Pokémon Bulletin Board Idea
Are you looking for a Back to School Bulletin Board Idea that elementary students can relate to. Look no further! This Pokemon Bulletin Board Idea is sure to please.
I created this Pokemon bulletin board for back to school a few years ago. During the time that Pokémon Go was a big hit. Honestly, I am not very knowledgeable about Pokémon. However, my son is! Lucky for me, he is artistic too. He and my daughter drew the Pokémon characters freehanded on color paper for me.
Pokemon Bulletin Board Border Idea
I knew from the start how I wanted to do the border by using real Pokémon cards. As I was purchasing the box of cards from a local store, I spotted baseball card sleeves. Here is a picture of the ones I used.
I knew these were perfect for protecting the Pokemon cards allowing me to use them later as a reward or prize in my classroom. I slid the Pokemon cards into the sleeves and used double-sided tape to attach them to the board. Finally, I staggered them around the board to give it more eye appeal.
*Please note, you can typically find card sleeves where they sell trading cards.
My Crash Course on Pokémon
My husband and son gave me the lowdown on the concept of the Pokeball and Pokedex. That is when I realized that the Pokedex would represent the common core standards. I decided to create a Pokeball using my old Cricut Expression machine. Let me tell you how, I used the circle from my Plantin Schoolbook Cricut Cartridge. Although, you could use any circle design to accomplish this look. It requires you to layer different colors of paper. The trick is to layer the ball using red, black, and white color paper. Next, I printed a Pokedex image and attached it with double-sided tape on to a paper pocket that I already had on hand. Again, I used my Cricut to cut out the words. I used the font from the Plantin Schoolbook Cricut Cartridge, F2-Italic. For the letters, I chose an orange shade of paper, but you can use a different color.
Gotta Learn Them All
The goal of this Pokemon Bulletin Board was to focus on all the Common Core Standards our second and third graders would be learning throughout the year. Our wing contains only second and third-grade classes. Therefore, I had one Pokedex with 2nd grade standards and one with 3rd grade standards. To create the standards, I just minimized the print size to 3×3 to ensure they would fit inside the paper pocket. As a result, I was able to print multiple standard pages on one sheet of paper.
Reflection
This Pokemon bulletin board caught the attention of our students. The students could relate to the theme. I enjoyed getting the opportunity to work with my own children. The truth be told, they would like to run for cover when they hear me say, “I have an idea.” Yet, they helped me construct the exact Pokemon Bulletin Board idea that I had envisioned. They did not get their artistic ability from me. I have NONE!
Bonus
After the bulletin board was taken down, I used the cards as rewards for students.
Checkout My Previous Post On Response Dials
Are you looking for a way to engage students and assess their knowledge? Take a look at my post on Response Dials. These engaging tools can quickly evaluate your students’ understanding.