Post an eye-catching bulletin board in your classroom with a banking theme that earns big dividends!
Hi and welcome back to Attentionology for K – 5 Teachers!
Get ready to head into a new school term with new eye-catching bulletin board designs, ones that entertain and educate.
As the 2018-19 school year takes shape, the “bank of research” grows on the negative impact of distractions. Put a “bank theme” to work in your classroom to encourage kids to ditch distractions.
Bank Here for Learning…and Fun! – Post a bulletin board with a theme that earns big dividends…students’ attention and more…
Begin with a colorful eye-catching header: Bank Here for Learning and Fun!
Just below and around the header add some play money, like US dollar bills or your country’s currency, to the board.
Key skills add up. Post skill cards next to play money as part of your Bank Here for Learning and Fun bulletin board.
Below that, center a poster that reads Key Skills Add Up Like Savings.
Tack up more money, spacing the bills out across the rest of the bulletin board space.
Next to each of these bills, place a different colored card that features a key subject and/or skill.
Write one key subject/skill on each card. For example, you can write math skills on one card.
On another card you may print staying focused.
On a third card, the skill you print might be listening to learn.
Mix in some fun with a card that reads laughing for fun…and so on.
Bank for Learning Bulletin Board – Long-term Investment – Get more return on your Bank Here for Learning and Fun bulletin board by designing it to be multi-functional for long-term use during the school year.
For example, keep the same header, but change the center poster to read, Vocabulary Adds Up to Good Communications.
Substitute the key skills cards with cards that feature vocabulary words that connect with banking and learning.
Think of how many there are in your language! In English, you might print a vocabulary card that reads, INTEREST (a word that can be used in many ways…good for a class discussion…including money earned in savings)
Print and post a bulletin board card with the word INVESTMENT on it. Open a class discussion in upper elementary grades about how students can “invest” in their educations, along with their parents and teachers.
Point out how important PAYING ATTENTION is to INVESTING in one’s education and future success.
Get some long-term benefits from your Vocabulary Adds Up bulletin board by incorporating Character Education in the design. How?
Catch kids’ attention by throwing play money in the air as you turn your Bank Here for Learning and Fun bulletin board interactive.
Bank Here on Winning Character Traits – Connect your Bank Here for Learning and Fun bulletin board with Character Education by adding this word to your vocabulary board…EARNING.
Explain the connection with a question to your class… “Do you agree that some key character traits are not given; they are earned?”
Ask kids to think about it…a teacher…anyone…needs to EARN RESPECT.
How else can you design a Bank Here for Learning bulletin board that earns attention?
Earn Attention Turning the Bulletin Board Interactive – Catch kids’ attention by announcing that you have designed a program for students to earn rewards for good work.
Walk to the Bank Here for Learning and Fun bulletin board with a bag that holds a stash of pretend cash.
Surprise students by suddenly throwing the money in the air.
As it falls to the ground, call on volunteers to pick up the bills and one by one, tack them to the Bank Here for Learning bulletin board.
If time permits, engage the class in a quick count of the total money value currently posted on the board. (This activity can be done at a later time – a math exercise.)
Effort pays off! Consider exchanging “money earned” with small prizes in class, such as new pencils or erasers, stored at the “bank.”
Piggy (Bank) Goes to School – Most children love piggy banks or some other special container that they use to collect coins.
Piggy (bank) goes to school to collect skills that are important to success now and in the future.
Who hasn’t enjoyed shaking some sort of bank as a child and feeling RICH!
Pick up on the plan to make your Bank Here for Learning bulletin board multi-functional by adding a graphic of a piggy bank to the board one day after school.
Remember, surprise (and delight) are key attention-getting elements.
When the children arrive the next morning, ask them to look around the room.
Challenge them to practice good observation skills.
Ask if they notice anything new on the walls of the room.
Surprise! A piggy bank has appeared on the Bank Here for Learning and Fun bulletin board.
NOTE: The different designs for this bulletin board intentionally offer options that suit different grade levels.
When discovery of the piggy bank is made ( by you or students), personify the piggy bank by announcing that “Piggy goes to school.”
Ask what kids think Piggy is “piggy” about.
Answer: learning and saving skills for now and the future.
The possibilities with this characterization are endless…and fun.
Bulletin boards that earn attention and have multiple functions offer big benefits.
They require little time for busy teachers to maintain and offer many opportunities to help children learn.
Remember, you don’t need to be a magician to work magic in any instructional setting!
Please send comments about your most effective bulletin board designs.
Talk with you again soon,
Barbara ♥ The Lovable Poet
