Classroom Displays of Project Work

Following on from the Renoir Umbrellas and as a further part of the Take One Picture 2009 project comes this excellent classroom displays idea from Caroline Lennox. Caroline is a member of the Classroom Displays Flickr group and she also has a very fine blog (Learning Parade)

In her blog post Rainy Day Reads Caroline explains more about the process of designing and making the display.

The class first explored lots of illustrated children’s books about rain from the library.

The puddles were painted based on photographs the children took in the play ground.

The wellies were made by drawing round someone wearing a pair!

I love the idea of getting the children to draw round their wellies! Isn’t it great? I’ve never done that although we’ve drawn all drawn round children’s hands and feet or even used them to print. I think drawing round the wellies is quite inspired.
It really reminds me of a children’s book illustration but I can’t think of the name of the book. (Meh! Having one of those moments when I can picture the book cover perfectly but can’t read the title!)

It was an American book about a child posting a birthday invitation on a rainy day. Anyone know which one I mean?

Favourite Rainy Day Classroom Displays

We get plenty of rain in the UK and weather is a good focus for all sorts of classroom displays. I’d love to gather up some more display ideas on this topic.

What’s your favourite way of making a classroom display about rain?

The author is S.B Linton who runs Autism Classroom.com and she’s provided us with some great tips. If you’ve questions please let us know in the comments and we’ll try to help. (If you use twitter be sure to follow her on there AutismClassroom twitter as she posts lots of useful links)

The numbers of students with autism in our schools is increasing, as is the need for classrooms that effectively educate children with autism.

The following information from the book How to Set Up a Classroom for Students with Autism: A Manual for Teachers, Para-professionals and Administrators by S. B. Linton, highlights some tips in setting up an autism friendly classroom.

Use Various Types of Visual Schedules

• Daily class schedules to accurately tell what activities will occur that particular school day. This type of schedule should be posted, easy for students to follow and should be large enough to see from across the room.
• Individual/personal schedules to help students organize, learn routines and possibly relieve stress for some students with autism by giving them an idea of what to expect. A personal schedule might also show sensory input activities which are specific to that student, individual speech therapy times, break times, small group areas, or toileting opportunities, which may not be the same exact time as other students.
• Task schedules to serve as directions. They help to visually “break down” the elements of a task or an activity for a student. Task schedules show a student what will occur within the context of a structured lesson or activity, much like directions. Task schedules can also help students perform tasks without the use of a verbal prompt from the adult, thus increasing independence.
• Visual Reinforcement schedules to give students a visual indicator of when their reinforcement or break will occur. These may be helpful for a child who is on a behavior intervention plan and needs to be reminded that their reinforcement will be coming soon.

Organize the Room to Support the Student

• Create clear visual boundaries in the classroom.
• Make various centers and locations for the students to move to throughout the day to avoid having them sit in one spot all day.

• Create work areas near blank walls or facing way from peers to improve concentration.
• Remove distracting items such as string, bright colors, loud appliances.
• Create a safe place or quiet area in the room for the student if they need a retreat.
• Remember you will have to teach play skills and social skills. They do not come naturally for some students with autism.
• Seat “runners” with their back facing a wall or divider and have the adult facing the student, between the student and the door.

Be An Effective Collaborator

• Creating a specific time for staff to meet, answer questions or create new plans is a critical.
• View student’s objectives as a shared responsibility of the student’s team.
• Keep a notebook or journal that is sent from school to home each day.

Use Language Based Techniques

• Try a set of pictures showing the steps in washing their hands or a visual task analysis for hanging up their belongings in the morning to help keep some students focused.
• Write down directions instead of ju st using words.
• Use hands on activities as much as possible.
• Use a visual topic board to show the students what the lesson will be about.

Question. Discuss. Learn.
www.autismclassroom.com

Umbrellas by Renoir created by 10 year olds, originally uploaded by carlylennox.

I really like this interpretation of Renior’s Umrellas by a class in N Ireland. Carly says it was created using view finders and then the separate interpretations were joined together. It was done as part of a whole school project for Take One Picture 2009. As was the next display:

Classroom Displays to Rescue Tired Words!

Wandering the web looking for word wall classroom displays to share with you I found a couple of interesting sites I’d not seen before. I’ll save the other site for my next word wall post, but thought you might like this idea as much as I did.

Tired Words!

Tired words want to go to sleep.

Let them rest! Don’t make a peep!

Try to use a synonym instead.

Let those tired words stay in bed!

I found the display on Cheryl Sigmon’s Four Blocks site (There are more great ideas there so do have a look around!) Cheryl says:

Laura Croglio, a teacher at Clinton Elementary in West Seneca, NY shared this idea during my recent visit to her school, “I have my students go to the Tired Words Wall to choose a synonym for an overused word. They pull the synonym they like from the pocket, take it back to their seat to make sure they spell the word correctly (possibly adding it to their personal dictionary), and returning it to the wall when they’re finished.”

I think this is an excellent interactive word wall display. I’ve used laminated interactive word walls before, and of course word banks in various forms but I’d not seen the pocket idea.

You could even adapt a transparent shoe tidy. I’ve got one somewhere, so I might just do that to show you what I mean! That would be more versatile and hard wearing. When you design for interaction you have to remember that little fingers can be rough and paper tears easily.

Also I think I might use a mixture of interesting fonts and colours for the words. If you’ve got the time and a steady hand I’ve found that using hand written laminated words can be very helpful, especially when children are just starting to join letters.

What are your favourite ways of using interactive word wall classroom displays?

Amazon says:

Display has long been seen as a tool for learning in primary schools but this practical and timely book shows its value in whole school improvement for secondary and post-16. Walking through an entrance hall speaks volumes about the ethos of a school. The physical environment supported by display and signs allow visitors to make a judgement about the school and this judgement, correctly or not, will be based on what the visitor first sees. In some schools this first impression exudes positivism – display celebrates achievement and success, there are images of happy learners, learning focused signs and statements, and the environment seems cared for and respected. In others, negative statements confront visitors, the environment is neglected and unloved, there are no references to learning in the entrance to the school.The current educational agenda identifies learner wellbeing as the key determinant in achievement and outcome. How the learning environment is designed can have a huge impact on wellbeing. One particular aspect that has a powerful influence on this environment is the use of display space. Managed well, it can create a climate where students feel valued and nurtured, and can achieve beyond their potential.Display should transcend simple physical appearance. Successful and meaningful display reflects the ethos of a school, and an exciting, learning-focused environment makes for excited learners. An environment that mirrors respect and care makes learners feel cared for and respected by the place in which they learn. This positively impacts on how well students learn, how happy they are as they learn and the respect and care with which they treat their school; the same applies to staff. The signs used around schools and the messages that signage and display deliver are key to a learning-focused climate and they reinforce a school’s ethos. Care for the school environment and classrooms shows care for the students, and for teachers and other staff. This impression is quickly passed to parents and visitors to the school.This book aims to address a gap in the market for secondary school leaders and teachers (with transferable lessons for primary and 16 – 19 colleges) and provide a toolkit to develop display for learning with strategies and solutions, within the context of the school improvement and transformation agenda. The book aims to inspire colleagues in schools to develop this in their classrooms and on a whole school level – with the motivation and justification for doing so.

About the Author
Kirstie Andrew-Power is Achievement Networks Coordinator for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. Her current role is facilitating networks of schools engaged in the school improvement agenda, leading shared learning opportunities for this through events and conferences, and contributing and writing publications to support this agenda. Charlotte Gormley is Assistant Headteacher Inclusion at The Compton School in north London. She is senior leader in school involved in a variety of outreach work with other schools – specifically with behaviours for learning, inclusion, environments for learning and school improvement

Sounds good. I’ll do a proper review once I’ve read it but if you can’t wait you can buy it from the Classroom Displays Bookshop

Art Show Banners, originally uploaded by paintedpaper.

I love these banners. They have been created as part of a school art show. Create is at this end and you can just seeImagine in the distance.
A whole school art show is a lovely idea but why not go a stage further and get together with other schools to really show off your pupils’ creativity?
Just have a look at this gorgeous work for inspiration:

This show was started I believe 5 years ago by a few art teachers. Now I think 15 teachers representing 17 schools. It is really marvelous! This is just one of the shows that our region displayed to celebrate Youth Art Month. (paintedpaper)

Wouldn’t this be a wonderful idea for your school?

1. Open Publisher through the “Start” menu or double click the icon on the Desktop. Click “File” and “New” from the top menus after the program has opened. Give it a relevant title and save.
2. Choose Blank Publications. From the drop down list select “Banner”. An example will appear on the right hand side of the window.
3. Select a size larger than 8.5-by-11 inches in Page Setup . You can choose up to 240″ in Publisher 2007. This will spread your banner over several pages.
4. Select a design from the examples on the right hand side. Publisher has several templates but most won’t be suitable for school. Choose “Blank” to start from scratch. (To use a template just double click it and it will appear in your banner.)
5. Left click the “Insert” and “Picture” to add a design, photo or a clip art.
6. Choose “Insert” then “Text Box” to add your text. Click the mouse where you want the box to start in the banner. Have a good play with fonts, sizes colours etc at this stage. Make sure it looks clear.
7. Select “File,” “Print,” then “Properties” to use the Landscape option to rotate your paper.
8. Choose “File” and “Print Preview” at any point during the design process to make sure everything is as you want it.
9. Only when you are really happy with the banner, print it out. You will have to stick the A4 pages together to make the banner.

What’s your favourite software for creating titles for classroom displays?

Karens Violetbliss: Classroom Displays

Found this lovely classroom display in my travels round the blogs. Karen says:

Our veteran teacher, Melanie, but together this display which includes artwork from all of our programs from the 2 year olds fruit, the three year olds paper plate turtles and an art that I did with the kindergartens of the old tortoise using watercolor paint and a saran wrap wrinkle effect to create the cracks of the old tortoise.

I like this very much, especially the tortoises.I think it has worked really well. It’s lovely to see so many people starting blogs and including photos of their classroom displays.

Enlarging and Printing Images for Classroom Displays

On a recent training day I gave, one of the most popular sections was using the Blockposter web site to make really big images for classroom displays.

The site is really easy to use and pretty straight-forward. It often gives a better result than the old fashioned way of drawing big images using an overhead projector, though for simple images that still has a place.