Back to School Bulletin Boards

One year I simply could not think of a thing to put on that hall board. So I created a Kids at Work board. I used black background paper bordered with yellow border labelled with the words "under construction." The centerpiece of the board was a yellow diamond that said "Kids at Work." I labelled yellow construction hats with each child's name. After the first day I place a writing sample for each child with his/her hat. It was a very striking board!

I am doing a western theme this year. My bulletin board will say: "Wanted, A Great Group of Kids" Reward, A Year of Learning and Fun." I have wanted posters that I will put their picture on. I'm using bandana fabric I bought at Wal-Mart as the background and using rope as the border. Good luck with your theme. This is a fun theme to work with.

How about using alliteration and doing something simple like

WELCOME to the WILD WEST
Your wagon train adventure starts today.
HEAD'EM UP and MOVE'EM OUT
or
WESTWARD HO


Your letters could be cut from bandana fabric. Then you could have some kind of border that was fringed like you see on the frontiersmen's clothing. Add some pictures of wagons, horses and pioneers and you're set.

I was thinking that for your first month of school bulletin board you could have a saying that says cycling in to success.

You could have a nice picture of a motorcycle and then blow the words up nice and big just like the picture of your motorcycle.

Whenever I think of motorcycles I think of the noises that they make... what about "Revving Up for a Great Year." Motorcycles sounds like a great theme! Don't forget to post some pic's so we can see how great your room turns out! :)

One of my favorite sayings that I have posted in my classroom is Smile ~ It's Contagious! I challenge them every year to see how many people they can get to smile just by smiling at them without saying anything. They never believe it works, but are amazed when they realize it actually does!

You can allow the students to decorate their own happy face and put it on a diecut of a car on a road and call it "Mrs. ______'s Miles of Smiles".

One year I made this back to school bb: The background was yellow. The border was pink with heart shaped earths and yellow bows. I used bulletin board paper to make an enlarged copy of the heart-shaped earth for the center of the board. The title of the board was "We All Smile in the Same Language." I stapled pink and blue hearts to the board and labeled these with the students' names. Later I added copies of their first day pictures to the board. It was very bright and cheery.

While trying to enjoy my summer my brain is racing for additional ideas for my classroom theme next year. I plan on doing something with cooking, or chefs... something along those lines. My hallway bulletin will feature an outline of a chef with a serving platter and coming off the the platter will be my title "Serving Up Success in 5th Grade." I will use a red and white checked tablecloth as my background with a black boarder. I am going to hot glue spoons and forks to the boarder. When students return in the fall I plan on taking their picture wearing a chef's hat, or an apron, or holding a mixing bowl and wooden spoon to add to the board. I will also have the students write their own "recipe" on How to be a Successful Student on actual recipe cards and place them under their pictures on the bulletin board.

However... I don't know how else to incorporate this theme. I'm in search for any and all suggestions you may have to help enhance this theme. Something for classroom jobs.. -- Perhaps waitress? hostess? And an area to display good work.. "Look What we Cooked Up? These are what I am working with and any additional support and ideas are very much welcomed! Thank you!

One primary teacher in my school covered her bulletin board with red and white checkered table cloths and made a huge chef. In his hand was a large cookie sheet (made with aluminum foil) and each kid was on a cookie....It was really cute

with 60's twist. Last year's welcome back BB was "Looking forward to a GROOVY new year!" I was able to get tie-dyed borders and pre-cut lettering at Hobby Lobby for about $2+/- a piece. I planned to cut "GROOVY" out of deep pile felt so it would look like fake fur but ran out of time. Instead I went by the thrift store and bought a tie-dye skirt and cut the letters out of that. I put it on card stock with a glue stick to give it a little more structure. It looked good. The Dollar Tree also had lime green/pink peace signs and bright yellow Smiley signs that I hung up in my room with the Table numbers and computer station signs on the backs.

Hey girlies,
I finally got up some of my polka dot stuff. I have a small room, so it is hard to do too much. I am still not finished, but I am posting what is up so far.


Sorry this one is sideways. I couldn't figure out how to flip it. I am going to put the kids' names on little ladybugs when I get my class list.

This is more along the lines of an ocean theme, but I did a welcome board that had a colorful fish net stapled over it with the kids' names on fish cut-outs and it said, "What a Great Catch!"

I also did a beach theme one year and put the kids' names on flip-flop cut-outs and it said, "Stepping Into ___ Grade".

this past year, I used a bug theme. I covered my door with blue paper for the sky and green for grass then stuck bug cut outs and flowers all over. I used a dynamo machine to put each students name on a bug. The caption read "don't bug us we're learning". I used the overhead projector to enlarge an ant pattern and used this for my days of the week. I did the same thing with a caterpillar pattern and this was used for my months of the year. I also stuck cursive alphabet onto large flower cut-outs (for over my chalkboard) with bug cutouts buzzing throughout. I found some very cute bees that I also enlarged for each bulletin board. The captions read, "bee a reader, bee ye kind, buzz into math and bee-uteful work". I also took pictures of eache student during the first days of school. These were displayed under a caption that read worker bees. The teachers loved it but more importantly, the students did.

I am planning a camping theme and outside my room I plan to have; "Look who's camping out in first grade!" I thought I would take a picture of my new students sitting in my tent. I would then place the pictures around the words.
:cool:

My daughter did camping theme last year. Here is a pic of her door.

She has two doors. This was the other one!

ConnieWI, Iwas going to say the same thing. Not everyone at my school does a theme. It is a personal choice. Pick something that will be fun and make the children glad they are in your room. I saw some very cute popcorn theme stuff at the teacher store. I loved it!!!! You could put on your door"Look who popped into Mrs.______'s Room!" and write eachchild's name on a piece of popcorn. It looks real. They had incentive charts, nameplates, border, and other stuff to go with it.

When I went to the party supply store the other day I saw tons of red, white, & blue things for 4th of July. It got me thinking about making my back to school bulletin board something tied in with the presidential election.
The decor would be very easy. I thought I could have a ballot with each student's name on it in the hall. I'd take a picture of each holding a mini flag on day one and put those with the ballots.
Where I'm stuck is I'm not coming up with a catch title for the bulletin board...Maybe "Meet the New Candidates for Mrs. X's Class" ? Not very catchy.
Any clever ideas?

How about: Look who's "running" into Mrs. __________ class?

This year I am using a garden...Let' bloom together in Fourth Grade!
I have used "Hats off to Fourth Grade" and made paper bill hats that they got to take home a couple of weeks later. Also, detective themes are fun...magniflying glasses, foot prints, etc.

I cut out puzzle pieces from white poster board (lucky that you have them pre-made AND free) :D . I have the kids decorate them however they want ( I do this on the first day or so of school). Then we put them all together and hang in the hallway with a sign that says:

All the pieces fit in Mrs. BXXX's room!

We do this after talking about class rules and how we will be like a family and we have to work together and help each other. We are "connected." Hope this helps! :)

Just wanted to share this...it's easy and quick...of course, you can make it as detailed as you want, too. It's definitely NOT my idea---I think it was in a Bulletin Board book years ago...

For a Welcome Board (or anyplace in your classroom for that matter)

"Meet our HANDSome Class" Most Ellison Press collections have a handprint... OR have the kiddos trace their own hand on different colored construction paper and write their name on the hand. You could put their picture on the hand, too

The parents LOVE it---

:s)Kelly

The last few years I have printed off each child's first name in really big font size (like 144 or bigger) and use a diff. font for each kid's name. I use a few different bright colored papers so i get a nice assortment of colors....then I bubble cut the names out and staple them up with a phrase like..."We've got class" or something like that. If you leave spaces between them, then you can put kids' work up right by their name that first week of school. It's a little plain for a few days, but kids like to see their name big and the diff. fonts are fun.

I've used this bulletin board idea several times. Use blue background paper and any coordinating border. (I add some border that was shades of blue that looked really nice with this board.) Use pastel 8.5 by 11" tagboard to cut out large T-shirts. Label each shirt with one of your students' names. Hang two lines of string along the board. Use mini-clothespins to hang the T-shirts from the strings. Use a title like "What a Great Line-Up!" On the first day of school, have each student decorate his/her T-shirt and hang them back up. (At this point I would put a couple of staples in each T-shirt the keep it from falling off the board.)

This bulletin board was cute as a stand-alone, but would go well with a jungle themed room. I used light blue paper for the background and a coordinating border from my collection. I enlarged a monkey from clip-art using brown bulletin board paper and adding construction paper details. I laminated the monkey for durability. Student names were written on clip-art bananas copied on yellow paper. The title of this board was "We're Bananas About Second Grade."

It works really well for your opening bulletin board to have your kids names on it....like a tree with apples or fall leaves with their names. You could add photos you take on the first day. I have a rocket ship with a few astronauts (for me an my assistant) and shooting stars for their names. I found it at the Teachers store on sale. I also like using the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree, with the letters of their first name and their photo. We do CCBB the first week. I've also used leaping frogs ("Welcome to our Pad") and scoops of ice cream ("A New Scoop of Grade Ones") on brown paper cones.

Would a rainbow work? Crayons? Balloons? ("Up Up and Away") Colored handprints? Drawings of yellow pencils ("One Sharp Bunch") with their names on? School busses, bugs, dinosaurs (A Roaring Good Year) suns or stars? You could put their names on plates or picnic baskets with a gingham cloth background, ants, and some food cutouts "Grade One is a Picnic" Don't go out and buy something, look through what you already have for shaped notepads or cute clip art, photocopy and put their names on and add a fun title. Have a few extra for newcomers just in case. Let them see how much fun its going to be having you for a teacher, and have a great open house!