Interactive bulletin boards are the way to go. I have always found that when students are able to:
1. Help you create the bulletin board
2. Interact with the bulletin board in some way
...then it becomes more usable in the classroom and can add to the instruction in ways that static bulletin boards cannot. Don't get me wrong, I use my share of static bulletin boards too but when I can apply some interactive elements I try to.
For this bulletin board, I wanted to create something that the students could interact with and would be useful for teaching vocabulary skills to the students. Upon reading a recent issue of Mailbox magazine, I found an idea similar to this one except it used Piggy Banks and "Money" for the vocabulary slips.
What I felt was lacking was the element of "created by students" that makes the bulletin board pop. I quickly went to work changing the idea to be a little more -me- and created a pig template and new vocabulary slips.
This is the final result:
The idea is simple....I printed the pieces of the pigs using the template I created. I started by printing the pattern onto white paper and then photocopied it directly onto the construction paper.
I used two different pink tones to give the image some depth. I also used black as the back of the pig; you could use any color you would like but black seemed to work well.
I had the students assemble their pigs using scissors and glue. The back of the pig is glued in a "U" shape so that the pig can act as a pocket for our vocabulary slips. The slips go inside of the pig and are designed to align with the Common Core expectations for vocabulary work.
If you would like a copy of the template/pattern and vocabulary slips head over to Teachers Pay Teachers and download it (link below).
