08-17-2010, 04:58 PM
I'm doing the same thing, and here are some things I've come up with. (A lot of the ideas are from other teachers on proteacher!)
I teach sixth grade and this will be my second year of doing the Amazing Race. I put up a clue about a country each week, and the students submit their guesses. (They can use the internet.) Whoever guesses the country correctly gets a stamp for the country in their "passport." I made the passports with sheets of foam, cut and folded in half to be the size of a regular passport. I then put 3x5 notecards in them and used brads to hold it all together.
I have a world map on one bulletin board that reads "Reading Takes You Places!" When a student reads a book (fiction or nonfiction) about a different country, they will give me a short summary. They can then put a pushpin in the map on the country.
The bulletin board outside my room says "Welcome" and then has the word welcome in many different languages.
For my students' locker tags, I used the internet to translate each name into a different language. The sign above their lockers says "Around the World in _______ Days."
For their desk name tags, I used panoramic photos (noncopyrighted, on the internet) and typed their names on them.
There's a sign above my desk that says "Visitor's Center."
My reading area with comfortable chairs is called "Rest Area."
My students will post their Hopes and Dreams on cut-out airplanes (from Archivers, a scrapbook store). The title will read "We're Soaring to New Heights."
I found photos of school lunches around the world and will post them for the first few weeks of school. I'm currently looking for school rules from different countries.
I'm planning on using the phrases "Frequent Flier Club," but I'm not sure how I'll use it yet.
If you do a Student of the Week, you could name them Explorer of the Week.
At the end of the year I will put up a bulletin board that says "We're on the way to middle school" and has a road with cars.
Under the title on my newsletter it says "The journey of a thousand miles starts with one step."
I'm thinking of creating a quote wall that I read about on proteacher. The students can put up their own quotes (that inspire them). I'm planning on starting with quotes about traveling and expanding your mind/horizons.