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 You are welcome to use any of the ideas you see here, however, if you are to post pictures of my ideas being used in your classroom online please either include a link to this site or cite my website as your source.
 

I used a camping theme in my classroom last year. I created the image on the left using Adobe Photoshop and had them printed as 4x6 glossy photos. I then mounted them onto a blank greeting card and personalized each with a hand-written note to my incoming students. I mailed them to their home a few weeks before school started. The picture shows (clockwise):

  • The "Pond": This area in front of my desk was used for small group activities, lit circles, games, etc. The colorful plastic boxes are their book boxes. Each held books at their level as well as their reader's notebooks.
  • The "Campfire": This is where we would gather for whole class activities, stories, author shares, etc. (see below for more details)
  • "Six Trait Trail": Our writing center bulletin board
  • Lockers: I bought wooden shapes of moose, bears, trees, and snakes at AC Moore. I painted each, glued on a wiggly eye, wrote each child's name and attached a magnet to the back.
  • "Word Woods": Our classroom word wall.
  • "Literacy Lake": This is our class library. The back bulletin board is used for book recommendations (both individual and whole class). I used a Carlson-Delossa job chart bear for decoration, hung a sign that read "Hooked on a Book" and hung fish and bobs from fishing line. My books were sorted by genre and stored in blue tubs.
  
       
       

6 Trait Trail ~ Our Writing Board This includes a chart to organize Writer's Workshop, story starters, conference requests, 6 trait details and more.

 

 On the 6 Trait Trail board I listed story starters for those students who may need an idea to write about. To the left you can see a conference request sign-up sheet. I bought a piece of camp-themed scrapbook paper and laminated it. The children wrote w/ a dry erase marker. This is by far one of the best writing strategies I use each year. We ban certain overused words to improve vocabulary and word choice in writing. To compliment my camp theme I created a "Words we cAN'T use (ant font, picnic background, words on plates, plastic forks, knives and spoons hot clued to a border). Once a word went on the board it was banned from their writing.

I replaced our bathroom passes with "outhouse passes." Our classroom jobs chart was titled, "Busy Beavers."

 

 

  
               
       
This behavior chart is similar to the traditional color card turning system except I created a template that I keep on a clipboard. This worked better for me because the chart could be carried to lunch, specials, etc. which kept the plan consistent. I named the offenses catchy camping themed items ranging from Park Ranger (role model behavior) to Skunk Spray (note or phone call home).

This board is titled, Camp Fire Stories. The border is bear tracks and there is a pine tree and a flashlight hanging on it. This is where published student writing is displayed.

 

 

I used an owl sitting on a branch with 3D leaves (bought at Dollar Tree on a vine). The speech bubble reads, "Whoooooo's Here Today..and more importanly what's for lunch." When the children arrive they check off what they are ordering or that they brought a lunchbox.

 

This is another board for showcasing what the children have been working on. It is titled, "S'more Great Work." I used a 3D green leaf vine as a border and hung a graham cracker box, a bag of marshmallows and Hershey Bar wrappers for a fun decorative effect.

 

  
               
         

This is our class meeting area (better known as "The Campfire." The tent is assigned to a specific person each week as their reading spot. I sit in the camp chair to read or do group lessons, the children sit on coolers, sleeping bags and cuddle with the bear. I also have pillows covered in campy fabric (plaids, acorns, etc.). The best part is that it gives me a good place outside my house to store our summer chairs and coolers in the off-season.

 

This photo was taken during Reader's Workshop. The children spread out around the room in camp chairs, on sleeping bags and in the tent. For safety purposes they are not allowed to go into the sleeping bags. Also the tent must remain open at ALL times and is limited to only one child at a time.

 

 

I created a campfire using orange lights, red/orange celophane and real logs. only plug it in when a student publishes a Writer's Workshop story. It is a FAVORITE activity and makes the author feel very special as they tell their story around the campfire.

 

 

    
   
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