Using posters in the classroom
Do you have posters in your classroom? I found that my students used posters better after I started integrating them into lessons and group time. I planned activities that encouraged students to attend to the information on the posters, modelling how they could be used.
After doing this, the posters became more useful across the school day in other lessons and I saw my students starting to access information from them independently - during writing for example.
I recently revised our bright alphabet posters to give your even more options and possibilities.
Here are 3 no-prep ideas for using our alphabet display posters, to help build that familiarity. Use them as warm ups, lesson transitions or to fill in spare minutes of the day.
Say the alphabet
Every morning ask your students to say the alphabet and choose one student to point to each letter as you go. After time, encourage them to start from random positions. This will help later with alphabetical order and locating words in the dictionary - eg. say the alphabet starting from ‘m’.Word Chain
Play a listening and language game.- students are seated in a circle
- one student starts and chooses a picture from any of the posters - e.g. fish
- the next student must think of a word that links to fish and is connected by meaning - e.g. swim
- the next student links to the second student - e.g. pool
- the word chain continues
- encourage students to explain their word association if necessary
- record these words on a chart and read the word chain back with your class
- extend some learners by having them put all the words from the chart in alphabetical order (on scrap paper, in a book or on a whiteboard) using your alphabet display to support the order of letters
Add an Adjective
Play a grammar/language warm up game.- students take turns to choose a picture from the display and add an adjective - e.g. orange fish
- other students may suggest synonyms to make the adjective better - e.g. tangerine fish
- record these on chart paper also for use in a writing center later in the week or day