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Zart Extra Term 1 2011

Classroom Displays

Sebastopol Primary School

Di Olsson used her art teaching background to liven up her classroom and to make her students’ learning truly visible.

We’re Famous
This display was outside our room for the school community to see our grade’s achievements during the year. White paper on a roll was pinned to the display board. Using a wet brush and black paint I wrote the title of the display onto the paper. A photo of each student was pasted onto the paper and Pre-Cut Black Mounts were pinned into place. The students wrote on the display with thick markers when they had reached a learning goal or demonstrated good learning behaviour.

Strategies for Learning Behaviours
Developing positive learning behaviours was a focus for my grade so a huge display was created in front of the classroom. I rolled out white paper and attached it to the wall. Using a wet brush and black paint I quickly wrote the agreed learning behaviours that the students were expected to demonstrate. The writing was very big; the display was visible to all the students. We could continue adding to the display and it looked fabulous. The display took 15 minutes to create and didn’t require expensive materials or brilliant art making skills.

Zart Paper Bags
I use these bags because the size is perfect, the colours are bold and brilliant and the students love putting things in and out of them. We used them for our story starter ideas and each student had one pinned on the board to keep their “Tuning into Maths” cards in. We have used them for spelling lists, to post letters to each other and we roll up our unfinished work and put them in the bags for safe keeping.

Artist Books
Rather than take up precious space on our display boards and to save time pinning 4 pins into every students’ work, we displayed our work in a variety of book formats and then pinned each book with 2 pins. It was quick, it created interest to a flat surface and the learning was visible.

Labels
Strips of acetate were used to connect labels to our displays. They flapped and bobbed up and down. This also created visual interest and saved space on the display boards.

Chalk Markers
Rather than battle with Blutac and cover paper falling off the windows, we wrote directly onto the window with Popart Chalk Markers. The window provided more room for displays, the natural light was still able to light up the room and the shadows that were created sparked a lot of interest.

Fluid Grouping of Students
Instead of using a strip of card with the student’s name, each student decorated a paper fold out doll and glued a magnet on the back. I could then quickly create learning groups on our task board. It made the task boards a little personalised, a little quirky and a little bit of fun.

Class Banner
The students created a large calico banner by drawing and then adding paint when they had finished their work or when they needed time out during recess and lunch. A little splash of glitter helped to highlight sections of the banner when the light hit it. The students loved this banner because they designed it and made it.

Di Olsson
Grade 4 teacher
Sebastopol Primary School


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Key words: Zart Extra, newsletter, article, teacher resource, School Projects, Primary