See what’s poppin in the ITC - Bulletin Board Project

08/26/2014

Those that follow this blog know that we do everything from low-tech to high-tech projects at the Instructional Technology Center. It is important to keep a "hands-on" component in learning activities, especially for children. 

The following is a guest post from one of the ITC’s Graduate Assistants, Amy Cross. Amy is great at putting together bulletin board ideas for our preservice teachers and sharing ideas for the classroom. Here is how she created the back to school bulletin board.

First things first, I love Pinterest.  If you are trying to craft or create anything, check out what Pinterest has to offer!  In the search box, I typed in Bulletin Boards.  A bunch of ideas come up!  I was looking for something that Education Majors, or anyone that is crafty, would find useful to them.  I settled on a picture of a bulletin board that was announcing the students in the class with popcorn. If this were for your classroom you could add the children's name and/or picture to each popped kernel of popcorn. Even better, have each child create their own kernel to post to the bulletin board.

Once I had my idea covered, I began measuring the bulletin board to figure out how much paper I would need.  I chose black as the backdrop, and red to outline the outside of the bulletin board.  Next, I decided to work on the statement that would be on the bulletin board.  So often people leave the lettering last and the design might not leave room for the lettering.  Using the Ellison Die-Cutters and yellow paper, I cut out the letters “See What’s Poppin’ In The ITC”. 

The next step was to make the popcorn box.  Using red paper, I freehanded the cut-out of the popcorn box, and then I added strips of white paper to give it a fun look.  After that was done, I put the popcorn box onto the bulletin board, and stapled on the lettering.  At this point, a majority of the work was completed! 

The last step was to create the popcorn that would be scattered around the bulletin board.  I used white laminated construction paper, and cut out fun popcorn shapes.  What makes creating popcorn so fun is that it does not have to be perfect!  After the popcorn is cut out, you can begin to put up the shapes where you have room to finish your bulletin board.   All done!

A big thank you to Amy for sharing her bulletin board skills will all of us.

Keep on Learning!

Tom Grissom, Ph.D.

@tomgrissom

http://eiu.edu/itc