This is a lovely history classroom wall display for a key stage 1 class. The Then and Now topic is interesting but can be tricky for Year 1. They have so little concept of the past at this age. Last year seems an age ago to some of them 
It’s a great opportunity for embedding ICT though. It’s worth remembering that ICT in Key Stage 1 isn’t all about computers. I’ve seen it taught very effectively using the following resources:
used on the IWB
Anti-Bullying Week (Nov 19th-23rd) classroom displays can be done very quickly and without much fuss. This one was done by Year 3 in one morning as a cross curricular activity. It combined literacy, art and PSHE with lots of emotional intelligence and project based learning along the way. (Oh, and handwriting practice) The teacher and I provided anti-bullying leaflets and literature, access to the web, and lots of support and advice.
I already had the sun and the cloud. Actually, I made them with a year 1 class as props for an assembly about 7 years ago!
Children worked with talk partners, each pair produced a tear drop with a short poem about the feeling of being bullied, an example of bullying behaviour to go on the cloud and a strategy to use if someone tries to bully you to go on the sun.
Work was added to the display as soon as it was made so it developed over the course of the morning. By 12:15 we had a fine display and a room full of contented Year 3s who were feeling very pleased with themselves. (Not to mention three tired but happy adults.)
It was a great morning’s work and the room buzzed with that happy noise that classrooms full of happy learners make.
If you are interested in displays for Anti Bullying week you may want to look at these posts too – Classroom Displays – Anti-Bullying
There are some good resources for Anti-Bullying Week on these sites:
Model and Diorama, originally uploaded by Mulsanne.
Today’s classroom display has an environmental theme in honour of Blog Action Day. I love this project which was done as part of the International Polar Year .
Dee, the teacher writes:
I began with a classroom standard, a KWL chart. On the KWL chart, students first listed what they knew (K) about Antarctica. Next, they listed questions they wanted (W) answered. Eventually, they would list what they learned (L) on the last part of the chart. The students asked some very good questions. Where do icebergs come from? What do blue whales eat in the waters surrounding Antarctica? How tall are emperor penguins? How did Shackleton and his men survive being trapped in ice? Why don’t fish freeze in the cold waters? What’s on the ocean floor? These were just a few of the questions they listed.
Not content with getting groups doing lots of online and book based research the children were able to follow and interact with the expedition team on their blog. The display came about because:
……we decided we wanted a visual representation to go along with our research. “Our Visit to The Ice” was created to provide us an avenue for artistic expression.
And it certainly did that! Have a look at all these detailed models:
My particular favourite is a model of Shacklton’s Endurance trapped in the ice:
But the penguins are cute too
I think my students would agree that “Our Visit to The Ice” was the next best thing to a field trip to Antarctica.
I chose this display because I can’t think of anything better to be exploring with children than the wonders of such a unique and threatened environment. This is one of those projects that brings the unfamiliar to life for children and gives opportunities for deep learning. Those children will remember this project and I hope their generation will forgive ours for not taking better care of this fragile and special place.
Note Any earnings from today’s post will be donated to Common Ground a UK based charity. (As of 16/10/07 = $3)
Update: If any UK schools fancy doing something similar there are some UK teachers heading South in a few weeks . You can follow their exploits here and here – you can also find lots of lovely resources in their blog sidebars. If you create any displays based on the project please let me know
Pirate Pop-Ups, originally uploaded by LindaH.
Pneumatics were used to make these pop-up toys by Year 3. You can see how they work from the back here:
The basic design used a cereal box. One side was covered in blue funky foam (neoprene) and simple shapes were cut out to make the scene. Children then made a pirate, jolly roger, shark or other monster and stuck it onto a lolly pop stick. The pnuematic system was then attached using masking tape.
This formed part of the Treasure Island themed work for the Telling into Writing project. More details about Telling into Writing on usefulwiki
The main display in the hall – end of day three, originally uploaded by hydra arts.
Hydra Art Workshops are a group of artist who work in schools in the North West of England. I’ve been a fan of their work for sometime and I particulary like this recent project. They worked with 78 Year Six pupils to produce several panels for the main hall. The children who took part were presented with certificates to mark their involvement but I think the lasting impact for them will be the knowledge that their work will remain on view in the school now that they’re moving up to High School.
This kind of continuity in school can easliy be overlooked. A Leavers Assembly or a party are lovely but it’s quite powerful for children to feel that some part of their work will continue to be valued. At my last school Year 6 usually worked on a leaving gift for the school. We were lucky enough to have an artistic learning mentor but we never managed to afford ‘real’ artists. Often it was an art work for the hall, although one year they made a musical washing line for the circle garden. We felt it was important for the school to mark their departure in this way. The works were well liked by later children, some liked to remember brother’s or sister’s involvement. Sometimes when children came back for various reasons they were quite touched to see their work still on display.
Hydra Arts said:
when we were originally booked for the workshops, i absolutely wanted to mark the fact that the year 6 pupils were leaving primary school and wanted them to all be involved in the same process and contribute to a collaborative art project
Do you have experience of working with artists in schools? Did you find it worthwhile? How do later children view the art? Please tell your story in the comments.
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