* I always begin the year focusing on friendship and what friendship means.  The Loopers idea was to put up an octopus with the words REACH OUT AND BE A GOOD FRIEND.  I hung an octopus body cut and drawn on orange poster board.  To this body I attached 8 crepe paper legs extending outward in various colors.  Across the top of the board I lettered REACH OUT AND BE A GOOD FRIEND.  Here's how I will extend the idea.       As we work into our friendship unit I will talk with the children about their ideas on "what is a friend?"  "What do friends do together?"   "How do friends act?" etc. etc. etc.  I will notate their ideas and hang them on the ends of the octopus arms.  When the children are comfortable in my room (probably sometime after the first two weeks.)  I will begin taking pictures of them playing with (or beside) a friend. I will also take pictures of group activities that we all participate in. I'm going to take pictures both inside and out remembering that group dynamics can often change or be different for children on the playground.   These pictures I will hang all about the bulletin board interspersed between the octopus arms.  This will give the children, myself, and most importantly the parents a visual picture of all of us working and playing together.  (I don't know about you....but the most frequently asked questions at my first parent/teacher conference is...."Is my child playing with others and does he/she have a friend?!).  Hopefully this bulletin board will be both a visual and functional part of our curriculum and what is going on in our classroom!! * I just put together a bulletin board to welcome my kindergarteners to school.  I drew a very large outline of a school bus on yellow poster board.  I added 20 pieces of white paper arranged near the top to make it look like windows.  I wrote each of my students' names under the windows. On the first day of school, they will draw a picture of themselves in the "windows".  I labeled it, Welcome to Kindergarten.  Real original, don't you think?