Archive for January, 2009

Lettering for Classroom Displays 2

Jan 18

Posted by Linda in classroom display | No Comments

Newspaper Style Lettering for Classroom Displays

Choosing lettering for specific styles of classroom displays can be tricky. Sometimes printed lettering just won’t do the job but that doesn’t mean the computer can’t help you. One of the members of the Classroom Displays Group wanted to know where she could get letter stencils for newspaper style titles for a corridor display advertising their LRC. (Learning Resource Centre). She didn’t want to spend ages in Publisher but like most people who make displays she’s quite handy with a craft knife. I had a quick look through my favourite sources for stencils but came up blank. That was until I found a site that’s ideal for classroom displays lettering.

Alphabet Patterns

These are pre-formatted pdf files of alphabets in various fonts that you download and print out.

Wide range of styles (including some famous and topical ones!)

Suitable for craft projects and displays.

You select the size you want.

Costs start from around $5 for an alphabet pack. That’s quite a bit cheaper than trying to buy them pre-cut and would save hours of formatting even if you did have the right font on your computer.

You could print them out and photocopy onto transparencies or card. (If you use card maybe laminate them).

I’d get the largest size (6″). If you needed even larger letters remember you can always blow them up to A3 on the photocopier.

Cut carefully using a rotary cutter you would then have both positive and negative stencils

They have a range of suitable fonts of which my favourite for this job would be Book antiqua

book antiqua lettering

As this display is for a high school you could have a bit of fun with the style of it. How about copying the headline styles and even the layout of some of the tabloid newspapers? The people who design them know a great deal about catching the eye and the interest of passing readers. This could even form the basis of a series of displays, what do you think?

Buy Alphabet Patterns

No Said – Bulletin Board

Jan 9

Posted by Linda in KS2, classroom display, literacy, quick display | 4 Comments

No Said Bulletin Board, originally uploaded by Robert Owens.

Here’s an interesting graffiti style classroom display. At first glance this is very much a working display rather than something that’s been at all planned or designed. Look closer and you realise that the central image has been carefully chosen and executed. Giving children the ownership and freedom to contribute to the classroom displays in this way feels risky to many teachers but the results can be quite powerful.

Robert says:

Our January bulletin board was created by our class. We have kept a list of words to use instead of “said” when we write.

If I were to make suggestions for improvement it would only be to use darker pens for the words and perhaps a paler yellow background.

The words the pupils chose are interesting as well. Let’s have a look at this.

No Said Bulletin BoardNo Said Bulletin Board

I wonder if the teacher would have thought of ‘typed’, ‘texted’ or ‘e-mailed’ as alternatives to ’said’. 21stC pupils do and this is their display.

I’ve done much more managed versions of this sort of display in primary classrooms. Then we’ve usually collected a list of words from the children and either written them out on paper or typed them on the computer. These were then laminated and attached to the display with either sticky pads or putty so that they could be removed for reference. I wonder what the benefits of being just a little bit braver and handing over ownership might have been?

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January hallway display: “We’ll frolic and play, the Eskimo way”

Jan 7

Posted by Linda in Seasonal, halls and corridors, winter | 1 Comment

winter display

Classroom Displays reader Michaele has more about this lovely January display over at her blog Kindergarten’s 3 R’s:. Her kindergarten students were curious about her ethnic origins and spent some time over November and December exploring Eskimo culture. I think this display is a wonderful example of using positive images and information to undermine stereotyping. It’s exactly the sort of thing my NCFE2 teaching assistant students have just been looking for examples of for their Unit 2 assignment. It also shows that even the youngest pupils can benefit from this sort of project work.
“Walking in a winter wonderland…”

My students learned about parkas, mukluks, mittens, and fur ruffs, then colored their own characters, decorating the parka’s qupaks (fancy trim or embellishments), and gluing cotton balls around the coat hood. I left the trees up from December’s display as background, and added white streamer runs of “snow” upon which the Eskimos could play..

She adds that the kindergarten children enjoyed making their own Eskimos and adding them to the display.

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Classroom Displays – is your display a fire risk?

Jan 4

Posted by Linda in classroom display, displays advice | 1 Comment


Ok – how scary was that??
3d tree displays, we all love them don’t we? It’s one of the most common searches people use to come to this blog. Have you ever even considered the fire hazards our displays might be causing?
I know that many local authorities are fitting fire retardant display boards in school but I can’t help but wonder how effective they are once we’ve covered them in poster paper.
I’m going to do a bit more research on this subject and check what the guidance in the UK is, especially about 3d displays and display materials. I’ll post on this in the next few days.
Meanwhile what safety guidelines do you follow when you are making displays?

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