Displays that teach: innovative ways to make your walls and halls do double duty - includes related article

Many experts say that at least 60 percent of all learning takes place through visual and tactile experiences. Given this, every feature of your classroom, from storage bins to bulletin boards, needs to work overtime--engaging children's senses, enticing them to explore, and reinforcing their skills and confidence.

The ideas you'll find pictured on these pages will show you how small investments and simple innovations can have a big impact on children's approaches to learning. For more ideas on how to make your classroom environment aesthetically pleasing and curriculum-enhancing, check out Creative Display & Environment (Heinemann, 1993).

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM: ENERGIZING SCHOOL DISPLAYS

Here's how you can transform the hallways and public areas of your school into a learning extravaganza.

* Involve students in the redesign. Walk around the school with students and invite their ideas. Where would they like to see their work displayed? What other kinds of displays would they like to see?

* Get colleagues' input. Divide up responsibility for particular areas of the school. Consider each area from a child's, teacher's, and visitor's point of view.

* Seek out major spaces to put up simple, unframed, fireproof pin boards. The boards will have far more versatility if they cover as wide an area as possible.

* Look for ares that are suited for children's group work--murals, large paintings, collages, textile hangings, ceramics, etc.

* Pool great display resources with other teachers. Basics to collect include paper products (postcards, posters, photos, calendars, wrapping paper), mechanical objects (wheels, cogs), packaging (boxes, tins), fishing nets, and fabric remnants. Set up a system for checking items in and out.

* Collect materials from all over. Ask local businesses for their scrap or surplus. Advertise for their scrap or surplus. Advertise your needs in the local paper and school newsletter; encourage children to bring in natural objects (seashells, feathers, and the like).

* Arrange for in-service workshops to build skills in practical design and display techniques.

MARGARET JACKSON has taught in a number of schools in Great Britain and has guided teams of teachers in improving school environment, visual communication, and display. This article is adapted from Creative Display & Environment by Margaret Jackson, (C) 1993. First published in the U.K. by Hodder & Stoughton, a division of Hodder Headline. Available in the U. S. from Heinemann, (800) 541-2086.

COPYRIGHT 1994 Scholastic, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group