Rainbow Bulletin Board Ideas

Everyone loves seeing a rainbow, but not everyone understands where they come from and why they look so beautiful. Educators who wish to discuss rainbows also can create a bulletin board as a learning tool that helps explain this phenomenon. There are many informative and interactive ways to approach the topic of rainbows in the classroom setting.

Identification

To create a striking bulletin board, you must always identify its main topic clearly. For the topic of rainbows, in particular, remember to have the largest words say more than just "rainbows." Be specific. What is it that you want students to learn about them? Is it "The Colors of the Rainbow" or "How Rainbows Form" or "A Rainbow of Cultures"? Additionally, remember to keep it simple. Pictures will be more eye-catching to students than a large amount of text.

Rainbows for Science Class

The content of your science-related rainbow bulletin board will depend on the age of your students. If they are in elementary school, you could help them memorize the order of colors in a rainbow by introducing them to a character you create named Roy G. Biv. The letters in this character's name stands in for each of the colors of the rainbow. On your bulletin board, you can show him doing something funny or riding a bike across the rainbow, or you might even use a speech bubble stating "pleased to meet you." For older grades, you could introduce the idea that rainbows are caused by the splitting of light into the color spectrum.

Rainbows for Social Studies

Some social studies curricula reinforce the idea of cultural awareness. You can use the concept of culture to create a bulletin board with faces from all nationalities. You might also try showing students the various foods of the world with a rainbow that features foods that are new or unusual. Consider showing students colorful foods like chili peppers, starfruit, curry, okra and lychees. You can shape photos of people and foods into a rainbow arch or group them by location.

Rainbows for Rewards

Students who are learning about rainbows in any context can also be rewarded with rainbows. Your bulletin board could start with a small introduction about rainbows on part of the board and a blank rainbow on the other. As your students learn about rainbows, have them write down a fact on colored paper for each lesson and then staple all the fact papers to the board. The bulletin board, then, becomes another learning tool. When you are finished, your class will have created its own rainbow.

Interactivity

No matter which way you intend to present your rainbow bulletin board, your display will interest more students if it is interactive. You might attach glass prisms to your board with fishing line so that your students could create their own rainbows. You could also place colored pencils or markers on the board to allow students to draw their own rainbows or diagrams explaining how light splits into the color spectrum. No matter which way you choose to create your board, consider how it can help your students become active learners.

References

• Rainbow Bulletin Board