I think it’s a great idea … You could even make the name tags in the shape of the gray whale, which is California’s state marine mammal … It would be great to start teaching them little facts about CA in the first day … you could even do an ice breaker game, like a scavenger hunt, hide facts around the room and have the children say, “Eureka (I have found it)” when they find a fact (state motto) … they will read it to the class … introducing themselves, their fact as well as giving them a chance to explore their area, they will be able to get comfortable in their beautifully decorated classroom … good luck … sorry i got carried away … back to your idea … I love it!

I also teach fourth grade. I teach in Arizona. My first 2 years of teaching, I did a theme every month, but that got old VERY quickly. My theme this year is, ‘Surf Party School Year.’ I decorated it with surf boards, shells, water, fish, flipflops, etc. I will keep this all year and do a variation thoughout the seasons. On the first day of school (we started this week), I read a story I found about a tradition hawaiian greeting and what it means, then passed out lei’s. The kids went NUTS!

Good luck in your first year! I am so excited for you!

I have several bulletin board around my classroom. I don’t do a seasons one because it gets to be too much keeping up with throughout the year. I have a “student of the week” board. I model it in the beginning of the year with myself being the first one. I bring in my favorite things and talk about them for five minutes, and I set the stage for the year.

I have a calendar/job/information BB that changes monthly obviously with the calendars and jobs.

I have a work BB where I display students’ work.

Lastly, I have a family tree BB. I take pictures of the kids on the first day of school and put their pictures on a tree that I leave up all year long.

Other than that, I decorate as the holidays come up, try to keep with the themes throughout the year, because it does get old constantly changing everything.

Best of luck with your first year!

I think it’s a great idea, I don’t do Fall stuff until Oct when you can actually see the leaves turning and talk about weather changes, etc. I’m starting out the year with a sun unit, we will talk about solar energy, sun safety and build our own solar ovens and cook something in them. It’s been 100 degrees plus here, so I think when we start back to school in 2 weeks it will still be “summer” enough LOL Have a good start!!

Lay out a sound lesson plan and get the kids involved to meet goals and objectives through activities and set your standards for accomplishment. Sounds like a great theme. Have fun and adjust as needed. Work with the students, 4th grade is a fun age to work with.

I have taught fourth grade for seven years. I find that my students don’t really pay attention to bulletin boards unless they have their work on them, or something about you. I have a bulletin board all about me at the beginning of the year. For example. I find pictures of some of my favorite things, my favorite books, music I like, things that are personal, but not too personal (because then they want to know everything about you) I put up actual pictures of my cat, places I’ve been, etc. After we go over rules and procedures, and such, we do a getting to know you activity where the kids do something similar. They fill up a poster-sized paper about them. Then I have them write a descriptive paper about themselves, using the poster as a reference. This always gets them interested in the bulletin board, and fits with my theme that we are one big family. You can find out a lot about kids backgrounds this way, too…really early on.

On September 11, 2001, a couple of thousand people, mostly in Manhatten, died because shoddy construction of a government-owned building led to its collapse after planes flew into it. September 17, 1862 was the bloodiest day in US history, with more than 23,000 casualties. Seems to me that 9/17 should be the day you focus on, not 9/11.

It makes perfect sense to me. Besides, a lot of schools do back to school themes in September, and your idea sounds a lot more interesting!

good thinking!

You’ll find that kids have seen it before from other teachers. Coming up with unusual and different themes will make your room stand out.

Have fun!

That is GREAT idea! You will stand out, and I’m sure the kids will LOVE it!