A few weeks ago, after hearing about a great way to display students’ work in the classroom – work of their choosing, that they were proud of – I decided to create such a wall in our home. I don’t feel like I can make such a wall in my internship classroom, but I do like the idea and may try it in my future classroom.
So, using my family as guinea pigs, I created The Brag Wall with the sub title “Have you Heard the Buzz?” I taped up the title, a couple paper insects the boys had made and four squares of colorful paper, each with their own paperclip. One square for each member of the family. Other than the immediately pointed out problem that, “Momma, don’t you know it is not nice to brag?” by Cody, it has been going along rather well.
Every Friday each of us remove our super items and replace them with new super items from the week. I have displayed such things as a graphic organizer explaining the difference between expository and literary narrative writing and an index card of my notes from the day I was lead teacher for the full day. Carter tends to lean towards colorful artwork and lists of sight words and Cody prefers to highlight math papers. Husband, who is not terribly keen on the whole thing (or he simply just forgets to trade out his super items) displayed a screen shot of a database he has been working on at work.
Here are the picks for this week
Carter – his hand traced and cut out. I would never tell him this but it looks a little creepy handing there on our wall.
Cody – a picture he drew of the knitting needles he just started using at the knitting club he joined at school. They are blue, 10.5 (size? – I know nothing about knitting), and he taped “variegated” yarn (his word not mine!) to the paper to represent the act of knitting.
Husband – just switched out his database screen shot to a picture of the delicious peanut butter chocolate pie he made for Pie Day yesterday (if you are curious about Pie Day just type it into my site search box and you can read about our other Pie Day celebrations). The pie was amazing!
Me – I was given 15 minutes to write and illustrate a story in my Art, Music, and Movement class last week based off the book The Pigeon Wants a Puppy by Mo Willems. I decided to display this as my super item of the week.
As some of you may remember, Hool is Carter’s most beloved stuffed animal, an owl. The story has a touch of dark humor near the end when Hool, who finally gets his pet mouse, discovers that it has been a long time since breakfast. The second to the last picture shows Hool with a little black tail sticking out of his beak and a small burp in a speech bubble above his head. Then he states that he has changed his mind and would rather have a plump, cute, chipmunk as a pet.
I rather like our family Super Wall. I like that we each get to display something we did that we are proud of and I enjoy the conversations that stem from it.
Shoes On The Wrong Feet 
Fabulous idea. Angel has a ‘clothesline’ strung on a wall in her room where she pins up her favorite items…wish I’d put a sell-by date on changing things around, though. That jack o’lantern has been staring at us for a while now 🙂
Yeah, we still have a random black bat hanging from the boys’ bedroom ceiling. At least with the Super Wall, the items get rotated quickly. I am thinking of mailing their super items to their grandmas, one every other week so they get something the boys did and were proud of in their mailbox. It seems a shame to simply recycle them…
That’s an awesome idea.
Thanks, we are having fun with it!
Wow, I just read through all the posts I missed. I’m so sorry to have been absent for so long!
I love the way you indulge your children. You encourage them to use their imaginations, and be creative. So many children today are lacking that, it’s easy to sit them in front of the TV, or tablet, or video game while Mom and Dad are busy, but not you. You encourage family activities and help them stay in touch with what really matters.
In today’s society it is really encouraging to read about children being raised this way, it gives me hope for humanity.
(P.S. I hope Hayley(sp) is bringing you as much fun and joy as Delilah brings me. 😉
Ahhh – Jodi what a warming comment, thank you! We do try really hard to keep family and play and creativity in the forefront and to keep video games and TV in the far distance.
It has been a struggle, especially this year with me being in school and our lives being just that much more busy. I really like being able to incorporate educational ideas that I learn from my education and time in the classroom at home with the boys.
And don’t feel at all bad about not being around much when it comes to blog reading – I am right there with you!
P.P.S. – Haley (we are not sure if that spelling is right, but that is what we are going with) is AMAZING. She is such a great family dog and brings us smiles each and every day. She is a bit too protective of her family when we are at home and so we are working on her feeling more secure and less in need of having to be the alpha when we have company over. She has a rough history, like your Delilah, and so we us lots of patience and love (and doggie snacks!). 🙂
What a great super wall! And of course I like a good database photo as much as the next girl (hmmm…) but have to say, way to up the ante with a peanut butter and chocolate pie! Your kids will remember this wall for a long time, I’m sure. Congratulations for all your super accomplishments!
Ah yes, give me a sharp quality database photo any day over a box of chocolates and a Valentine’s card. 🙂 Although the peanut butter chocolate pie was amazing!
Our super wall is pretty super and so much fun!