Have you jumped on the interactive bulletin board bandwagon yet? They are a super engaging way to present new concepts, reinforce learning, and encourage student participation. For special education teachers, these boards do more than just decorate a classroom – they can be essential teaching aids that can significantly enhance learning outcomes for students with diverse needs. I want to especially highlight a resource for teaching emotions (no surprise there!). The Emotions Interactive Bulletin Board Kit is now available on in my TPT shop. I’m excited to show innovative ways to integrate this kit into your classroom, making learning about emotions an interactive, insightful, and meaningful experience for your students.
The Emotions Interactive Bulletin Board Kit
Designed with special education settings in mind, this Emotions Interactive Bulletin Board Kit serves as a comprehensive resource for teaching and reinforcing emotional literacy—a crucial skill for students’ social and emotional development. The kit includes visual aids, task boxes, and interactive elements that make it an invaluable asset for any classroom.
Incorporating the Interactive Bulletin Board into Classroom Activities
- As a Daily Emotional Check-In
Start each day with an emotional check-in using the bulletin board. Encourage students to express how they’re feeling by choosing an emotion card from the board. This can be a meaningful way for teachers and students to understand the class’s emotional state, while also engaging with the board. This helps the board be more than just another “thing” in the classroom.
- Interactive Work Task
Transform the bulletin board into a work task for individual or small group activities. Assign students the task of matching emotion words with corresponding pictures or scenarios depicted on the board. This can help students with varying levels of literacy and cognitive abilities to understand and identify emotions effectively. Here’s some ways to make it a work task:
- Print out two of each page and create an identical matching activity. You can keep the vocabulary words attached for a very basic exact matching task. Use velcro or “Tack it Over and Over”.
- Print out a photo version and a clip art version and have students engage in non-identical matching of emotions pictures. Keep the words attached for the visual & color cue from the words, or remove one set of words to make it a bit more challenging.
- Have students match emotion words identically to practice word matching.
- Teacher or Paraprofessional-Run Center
Use the bulletin board as the centerpiece for a teacher-led instructional activity. This setting allows for guided discussions about emotions, providing students with the vocabulary and context to understand and communicate their feelings. The interactive nature of the board ensures that each student can participate at their own pace, making it an inclusive learning experience. You can attach the pictures to a blank wall, the back of a door, a bulletin board, the back of a shelving unit, or you can just laminate the pieces as cards and add them to a task box!
- An Interactive Hallway Display
Extend the learning beyond the classroom by setting up the bulletin board in a common area, such as a hallway or the school library. This not only makes the learning about emotions accessible to a broader audience but also encourages interaction from students outside the special education classroom, fostering a school-wide culture of emotional intelligence and empathy. Emotions are universal and teaching about emotions are Tier 1 strategies!
Creative Uses and Integration
- Storytelling and Role-Play: Incorporate the emotion cards into storytelling sessions or role-play activities, where students can act out scenarios using the emotions displayed on the board. This can help students understand the context of emotions and how they affect actions and decisions.
- Art Projects: Combine art and emotions by having students create self portraits of them showing the emotions. This not only personalizes the learning experience but also encourages creativity and self-expression.
- Peer Teaching: Involve older students or students with advanced skills in teaching emotional literacy to their peers using the bulletin board. This peer-teaching model can enhance leadership skills and reinforce learning through teaching.
Interactive Bulletin Board for the Win
The Emotions Interactive Bulletin Board Kit offers an engaging approach to teaching emotional literacy in all classrooms, especially special education classrooms! By integrating this resource into classroom activities, we can give students with the tools they need to understand and express emotions effectively. Whether used for independent work tasks, guided learning centers, or as a school-wide educational tool, this bulletin board kit is an asset for fostering emotional awareness and empathy among students. It’s a perfect way to target and engage with social emotional focused IEP goals for easy data collection and practice.
I know we all share the goal of creating inclusive, supportive, and engaging learning environments where all students feel understood and valued. Interactive bulletin boards, especially those designed with such specific educational objectives in mind, are a testament to the ways we can enhance learning and support students’ overall development.
