Bulletin Board Decorating Tips

Liven up your classroom with these great tips!

Tired of the same old Valentine hearts and cursive alphabet on your bulletin board?  There are hundreds of ways to jazz up your bulletin boards and excite your students.

Seasonal

Take your students back in time.  Nothing says winter quite like a snowy scene out of Dickens.  Use construction paper cut-outs and pulled cotton for the snow.   Figures in 19th century garb, gas lamp posts, and a horse and carriage may be just the things to spark your students imagination about times passed.

Summer vacation memories.  Start the year out with a fun activity.  Have your students write about or draw/find images from places traveled and experiences over breaks.  Let your students talk about their vacation and post their image themselves.

Classic autumn leaves.  What better time to learn about trees than when their leaves are raining down on us?  Find actual leaves or images of leaves (from trees not available in your area) and have groups of students find fun facts about them.

Brain teasers

Give them a weekly challenge. On Monday, post a few (as many as you feel appropriate) trivia questions and place a box or can with a slit in the lid near the bulletin board.  They can be of a certain topic, perhaps something you are dealing with in class, or related to current events.

The students are then given the week to get their answers in. Discard papers without names or with incorrect answers. From the remaining papers, draw three to five and award small prizes. Throw away all of the slips of paper and begin fresh for the next weeks contest.

Ask a thought-provoking question.  Cover your board with a large sheet of paper.  At the top, write the week's question.  This works best with open questions-avoid ones that can be answered yes or no, or with a fact.  Let your students use the rest of the sheet of paper to respond.

The arts

Here's one that can change throughout the year, but always keeps the same background.  Cover your bulletin board with a map of the world large enough to provide detail.  Choose your art (music, literature, painting, even architecture) and find images that represent that art from around the world.  Pin these images on their corresponding areas of the map.

Sports and games

There is more to life than baseball and Playstation.  Let your students learn about pastimes from around the world, like hurling, mahjong, and bocce ball.  Have your students find information and images and arrange them on the board.  You can easily combine this plan with the arts map idea.  

Think outside the box

If you have room above, below, or at the sides of your bulletin board, let your images extend past the borders.  Of course, watch for items within the grasp of curious little hands.

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