Photo Source: tunstalltimes.blogspot.com

Reagan Tunstall, first grade teacher and creator of the blog, Tunstall’s Teaching Tidbits, designed this fun graphing activity and bulletin board to get her kiddos interested in graphing standards. We love the use of personal data {providing a personal connection to the activity and a great way for students to get to know each other}, the cutesy title, and the use of student picture manipulatives to fill in the graphs. All it all, we know this is sure to be a hit in any early childhood classroom!

Interactive Graphing Bulletin Board Idea

• Background: Black bulletin board paper.
• Title: “Oh Good Graph!”
• Border: Black polka dot trimmer.
• Decoration:Use background paper in various colors and a permanent black marker to create graphs – pie charts, bar graphs, Venn diagrams, etc. Add titles with adhesive poster letters or use word processing software to create and print them. Reagan creates five different graphs…
  • A bar graph to record student pets – dogs, cats, fish, and hamsters.
  • A pie chart to organize favorite colors – red, pink, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
  • A Venn diagram to determine who has siblings – just brothers, just sisters, both brothers and sisters, or no brothers and sisters.
  • A bar graph to find out favorite foods – hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, or pizza.
  • A Venn diagram to find out student weather preferences – hot weather, cold weather, or both.

  To make the graphs more interesting, where able, Ms. Tunstall added clip art pictures of the various choices {i.e. a sun for “Hot weather”, a hamburger, etc} along with the appropriate labels. Again, create the labels by printing them onto the paper with permanent marker, using word processing software, or creating them with letter stickers.

Supplies for this bulletin board…

• Bulletin board paper in assorted colors
• Bulletin board letters or computer created labels
• Black polka dot border
• Adhesive poster letters or computer generated labels
• Black permanent marker
• Student photos
• Various clip art images

We think this is a fun way to teach math standards, as well as help your kiddos get to know each other! Do you use interactive bulletin boards in your classroom? We’d love to hear your ideas! Leave us a comment below or email us at:

bbideas {at} mpmwebworks {dot} com!