Bulletin Board Ideas

Border

Considerations

• Coordinate the border with the background color, whether the border is a solid color or a pattern.
• Consider borders that are theme-based and age-appropriate (for example, numbers for math).
• Purchase border materials at a teacher supply store or online.
• Students can create borders that are theme-related using sentence strips. (One pack of sentence strips per bulletin board is more than enough.)
• Be creative, and have fun choosing the borders.
• Make sure it works for you: You will have to live with it.
• Select background and border combinations that can stay up all year if possible, because that means one less thing for you to worry about as a new teacher.
• Prepare the border for your bulletin board as follows:
  • Use push pins to place the border pieces around the bulletin board.
  • Match up the design neatly: Attention to detail will make your boards pop!
  • Staple the border pieces in place. Remove the push pins.
• Materials appropriate for the border include the following:
  • Purchased border
    • Solid colors
    • Theme-related
    • Age-appropriate
  • Recycled materials
  • Cloth border, fringe, large buttons, piping
  • Subject-related (printed images from the Internet, possibly brought in by students)
  • Die cuts based on the board’s theme (for example, pumpkins, snowflakes, numbers, letters of the alphabet, groundhogs; a die-cut machine is available at most schools)
  • Old game cards
  • Postcards, holiday cards
  • Collectible cards such as baseball cards

Student Work

Considerations

• Select work that students are proud of.
• Make sure that students understand their score on the displayed work, as well as the rubric for it.
• Write comments on the student work: Mention something to improve, and follow that with something positive.
• Assign a grade. 
• Try to represent each student on at least one of the bulletin boards in your classroom.
• Present your students’ best work, but realize that the scores don’t have to be perfect.
• Prepare the student work for display on your bulletin board as follows:
  • Select border paper for the pieces of student work to be displayed. Construction paper works fine, but it may need to be trimmed.
    • Coordinate the color of this border paper with the main bulletin board background and border.
    • Cut the border paper to size so that an even border will show around reach piece of student work.
  • Use push pins to attach the border papers, spacing them out evenly and symmetrically across the bulletin board.
    • Try to fit as many border papers on the bulletin board as possible, so that you can have as much student work displayed as possible.
    • Staple the border papers to the bulletin board. Remove the push pins.
  • Select student work to be displayed.
  • Score the work and write comments on it.
  • Mount the student work to the border papers that have been stapled to the bulletin board.
    • Use push pins to mount the student work. This allows you to easily switch out the pieces of the students’ work, while leaving the border papers in place.

Content Standards, Question, and Rubric

Considerations

• Rephrase the content standards and objectives in child-friendly language, selecting the specific standard or objective that supports your outcome.
• Select a question that is open-ended (for example, a question that elicits a thoughtful response rather than a “yes” or “no” answer); use words like “how” and “why.”
• Post a rubric that breaks down your rationale for the full range of scores:
  • 4—All goals achieved
  • 3—Most goals achieved
  • 2—Some goals achieved
  • 1—Minimal goals achieved
• Prepare the content standard and question for display on your bulletin board by writing the standard and question on sentence strips. (Print them for students in grades K through 2; write them in cursive for students in grades 3 through 6.)
• Use push pins to mount and hold these items in place to make it easier to switch them out when appropriate.
• Plan the overall bulletin board layout to include these items. 

Organization by Subject Area and Theme

• Subject areas
  • Math
  • Reading
  • Spelling
  • Writing
  • Social Studies
  • Science
  • Health
  • Art
• Themes
  • Holidays (for example, Halloween, Christmas)
  • History (for example, civil rights)
  • Practical application (for example, cooking with fractions)
  • Historical figures (for example, timelines)
  • Science (for example, biomes, weather)
  • Reading (for example, book covers)

Supplementing Bulletin Boards with Three-Dimensional Art

Considerations

• Remember that student work is the primary focus; don’t go overboard with supplemental art objects.
• Have a display table in front of the bulletin board with artifacts that relate to the theme.
• Add supplemental art after the bulletin board is complete; place it around the student work.
• Determine if the art objects really support and enhance the bulletin board (it can be messy).
• Three-dimensional art could include the following:
  • Multiple colors of folded, twisted, or crinkled butcher paper
  • Styrofoam plates, cups, and trays that can be cut and sculpted
  • Natural items, such as leaves, sticks, dried flowers, and branches
  • Cheap plastic toys (for example, spiders, skeletons, eggs, and cars)
  • Pipe cleaners, yarn, cord (usually available at the school site)
  • Velcro (for mounting larger objects)
  • Balloons
  • Streamers
  • Craft supplies (for example, googly eyes, cotton balls, and beads)