Theme - Garden and Bug Theme

How about a "garden" theme? I did it one year and used lots of sunflowers and bugs. I bought a small tent at Target that was very colorful and had butterflies and ladybugs on it that my students used to read in.

I also made a very cute birthday display using a planter box filled with some of that green foam and spanish moss on top. I bought birthday pencils and used a flower die-cut. I wrote their name and birthday on the flower and hot glued it to the eraser part of the pencil. Then stick all the flower pencils in the planter box and you have "Blooming Birthdays".

For my behavior system, I covered a BB in cute yellow fabric with little bees. I used a card system that year, but each card was actually a different color flower that they had to change. The title was "Be on Your Best BEEhavior".

My word wall was called "A Garden of Growing Words", which was very fitting as we added new words each week and it grew as the year went on.

Although I did this theme a few years ago, you might still want to have a look at the Dollar Tree for cute "bug" stuff. I found some very cute ladybugs and dragonflies that I used to hang from my ceiling with some clouds. I also found some fake sunflowers that I "planted" in some pots using the green foam stuff again to stick them in to give my room more of a garden feel.

Good luck. I hope my ideas help you out a bit.
Deb:s)

I've been thinking of your theme...went to terrific nursery...can get awesome decor there...why not real things rather than bulletin boardsets...watering cans are adorable...etc.Wind chimes, socks,flags, fountains...reading corner-turf mat(grass),picket fence,garden bench,clay pots for days...bird houses too...

Titles:
Look Who Sprouted In Ms...Class
Good Behavior Taking Root...
Hey Bud ,Blooming Good Work!
In 1st Grade Seeds are Planted, Education Blossoms!

Could use overalls pocket chart for jobs...Why not pull seed packs to go to the garden center(class store)? Plant constantly...great science...keeps room stunning...and kid created too! Writing center could be potting table...collect calendars for prompts...Reward... wear gardening hat or clogs for the day... Sorry to run on ...HAVE FUN PUTTING TOGETHER YOUR ROOM!

ok, here are a few pics...

I made the curtains by buying checkered curtains at WalMart and using iron on printer paper. I used DJinkers bugs and just printed and ironed on. Simple:) We could do curtains to any theme.

This one is simple too, but you could improve on it too. I had 3-D grass/plastic flowers and DJinkers Picket fence at the bottom.

I'm thinking of using this theme this coming year because I love ladybugs and bees. Here's what I am thinking of doing...

Good Work Board: "Good Work is Blooming!" or "Prize winning work!"

Behavior Managment: I'm using a card pulling system and each card will have a picture of a daisy. The first daisy will have five leaves, second daisy four leaves, etc.

Jobs: "Worker Bees" Each student has a bee on a big hive listing jobs; OR "Helping Hands in the Garden or A Garden of Help!" Each student has their name on a silk flower head glued to a push-pin (ask a craft store or floral shop to donate these because they really can't use them without stems) List jobs on paper clay post and stems, rotate flowers as needed.

Decorations: Drape floral garland over board tops, doorways, window tops. Use big plastic bugs glued to pushpins to hold messages, etc.

Information Board/Calendar: "Look what's buzzing!"

Reading Corner: "Read and your imagination will bloom/grow!" Green rug (grass) and a white picket fence (paper or a real one) to form a border around the edge. Use big plastic flower pots or flower boxes to hold extra books.

Bulletin Boards: Use fabric with bees, ladybugs, sky, grass, flowers, fences, etc. (Check the $1 a yard section at Wal-Mart"

Ceiling Decorations: Hang large butterflies aroudn the room from the ceiling.

Welcome Board: "Sunny Days in ___ grade!" Put each student's name on a sunflower and make a bulletin board to welcome students.

Welcome gift: Give each student a small packet of seeds with a pencil tied to it to welcome them to your class. Maybe you could have them plant them in the windowsill in a pot the first week and they could take care of the flowers all year.

Attendance: Bee There!

Reading: "Reading plants seeds in your imagination!" And give each student a seed packet made of construction paper with their name on it. Use small colored stickers to put on the packets for each book read (so they look like seeds)

Hope this helps... I used this theme last year and made the chart for my behavior system. I will attach the parent note too.

Here it is. (djinkers.com)

I am also doing a bug theme next year. I ordered tons of items from Trend. You can go online and look. I got the "Busy Bees" helper chart. I got "We're Buggy for Books" bulletin board set. I do a spellling incentive challenge and I got bug themed charts and sparkly bug chart stickers. I am going to also order some bug things off of Oriental trading. Out in the hall, I am going to put these HUGE butterflies I found in the Trend Catalog with the phrases: Spread your Wings and Fly into Learning! For their names at open house I bought a bunch of bug notepads (dragonfly, spider, worm, ladybug). I was going to dye cut words and put, "We are buggy about learning in Fourth Grade!". Ummm, lets see. Trend has bug desk tags too. This is about all I can think of right now. I am also going to incorporate flowers in the mix

I am also thinking about doing a garden theme for my 3rd grade classroom next year. I have a few ideas, but let me know if you think of any others! I really need a creative door idea!

I am going to have a "reading garden" as my reading center. It is going to have pictures on the wall that look like seed packets with "reading thyme" and "forget-me-not to read" on them. I'm going to try to get a picket fence, also, to put against the wall behind my couch.

We have "scholarly behaviors" that we use at our school and I am going to put those next to flowers with a title "Budding Scholars".

I will also have a bulletin board where the students list books that they recommend - "If books were flowers, we'd pick these!"

We had a school-wide theme "Planting the seeds of knowledge" and that is how I came about doing my Reading Garden. My point of view was that just like plants, students minds grow. My students really enjoyed the center and when spring came, our unit of study on plants, we planted our own flowers and sat the boxes in the reading area. I used the book "The Tiny Seed" by Eric Carle to help introduce the unit. The story is about a seed finding it's way to a place to grow. This led to discussion about "self". I also used the story of the "Giving Tree" by Shel Silversten for friendship. My 5 year olds really debated whether the boy was a good friend or not to the tree.

How about doing a Mary Mary Quite Contrary board. Using pictures of your students from the first day of school and adding their faces to the flowers of Mary's garden. Throughout the school year you could even change the pictures and lengths of the stems to show the students growth.
If your students can write have them tell about how they have changed. My K students usually write what they have learned to do. Hope this can be helpful.

Just about anything can work for a classroom theme! Pick something you love. Here are some ideas for ladybugs that I came up with:

Ladybug Theme:

Welcome Board: "GREAT STUDENTS SPOTTED!" Put each student's name on a little leaf and put a giant ladybug in the center.

Jobs: "Busy Bugs!" Put a cardboard leaf with a clothespin glued to it and write the job on the leaf. Give each student a bug with their name and rotate jobs as needed.

Behavior Board: If you use a card pulling system in a pocket chart, you could customize it by cutting out five leaves for each student and numbering them 1-5. Students could change their leaf as a consequence.

Individual behavior management: Make small desk incentive charts for students with clip art. Give them a ladybug with no spots (use white out or a black marker before copying) Use colored dot stickers or stars to give to students to add to their ladybug. Make the goal the ladybug who is "spotted" with the most dots!

Reward coupons: "Bug Bucks" Put a giant ladybug in the center and students can earn these for various rewards.

Hall Pass: Look at the dollar store for a giant plastic ladybug. Write your class name and room number on it's back with a paint marker. Or maybe you can find a wood cut shape at a craft store. (I used a plastic fish last year to go with my ocean theme and it really held up!)

Do Not Disturb Testing Sign: "Please don't BUG us, we're testing!" With a big ladybug on it of course.

Interest inventory: Create a large ladybug with huge dots that students can write inside. Specify a certain thing for students to write/draw in each dot such as "Your favorite subject" "What do you want to be when you grow up?" It would help get to know students the first week of school.

Bulletin Board Extras: Check out fabric for great bulletin board backgrounds. I'm sure there are some ladybug themed fabrics and they never fade!

Nametags: Use a program such as Microsoft Publisher or Print Shop to create student name tags for their desks. You could use a leaf background with a little ladybug on it and put their name in the center. I print these on cardstock and cover with heavy duty packing tape and they last a very long time!

Reading corner: Cover the corner walls with red paper and cut out black circles and paste all around. Use red or black carpet and bean bags. Put a sign that says "Snug as a bug in the reading corner!"

Bug Fun:

BULLETIN BOARDS:
Good work: "Bee-utiful Work" with bees;

OR "Works that Glows!" with little lightning bugs

Daily Info: "The Buzz" or "Look What's Buzzing"

Jobs: "Worker Bees" or "Classroom Jobhive" with
a big beehive with jobs on it.

Welcome Board: "Look who's buzzing into ___'s room!"

Material: Find colorful bug fabric to use as backgrounds.

*READING CORNER: Put up green paper around the corner, and glue large silk leaves all over it. Glue tiny plastic bugs around. Put a couple of plants. "Buzz on in to read a good book!"

*WREATH: I made a little wreath for the door that said "BEE YOUR BEST!" and I glued plastic bugs all over it.

*MAGNETS: I hot-glued big plastic bugs to clothespins and used big magnets. These were very handy for the boards to hang stuff or post memos.

*COMPUTER BACKGROUNDS: Put closeup pictures of bugs on your computer background(s).

*NAMETAGS: Use clipart of giant leaves with little ladybugs on them. Put students names on and laminate.

BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT: For a class goal, put up a large paper leaf and give students a designated goal for how many ladybugs they must earn to be stuck on the leaf. For individual behavior, put up a bulletin board with a big net or a drawing of a net. Put every students bug in the net. Make a desginated spot for students to move for each rule infraction... for example, a warning means you move your bug to the edge of the net, the next level would move to a leaf and so on. This would be title "CAUGHT BEING GOOD!"

CEILING DECORATIONS: There are a lot of big bugs, butterflys, bees, etc. that you could get to hang from your ceiling.

CLASSROOM NEWSLETTER: Call it "News from the Hive" or "The Weekly Buzz"

I have my reading area set up as a garden. I have taken artificial flowers and put them in planter boxes. I have latice with artifical vines on it that is used on one side to help define the area. I found birds, butterflies,other insects and other garden equipment at Wal-Mart. I use planter boxes sort the books by theme and author. I made a bench using 2 milk crates, a piece of board and foam then covered in with floral fabric. I also made to stools using crates and seat cushions.