Create a Spring Bulletin Board Lottie Simms

Spring is a time of rebirth, starting anew. As seeds are planted and sprouts begin to appear from the soil, we realize the beauty of spring. 

For children, spring is a time when winter clothes are put away and preparations for summer get underway. How about sharing the beauty of nature with the children? Connect all those science topics to some fun learning activities and create some great spring bulletin boards in the process.

Let's start with a bulletin board focusing on caterpillars. Even children in the upper grades wonšt mind rereading the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. There are some great activities that span the grade levels focusing on this book. Check out the great thematic unit and super pictures at http://www.kinderart.com/across/cater.shtml

In keeping with the rebirth theme of spring, another super science unit that can serve as a springboard for a great spring bulletin board is baby animals. I recently found a great book to start this unit. It is called A Pinky is a Baby Mouse and is written by Pam Muņoz Ryan and illustrated by Diane DeGroat. This unit will assist in building a science vocabulary and provide for some interesting art lessons that can easily be transformed into beautiful bulletin boards. A good website to find baby animal names and pictures is http://www.snowcrest.net/freemanl/animals/babies/index.html  It is the same site where I learned about the Pam Muņoz Ryan book.

Finally, the all-time favorite spring theme is flowers. This is where your lesson on planting seeds and watching them grow comes in! Let's put a spin on the olš flower bulletin board and make it a math graph board having students plot the growth of their seeds on line graphs following a routine measuring activity. Have the students decorate the border of your bulletin board with drawings of what they think their flowers will (or should) look like when mature. This also makes a great project if you time it just right so the flowers are in bloom for Mother's Day. A good website with a lesson on growing annuals in eggshells can be found at:

http://explorer.scrtec.org/explorer/explorer-db/html/835246822-81ED7D4C.html 

Whether you choose a theme for spring from the three I have suggested or brainstorm ideas with your colleagues or students, one thing is key...make your bulletin board as colorful and cheery as we all expect spring to be!