Inexpensive and Fun Teaching Aids: Display Boards to Create For Your Classroom
A Board For All Reasons
Creating display boards for the classroom is a fun way for teachers to add to the student learning experience. A room with detailed
and visually pleasing boards will create a more cheerful atmosphere. This also aids learning by helping students feel more comfortable in the classroom.
Most schools supply adequate supplies such as background paper, poster board, letters, markers, and edging. If those resources are not available through the school, great places to buy them at low cost include a dollar store, thrift store, flea market, or a garage or estate sale.
History Board
Many types of lessons are enhanced with the use of a display board that relates to the topic being presented. History lessons come to life when a board is created with pictures of the historic events under discussion. Education stores sell history posters. It is also possible to search the Internet to find photos and depictions of events from history.
English Board
An English lesson on creative writing is enhanced with a board that shows examples of imagery. Next to each written example, you may also wish to post a photo that relates to the imagery used. This type of board can include student work too. Have each student create an example of imagery and then pick the best writing to include on the board.
Science Board
A science lesson could use a board to help enhance a lesson about a topic like global warming. There is much information and photographs online about how glaciers are shrinking in size and how the patterns of winter weather are changing. Photos about global warming are very eye-opening. A board with scenes such as spring flowers blooming in January in a normally cold climate or of lakes that have dried up would enhance any lesson about global warming.
Elementary Level Board
A board to accompany a story book lesson for younger children could include postings of new words and a picture to link to the word. The board could be used to help students with writing activities. They could use the words on the board to create a poem or song.
Geography Board
A geography lesson could be enhanced with a board that shows maps from around the world. Students are often enchanted by maps. In a school with a diverse population, kids like to point to the world map to show where they are from. Maps are colorful and very educational; they are fabulous on a board or posted anywhere in the room.
Career Lesson Board
A board listing information about local colleges is also useful to a lesson talking about career planning. Even middle school students like to pore over a board that gives facts about the campus and majors available at nearby colleges. This board could help students start to get ready for life after they finish high school. Such a board can put students in the mindset necessary to reach academic goals in high school.
Local History Board
A board about local history is useful for many types of lessons. It could be used to provide information to help students create a book about the town. It could also be used to write a short story that relates to a specific historical event in town. Students could contribute to this board interviewing relatives about certain town events and writing an article to post on the board.
Websites to Find Information for Boards
Good websites to find pictures from history and facts about a wide variety of topics to use on class boards include the major newspapers, plus Pinterest also offers images that people want to share. Keep in mind that any photo on a government website is free of copyright restrictions.
