Instructor readers get on board: announcing the winners of our "share-your-best bulletin-boards contest"

Instructor, August, 2003 by Liza Charlesworth

Snapshots & Sound Bites: Students got more mileage out of fire-safety speakers by incorporating photos and memorable quotes into their bulletin board.

3-D Design: Kids filled a three-story apartment-constructed from a large carton--with posed dolls to demonstrate the dos and don'ts of fire safety.

Terrific Trimmer: As a finishing touch, children framed their display with paper-doll firefighters.

Tissue-Paper Texture: Red, orange, and yellow tissue paper are artfully arranged to mimic flames.

Get Touchy: Interactive pieces--including a "matchbook" that warns Don't play with matches!--are a great way to reach tactile learners.

In these high-tech times of interactive DVDs and gee-whiz computer games, it's nice to know that good, old-fashioned bulletin boards still dazzle and delight. Last year, we put a call out to our readers to send in their greatest hits. And the ideas came pouring in! Space constrains us from publishing all of the stunners--on every theme and in every curriculum area. Somehow, we managed to narrow the field down to 10 finalists and the grand-prize winner above, submitted by Maria Jose De la Torre and her fifth-graders at Collinswood Elementary School in Pineville, North Carolina.

Maria and her students worked diligently to craft this "eye-pealing," 3-D bulletin board entitled "Team Up for Fire Safety." It was a cooperative effort. "We brainstormed the concept together and talked a lot about doing a professional job." The project took careful planning and many days to complete. "The children were so proud of it? says Maria. The finished product, a feast of texture and color, combines photos of visiting fire-safety experts with snippets of their speeches, escape-route maps, and a flaming three-story apartment--all in the service of bringing the importance of fire safety to life. And come to life it did.

Not only was the display an invaluable teaching tool for Maria's students, but also for the rest of the school. Likely, the bulletin board's life-saving lessons will be remembered by the children of Collinswood Elementary for many years to come.

The Runners-Up Show Their Stuff

Our 10 runners-up impressed us with equally inventive boards on topics ranging from American Sign Language to the inner workings of the human body. Following are a few innovative elements we couldn't resist sharing with you.

1 Rosie Wong, kindergarten teacher, Victoria Avenue Elementary, South Gate, CA Kindergarten teacher Rosie Wong used Six Sticks by Molly Coxe (Random House, 1999) as the catalyst for an engaging activity in which children use six popsicle sticks--and their imaginations--to make pictures of everything from houses to cats with whiskers.

2 Aline Christion, kindergarten teacher, White Station Elementary School, Memphis, TN Aline Christion invited students to make a paper-plate replica of themselves complete with lungs, heart, and stomach. Then, she displayed them all with the dual purpose of showing how the human body works and how all kids are alike underneath the skin.

3 Laura Eble, first-grade teacher, Kinzle School, Chicago, IL Laura Eble, a teacher of the deaf for 20 years, created a special frieze by sewing, posing, and stuffing a surgical glove for each letter of the sign-language alphabet. "It's bridged the gap between my deaf students and the members of their world that do not sign," she says.

4 Judy Coolidge, second- and third- grade teacher, Crescent Park, Bethel, ME Judy Coolidge's display is a celebration of classroom community. Each student is given a blank puzzle piece to customize. Then, they are assembled into a giant jigsaw puzzle with the goal of making kids feel good about their classmates--and themselves!

5 Jeannette Daniel, preK and kindergarten teacher, St. Anthony School, Gretna, LA Creative dynamo Jeannette Daniel used Ellison cutouts to create her bright bulletin board that teaches all about color. One of the best parts is the super-clever trim--made by stapling together a series of freebie paint chips!

Congratulations to Our Other Runners-Up

* Aline Medina, Eduardo Saucedo & Rosie Wong, kindergarten teachers, Victoria Avenue Elementary, South Gate, CA

* Joy Chandler, first-grade teacher, J.C. Crumpton School, Salinas, CA

* Tangi Morehouse, third- to fifth-grade teacher, Lakeshore Public Academy, Hart, MI

* Martha Noland, fourth-grade teacher, Paradise Valley Christian School, Phoenix, AZ

* Victoria Markwood, sixth-grade teacher, H.E. McCracken Middle School, Bluffton, SC