Monthly Themes

• Follow the calendar and change the theme every month. Look at the important days and holidays in the month and plan your themes and lessons around them. Clear student work bulletin boards at the end of the month and plan on using the first couple of days in the new month and theme to generate new student work to display. For instance, in October one of the themes could be bones. Third-graders learn the basics about the human skeleton and because of Halloween, this is a perfect opportunity to draw and label the basic parts of the human skeleton for display in the classroom. In November, third-graders can learn about the Pilgrims, the Native Americans and the first Thanksgiving.
  
  

Seasonal Themes

• Seasonal themes--for spring, summer, fall and winter--in the classroom reinforce the life cycles that students see occur in nature. Seasonal change can be incorporated into many lessons, including studying the water cycle and the three states of water during winter and showing the development of plants during the spring.
  
  

Curricular Themes

• Base classroom themes around the curriculum. Look at the objectives for the year and decide how the year will be divided. Some teachers use the same themes throughout the entire year, while others change as the new objectives are taught. It is possible to have a different theme for separate areas of the classroom. While third-graders learn fables and legends, the reading corner of the classroom could have art, displays and student work related to fables; at the same time, the science-area theme could be about the solar system and have related work and displays.
  
  

Other Themes

• Pick an area of interest of the teacher, students or neighborhood. Teachers have many interests and sharing these interests with students can increase student motivation and learning. If a teacher is interested in quilting, then making a learning quilt where students create quilt squares showing what they have been learning can be an effective extension. A school near a lake or ocean could have an underwater theme where students learn the life cycles and the food webs for those nearby bodies of water. Some teachers leave their walls blank, and during the first week of school work with students to plan themes and design spaces to promote involvement.