I was at the teacher store today and saw a classroom helper board that was construction theme. I also saw a welcome back board construction theme. You could go to www.carson-dellosa.com and type in what you are looking for. One thing I saw was a yellow diamond sign that said "Kids At Work".
Our whole school took on this theme the year we were building a new school. Kids Under Construction would be a cute door or outside BB. You can get the yellow construction line tape at lowes. You could also get some lowes aprons My Math tool belt, Reading tool belt with tools for those subjects. Hope this helps. They should really outlaw proteacher. (kidding please don't!) I am going to bed it is 3:30 am soooo addictive!
I did this once. It was really good at engaging some of my more active boys in reading. I used the paint cans (pint sized) for word banks and we put all of our descriptive words in the can. Everytime we found a word that we felt was especially descriptive, we wrote it on an index card and placed it in the can. The child put their name on the back and at the end of the day, we read them and added them to our word wall/bank.
We of course talked about how words paint pictures. The kids really loved this and we filled our walls with great words in no time!
I used 5 gallon buckets with upholstered lids at a few centers that year. They stored materials and were easily cleaned.
Those little plastic bins used for nails and things might be pretty neat for storing small items.
You really could used use the tool belts... or carpenter's apron for your calendar activities.
Use washers for counters and don't forget the PVC pipe whispermaphones to help with fluid reading.
I have (for years) used the ceiling hooks with a dropped ceiling and place bags (balls) and lightweight items up high for storage... why not use buckets?
Self adhesive floor tiles work really well on the wall as dry erase boards.
I once put many low on the wall outside my classroom for the kids to write notes to parents or school friends, the janitor... anyone they liked. Mostly it was used as a reward but many of my kids really got into writing this way. We painted names on permanently so folks knew where to look for their student.
Don't hesitate to use your home improvement store. They will cut things for you and sometimes even help deliver if they understand that kids will benefit. Develop a good rapport with the main manager. They are usually great!
For my parent meetings, I actually got one store to come and demonstrate one home improvement technique (15 min) at every meeting. Things like basic maintainence, tiling, flooring, dishwasher installation, and closet organization were covered at the end of my meeting. I had a lot better turn out. A lot of dads and grandparents became more involved and families worked together.
I hope something here will help.
Have a great first year. Teaching can be so rewarding!
In my building we are using the theme of having a positive attitude (6th grade). I want to also tie in construction theme. Any ideas of a way and title to decorate my door. I have thought of "Construction Zone Ahead" "Positive attitudes at work" but I can't seem to work it all out in my head. Any input would be great!
In the kids' birthday party section of card factory outlets and party stores, I've seen plastic, yellow hard hats. It would make a neat 1st day of school picture to have all of your students in yellow hard hats raring to do the hard work ahead of them.
You might even put a couple of them on your bulletin board as a decoration.
I love these ideas! We will be (hopefully) moving into our new building in the middle of the year....this will be a very approrpriate theme for me to use!
Our first grade team did this a couple of years ago and it was so cute. We ordered construction hats from Oriental Trading for the kids to wear the first day. We had the signs that someone else mentions "Kids At Work". We ordered lots of items from the TREND cat. but also blew up some of the construction worker animals on the posters from TRENd to make a different character for each classroom. There were six of us and we each picked an animal. We asked to borrow orange cones to place in the hallway. We made signs that said "Learning Zone", "This Way to Read" "Yield: Workers Ahead" etc...
It was really fun ad the kids love it.
Also the little construction hats from Carson Dellosa we used to put their names outside our rooms. I also had the kids make their own face on a small paper plate and add yarn. These fit perfectly with the hats. They were cute outside my room on a bulletin board.
We are doing a schoolwide construction theme this year Go to www.highsmith.com and click on Upstart, then search around - they have a lot of really cute construction themed items like yellow barrier tape that says "Caution - Reading Zone."
I am actually implementing a construction theme this year in our computer lab. This will be our first "official" computer lab. I am using for my door..."Building a Bright Future" and I am going to draw a hammer, a nail, screwdriver, and other tools. I am also going to have a tool box. Outside my door, I am going to have the banner, "Kids at Work"
I went to the dollar store and purchased 8 tool boxes. I put learning tools like pencils, erasers, play dough, a sharpener, etc. inside. (I even found eraser shaped like tools.) I am going to put them at their groups for them to use. :] It cost me like $15 total.
07-06-2006, 11:22 AM
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