21st Century School Teacher

Okay, I thought I'd share a few bulletin board ideas that I've used in my classroom-maybe they can help you with an idea for yours...   If you’ve already read my post on bulletin boards, this one is redundant (sorry…)  I usually come up with a theme first for my classroom and then create my content lessons around my theme for the first days of school...not vice versa.

Some of my favorite bulletin boards from the past are....
1.  Brick wall with graffiti letters...  This requires a lot of freehand cutting--brick by brick, letter by letter.  I put black as the base color, cut squares out of red, positioning them about 2 inches apart, and then I cut out letters to look like they'd been spray painted--I also cut out small "drops of paint" that I strategically  dropped from letters, etc...  What's great about this idea is that any subject area could potentially use this idea--writing whatever message that works...

2.  Survivor..  I love Survivor and have been a fan since the first season---So of course I've done a Survivor themed bulletin board.  I began with the background color the same as the season that I was modeling after.  I cut out a large oval to create the logo on--large enough to put our mascot in the middle and change the outplay--outwit--outlast-- to something having to do with my classroom (I can't remember now, but it was probably respect, responsibilities---or reading writing and listening--something having to do with my class).  Next I did my side bulletin boards with "The teacher has spoken," and other Survivor catch phrases.  I used a ridiculous amount of green board paper that I scrunched long strips into vines and used the vines as my boarders--also hanging vines around the classroom.  My back to school presentation was themed this way too, and I even played the survivor music as students were entering my class...  The first days activities were based around survivor with several tribal competitions--fun!

3.  Quote based...  One of the quotes that I used was "Give a man a fish--teach a man to fish" only I changed it so that I was using our mascot--"Give a Grizzly a fish and he eats for a day, teach a Grizzly to fish and he eats for a lifetime."  I used over sized black paws reaching into the blue water (background color) grabbing fish out of the water... I had fish jumping over the top of the bulletin boar for 3D effect (don't  staple the fish flat, and they create more movement on your board)  I had schools of fish swimming through the water, and used seaweed to create more 3D effect.

4.  My school's mascot is the grizzly--if you hadn't figured that out.  So another idea I've used--when I am most desperate for a quick idea--is I've themed around school colors and grizzlies.  I've doubled the paper on my boards (orange and black) so that  I could use over sized grizzly paws to rip away partial pieces of the first layer, and then leave the background orange—it’s hard to explain, but it looks like the grizzly came in and tore corners out of my boards.  The paws hang down in different parts of the board, and other parts have the paw prints moving sporadically across the boards, walls, and even floors if you want to go that far…  Then in really big, big letters I cut out “Welcome Grizzlies”  The effect is pretty cool—especially if you use the walls, too.  I’ve also used lunch bags with students names written on them—scrunched up like the grizzly had pawed through them, and then I staple these to the board along with napkins, etc...

 5.  Last year I capitalized on the anime theme.  I found a few anime characters—boys and girls-- that were appropriate and cut them out—life sized.  I cut out lockers, books, footballs, etc. to focus on a back-to-school themed board... You have to be pretty artistic to do this one—but on my side bulletin boards, I used my projector to cut out black shadow anime figures and put those on the wall as well—I found these characters on the internet—an ipod advertisement—so I used string and put ipods on the characters.  Then I used music and songs to introduce all my units of instruction the first days of school.  I have to say the kids really like this (I haven’t figured out their attraction to anime, but they even knew which characters’ shadows I had cut out—weird!)  But it turned out awesome.

 6.  I’ve coffee stained large pieces of bulletin board paper to create a pirate feel.  This takes a bit of work up front because you have to brew A LOT of coffee and then stain the paper and let it dry.  Once it is dried, I curl the ends scroll like –it would have been cool to burn the edges, too, but that was way more work than I was willing to put in…  I created a treasure map, and my quote that year had something to do with education and treasure—can’t remember, but it was effective.  You could do scavenger hunts or mapping activities to coincide with this theme.

 7.  I’ve used string and laundry pins to hang a message across my board…  NOT really that cool, but easy with a 3D feel…

8. Now those are the boards I remember the most—other ideas?  I’ve always wanted to get that green outdoor carpet and hang it and do some kind of grass or golf theme.

 9. This year, Indiana Jones would be a great theme because of the movie release.  Using coffee stained paper, treasure maps, riddles—you could have a lot of fun with this idea.  The font is very recognizable, so I’d use letters hand cut in this style.  I haven’t seen the new movie, but I’d get on any Indiana Jones site and use the movie trailer or logos to inspire me.  You can find the music online—and I have a file, too, that I can upload if someone needs it.  I love to use music along with my theme—whether it is to welcome the kids into my classroom, for a presentation, or to introduce a lesson… (there is another post with a moviemaker presentation for the first day in a previous post--see "back to school moviemaker.")

 10.  Another idea I’ve had but never used is create people by stuffing real clothes—like a scarecrow—and then have doing something—not sure, but I thought it would be cool for a 3D effect.  Okay, maybe not...

If you have any great ideas for this year or from past years, please share them here so other teachers that find this entry can benefit.  There really aren’t that many awesome sites on the web with bulletin board ideas, so contributions are welcome...

A teacher that I met through classrooms 2.0 is doing a NASCAR theme this year… OMG it is cool… She found real advertisement life-sized cut outs, remote cars, flags, and used a race track theme for her word processing class… very cool!

I’ll add to this blog as I brainstorm more ideas—I guess the most important thing is to have fun, right?—my personal rules for bulletin boards are on another blog post—use the side bar to the right to find navigation to that blog if you’re interested…

New Brainstorm List of Ideas (I'm just thinking out loud--it's late, so this will probably be a bit random...

1. How about a journey theme with a big yellow bus and a road map--ids in the windows, etc. -- maybe some brochure like pictures with units of study planned for the year...
2.  A good teacher friend of mine got her hands on some wire butterflies--she used pinks and yellow boards and attached the butterflies to the board with a simple welcome--it fit her personality and looked great...
3.  I've always wanted to do something in black and white---maybe with black and white photos of students, authors, locations, etc. 
4.  A retro board or science fiction board--check out some font sites to get an idea of how to cut your letters out--there are some cool fonts out there that might inspire...  aliens, space ships--"Welding's class is out of this world!"
5.  Something like a movie poster or playbill with the main feature as your classroom, Adventures of Room 107"--would be fun to create a photostory movie trailer for a back to school welcome.
6. Comic book heroes anyone?  Wonder Welding or Super Smith... That would be fun--you could have a picture of your face on a super-hero's body flying across the board :) your cape could be 3D--okay... am I getting loopy now?
7. Christmas lights are great to light up the classroom--a theme with a sun or fire maybe--for your hot hOt HOT class...
8.  How about a huge,  over sized, like 8 ft. high book with pages that students could turn--or you could change each day depending on the message...
9.  I've tried to pattern after a screen shot from a computer website before with no luck, but maybe now with snagit or something it would be easier to do--a board designed as a page from a website--with the tabs and and windows changed to suit your class...
10.  If all else fails, have the students create postcards on the first day of class from somewhere that they were this summer, and then post them alternating pictures and text on the board. 
11.  I don't know why I'm numbering these...  How about "all the world's a stage" theme--you could hang curtains on either side of your board and create a scene within.
12.  A climb to the summit theme could be fun--with a mountain climber--or some other kind of explorer on a journey...
13.  A museum feel would be cool--hang picture frames from the top of the board with documents--like your class rules, or Shakespeare...
14. How about a Wizard of Oz theme? Follow the yellow brick road to Room 107--or you could change the color of the road to your school colors and add stops along the way where you post units of instructions held by the characters from the movie.
15. Alice in wonderland, for that matter, could be fun to...  "through the looking glass."

Every year about this time I start sweating a little--thinking about how I will put together my bulletin boards for a new year.  I've spent time searching other websites looking for ideas, sifting through pictures, etc...

It’s just hard sometimes to find the right inspiration...

Some of my bulletin boards form the past include a Pink Floyd's "The Wall" inspired board—created by cutting enough bricks to cover my bulletin boards and then free hand cutting words to look like graffiti,  I love Survivor, so a Survivor themed bulletin board was fun to create with personalized logo and enough vines to swing from.  I’ve done a semi-Pirate theme—built around a stranded in Mrs. W’s class.   Grizzly bear foot prints (on bulletin board, walls, floor)  with lunch bags crumpled and sorted through—names of students on their lunch bags… Anime student characters, life sized, —the kids loved this!  

Here are some of my best tips for creating really cool bulletin boards:

Choose a theme that you like rather than a theme based in content, and then build the first days’ lessons around your theme instead of vice versa… 

Think big—oversize everything…

3D is a must—don’t just use the bulletin board—spread out onto the wall.  Attach objects to the board that stick out a little…

Choose a theme that is popular to students’ lives—for example, if a movie or TV show is relatively popular, you can do a spin off of that. 

Choose background colors that will transfer to the fall--then you can take off first days creation and start adding kids' work or other seasonal themed ideas...


If I were in the classroom this year, I would definitely use Indiana Jones as my theme—tea staining paper, hiding artifacts, creating scavenger hunts, etc.  

Whatever you choose to do—have fun… That’s what bulletin boards should say to the kids… They should entertain, motivate, inspire!