I have some thoughts like Hike into Third Grade, Fishing for A Good book (with a fisherman on the board) Camp Read A Lot. Those are just a few, but I am stuck on my job chart. Any thoughts?
So far I have these ideas and most of them I have gotten them from other teacher’s web pages.
Camping with a good book-reading center.
S’more good work
I have also made two large trees in my room and on each leaf is a different letter and under the letter is the sight words we learn.
A tent in the reading center with flashlights and above the tent on the wall, I am going to put those white Christmas lights to make it look like stars. Under the lights will be black paper.
I was thinking of buying a few fake leafs or grass and placing them around the room and placing stuff animals around the room also.
My welcome board will be something like this…Look who’s camping in Ms._________ room. It will be a picture of a tent and names around it on kids that I made.
That is it so far. If anyone else has other ideas then please let me know. I will of course be thinking of the job chart.
Here's a few of my ideas or ideas that I've found on the net:
Student Work BB:
S'More Good Work
BB to display student writing:
Campfire Tales
Accelerated REading BB:
Reading is a Picnic...I was going to have checkered fabric for a background, put the points on small paper plates and put the students' names on ants.
I haven't decided what to do for my helpers bb yet either. I guess you could always make it 'S'more good helpers' instead of using that for the student work bb. If you guys come up with an idea please let me know!
I meant to ask you, for your welcome board, did you find a tent bb set in a catalog or are you drawing up your own? I had thought about using the set from D.J. inkers with the moose, squirrels, and trees, but wasn't sure what it would say.
I was going to draw mine because I have not found one that I really liked yet. Then around it in my writing would say, Look who's camping in Ms. Kinner's class. I tend to like the homemade look a little more because it reminds me of those summers that I spent at camp.
I did a Camp Learnalot theme last year. I chose to stick more with the "summer camp" theme, but I have other ideas that focused more on camping in general. I made a CAMP LEARNALOT logo if you are interested...Just post your email address, and I'll email the logo and the desk labels that I used.
We tie-dyed "camp shirts" at the beginning of the year and wore them on field trips and for special days (like field day) throughout the year.
Desk Labels...tie-dyed t-shirt shapes with the Camp Learnalot logo and the students' names.
Reading Area...
We had our "campfire" area where we did all of our get-together time...read aloud, morning meetings, sharing of journals, etc. I drew a tent, campfire, and pine trees on butcher paper and laminated them to last all year. A also had a plane flying at the top pulling a sign that said "READ S'MORE" because that was also where my bookshelf was located. I bought kids camping chairs (the foldable kind) and put them in this area, also. Add a styrofoam icechest for books.
Class Jobs...
"Camp Chores": I made clothing pieces (shirt, pants, shorts, etc) and wrote jobs on them. Then I put them on a clothesline with clothespins (with students' names) OR
"We All Pitch In": big tent with sleeping bags (pockets) as each job and popsicle sticks with campers...move the campers around bags to change jobs.
Decorations...
I bought LOTS of wood-like border that I did on all of the BBs. Add a tent (if you're brave), canteens, tackle boxes (maybe as supply buckets??), make binoculars out of toilet paper rolls (we used them for a school tour at the beginning of the year and for when we discussed different perspectives)
Entryway...
I also used the border to make an entry for CAMP LEARNALOT. I put the border up both sides of the door on the outside and at the top I made a hanging sign that said CAMP LEARNALOT (with a logo) and CABIN 6 because that is my room number. I also had small wooden signs that said "Camp Learnalot...20 miles", "Camp Learnalot...10 miles", and "Camp Learnalot...5 miles". Above it I put "HELLO MUDDAH, HELLO FADDAH..." and on my door I put "GREETINGS FROM CAMP LEARNALOTTA" (with music notes). Then I made postcards and pencils with students' names, like they were writing letters home from camp.
Welcome Door...
"Happy Hiking in 3rd Grade"
"Let's Get to Know S'More About Each Other"
"Making Tracks Through 3rd Grade"
"Looks Who's Camping Out in 3rd Grade" (pictures of students on campers)
"BACK For a Year PACKED With Fun" (backpacks)
Work Board...
"Reaching the Summit"
"Mountain of Good Work"
"S'More Great Work"
"Fired Up For Good Work"
Info Board...
"Camp Fire News"...for calendar, lunch menu, newsletter, schedule, etc
Homework Board..."Hooked on Homework" (fishing)
Student of the Week..."Camper of the Week"
Compliment Board..."Fishing For Compliments"
Rules Board..."Happy Campers Have Good Character" (with a big smiley face)
I also made a "Survival Guide" for the parents with all sorts of class info (class list, teacher contact info, schedules, staff names, conference time, study tips, etc.
http://www.teacherweb.com/tx/bessrac...p/gallery1.stm
Here is my website with some of my camping ideas on it. (it also has some pictures of the jungle theme I did too) I used the DJ Inkers BB set that butterflygirl talked about to display their work.
I use money too. I was thinking maybe of MOOSE money. I thought of BEAR bucks, deer dollars. I would really like it to be an acronym for something. I am up for other ideas. I am doing my room more with a Northwoods flare though I am making my reading corner look like a campfire. I am very short on space so I am using a bulletin board piece that looks like a campfire for the background and then I have camp chairs and a camp stool in front. I am going to add stuffed animals. We found 4 today for less than $2 total at a few garage sales. I am either going to use the title - Camp Read A Lot or Warm Up to a Good Book. I am going to add a small green outdoor carpet. If we need the space for an activity we can fold up the chairs and place them out of the way.
I have done camping for the past few years... I would love to see the logos too. my email is itenl@owasso.k12.ok.us
Here are some of the ideas I use that haven't been mentioned -
I have a BB with our word and quote of the week that's says "Here's Something to Munch On!" I have a large moose with grass hanging out of his mouth.
Suzie Zoo has some cute camping items that I have blown up and used for patterns. Me and My Big Ideas has some cute stickers that you can also use.
My word wall is canoes and paddles. I am working on doing a scrapbook for next year and I want all the pages to be a camp theme. I want to do one for each month. Anyone have one started or thought about this yet???
Also there was a new book published in May called S is for S'mores - it's a camping alphabet. I ordered it from Amazon. It looks awesome!!
Let's keep the ideas coming...I'm wanting to add to my room next year and am looking for something new for the hallway.
I love the alphabet book. Do you have the Toasting Marshmallow poem one. Do you have a picture of your word wall? Does it have a specific title?
Does anyone do anything special with their birthday chart? Does anyone have a great welcome door idea that deals with woods and adventure?
By the way, I was going to start the year with a woods survival novel read aloud. I found out many( not all have read) Hatchet. Does anyone have any other ideas besides My Side of the Mountain or Week in the Woods?
Is Touching Spirit Bear (which I loved) too mature for fifth graders is I tone down the violence?
Hi! I am going to be a first year teacher and I was looking for a theme for my first grade class. I love all of these ideas! Could I possibly get the logo, too? My email is hollyc333@hotmail.com. Thank you so much!
I don't have a picture of my word wall unfortunately and I've taken it down already for the summer. Bummer... And I don't have a title for it but maybe I should. I'll have to give that some thought
On my door I made a big sign out of large poster board - I covered it with contact paper that I got at Wal-mart that looks like wood. Then in big black letters I have "Welcome to Our Cabin". I hot glue fake grass at the bottom and then have some woodsy animals that I add at the bottom. You could also use "Welcome to Mr./Mrs. _________'s (grade level) cabin."
The birthday chart is another one that I am working on this summer. No ideas yet - maybe I'll get some ideas from this site.
I thought about that, but I am really limited on space so I thought I would design a poster instead.Maybe cabins? Bees- The Buzz about Birthdays! Mrs. Smith's website uses jars and bugs. Here is the link: http://www.smithsroom.com/our.room.htm
You can get some sticks and tie them together at the top and then interweave orange, red and yellow cellophane between to make the flames of a campfire. You can even get some sand and rocks to put around and under it - I've seen it and it's adorable for circle time.
I have been debating using a camping theme for the next year and I really like some of these ideas here- thanks for sharing. Would it be possible for me to also get a copy of the logo you created. I really appreciate it.
Tink898@msn.com
I'd really like to have the logo also! I am a first-year teacher, teaching first grade this fall. My son (who will be in second grade) asked me to do a fishing theme in my room. I can't find much on fishing, but have had some luck with the camping idea. I love everyone's ideas here. I'd really like to get the logo also, if that's possible. My email is tarnold@avant.k12.ok.us
If anyone has any more ideas on room decor, I'd love to have them! I've tried to find a camping or woodsy 'scene-setter' from the party stores, but haven't located one. I will have a small room, and may not have room for a tent, so I'm going to have to be very creative.
I too have looked for a scene-setter but have not found one.
This teacher's room has a nice camp look to it that does not involve a tent or take up much space. You could easily fold up the chairs if you needed to use the space for something else.
This site also sells Artic North Woods bulletin board sets. One of the pieces has a campfire. I thought I would put the campfire on the wall behind the chairs.
I am looking for a hiker bulletin board set. Has anyone seen one?
I found a hiking theme bulletin board set at www.teacherstorehouse.com. It has a religious theme, but one could 'cut around' the sayings without affecting the characters. You might check it out - they have a lot of different sets.
I used pictures of jars (like bug jars). I put the kids names on little bug cutouts in the corresponding month jar.
Can I also have the logo, please?
mwilbankstx@msn.com
For everyone who is waiting for my CAMP LEARNALOT logo...
My computer is out of commission right now (I only have my laptop), so I can't send the logo to everyone yet. As soon as it is working again, I will send it! Sorry for the wait!! I will also resend it to the ones that I already sent it to...I don't think any of you got it because that's when the computer started messing up!
In all my LONG YEARS of teaching I've never done a theme for the beginning of the year. However, I'm quite intrigued by the camp theme. A few weeks ago I found the following website which describes Mrs. Newingham's Typing Camp for their school's third graders. I think I'm going to pursue that with my third grade team and media specialist. Check this out. It might be a great addition to your camp theme:
I've done a camp/hike theme for four years. If you go to the back to school and room tour pages, you can see pictures of things. I have some downloads too. But, beware...we are changing webhosts soon and the site might be down for 24-48 hours in the near future. http://www.smithsroom.com
Also, this site has a camping set that I bought that can be used for making all sorts of worksheets, decorations, etc. http://countryclipart.com
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05-26-2007, 02:39 PM
I will also jump on the bandwagon!! Could you send me the logos? 
