Interactive Bulletin Boards

So I have become pretty much obsessed with the idea of interactive bulletin boards.  While I was decorating my classroom, I had big gaping holes on each of my bulletin boards.  I wasn't quite sure what to do with them, and I don't have a lot of anchor charts yet since its my first year.  I figure, what better way to make a bulletin board count than to have my kids help me decorate.  I put up sheets of paper on each bulletin board that will have a question for students to answer. 

Right now, my reading board has "Books We Love."  It's pretty self-explanatory, the kids just write the name of some of the great books they are reading.  I want to start simple so they feel comfortable putting their ideas and thoughts up for everyone to see. 

 

My math board has "Write an addition problem that equals 20.  _ + _ = 20."  My goal is that there are multiple answers and they keep looking for new answers, including using multiple addends (i.e. 3 + 3 + 14). Once they get comfortable, I definitely want to increase the level of the question and keep it on track with what we are talking about in the classroom.

The writing board question is, "What do writers write about?"  The goal is to get students thinking early about the different topics and connect that to all the topics that they can write about too.  I'm going to introduce it by having students discuss what the author is writing about in everything we read (including textbooks) so they have a huge variation.

I've also got a "Fun Facts" paper where they will be able to write down facts from the non-fiction book they read.  My requirement will also be that they write down the book name and the page number.

Finally there will be a class question board.  Right now it is asking what they enjoy about coming back to school.

Of course, each of these will be introduced whole group and we will add to them as a class. Then, the students should be able to interact with them as partners or individually.  My favorite part of this is that it can be a great tool for my fast finishers.  Instead of saying, "Ms. Birrer, I'm done," all I have to do is point to an interactive board and say, "Get to it!"  I know.  It's a dream. When do kids ever stop announcing they're done and they need something to do? ;)