first grade classes helped make the rainbow.  It took about an hour to complete.  The students wrote "I am lucky because..."  on the gold coins.  Each student also decorated their on kite.

Dr. Seuss Week

My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss - The students wrote what color they were feeling that day and why.  They drew their face and then painted it to match their writing.

Let the blogging begin!

Well, here it goes! I have decided to start posting pictures from my first grade classroom. I have been asked to do this several times, so I thought i would give it a try! This will mainly be bulletin boards and activities done with my students, that I think other teachers might want to use in their classroom! Please know, not all of these ideas are my own. Some are original, some are borrowed, and some are borrowed but I have added my own touch to it! Many of these ideas also come from many brainstorming sessions with my co-worker, Mrs. Young. She and I work extremely well together and this blog is more of a collaboration of both of our efforts! The big bulletin board is in the hallway between our classrooms, and it is my favorite one to decorate! Please enjoy, and I hope you find something useful! Just please be patient as I am just getting started!