Fifth Grade Ideas

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Fifth Grade Ideas
By Carol

I like to use a bulletin board for almost every major subject. I also like one that is dedicated to the children. Personally, I am not enthusaistic about Welcome Back and these generic type boards. I want to use them
for learning. I am not at all creative.
For Social Studies, I set up a Time Line and I change it as we change units. Sometimes, where the event is listed, I put up Who, Why, Where and When cards and have the children fill them out.
I am big on Vocabulary so I keep our words in front of them. I have not decided and I am looking for ideas how to do this. I want to set it up by Content

areas so that I can have the Social Studies vocabulary listed in one place, the Science in another, the Reading in another, the words we come across on our own in another and Math in another space on the same board. In this way, I encourage them to use the words both in oral and written work. I reward them with points for using the words properly.

I also have a Geography board and start the year with colorful sheets with each continent and the major places found there. One of the first things we do is to learn how to spell each Continent properly and how to locate each on the map. I start with a map of all the continents as well but that comes down when the class has mastered the map skill.

Science is based on what we are learning but I start off with the Scientific Method and pictures of equipment used in experiments.

I like to showcase each child so I take a photo of each the first day and I post this on a sheet and as the child does some beautiful work, it goes on this sheet. I work with the slower children to make sure that they have a perfect paper. Nothing goes up with mistakes. I do not post tests of any kind. It is usually research or composition work.

Sometimes, I have a Math bulletin board, space depending and again it depends on the Unit. Certainly units like Measurement, Geometry, Fractions make for more interesting boards. I also put up Problem of the Week here. If I do not have a Math Bulletin Board, I post it separately.

I have not decided what to do with the Language Bulletin Board yet but I am thinking about starting with Proverbs or Idioms. More thinking is needed.

You may want to post jobs and rules also. I do this but do not invest a whole bulletin board for it. Sometimes, I make a general classroom board and include these items. Then I add Long Term Assignments and Calendar of the Month and whatever else comes to mind, at the time.