Bulletin Board Backgrounds and Borders

I never change the paper on my bulletin boards - the background paper stays the same all year, though I do change the borders seasonally. Each of my boards is done in a different background color. When using the fadeless paper it is important to use the dull side, not the shiny side. The shiny side never looks smooth! Plus the sheen makes it hard on the kiddles eyes.

I change what is on the board often. Some boards change every week with student work, especially the one in the hall. Some are up two or three weeks, depending on how long I'm doing the same theme. I never have a display up longer than three weeks.

One of the teachers on my staff has started changing over her board backgrounds to plain, light colored fabric. She found some sheets at a really good price and the boards look great and never never fade. This is my new plan over the year, as WalMart and Fabricland have their sales.

I have seen a bulletin board where it is "ruffled" up by making it protrude up. You staple one spot down, then puff it up like you were making a caterpillar bump-like shape. Staple that in a spot, then puff it up again and staple it. I wish I could describe it better.You scallop it up as you go and staple down each scallop. The bulletin board border is sticking up every inch or so as you gather it. Very pretty if you can figure out what I mean!!

While this is not a decorative board, I use colored felt for my word wall. If you put velcro on the backs of your words (laminate them first), they stick well and are easy to remove when a child needs to copy them 'cause they can take them to their seats (great for the littles ones in Kinder or First who have a hard time finding and copying things from the board). ;-D

I've been using fabric for years. It doesn't seem to fade like paper does, and it's really easy to put up. I use staples (my bulletin board is cork). It will look good until you get tired of it. :) I get cotton material from Wal-mart. It comes in all kinds of colors and patterns. My science board has fabric with bugs printed all over it! I've never had a problem with holes showing. I usually put a border around the edges of the board after the fabric goes on (just as I would if I were using paper). My board is actually VERY long, so I get two or three different fabrics in coordinating colors and make several boards out of the one long one (with border dividing them). I've used fabric to cover my classroom door in the past (I put it on with heavy-duty tape) but I'm in a room now where the door has this ugly metal hinge thing sticking out of it and it's too much trouble to make any kind of covering fit around it.

Use bulletin board border to section off a part of a blank wall. Attach your things with velcro or hot glue. I have also done this with the windows in my room....if you are lucky enough to have them...and if you are...overhead markers are great for writing vocab, spelling words or whatever else directly on the window. Comes right off!

I use fabric from WalMart. Because my bulletin boards are pretty busy, I usually go with a solid. I make valances for my windows using a patterned fabric that often ties in with my theme. I have taken that same fabric, laminated it, cut it in long strips, and hung it up as a bulletin board border to coordinate the room. I have also cut Elison letters from the laminated fabric.

I often find great rolls of gift wrap to cover bulletin boards. There are some really nice papers out there that relate to themes. When we studied animal habitats, I used wrapping paper from a "Humanitees" fund-raiser. We have had dinosaur themes, a current events theme used an aged, newspaper type wrapping paper. Seasonal wrapping paper also helps at times. Sometimes you can find great paper at the dollar store.

I only change my background paper at the beginning of each school year. Fadeless paper works well. I also like to use wallpaper as a background. This year I have beautiful blue & white cloud wallpaper that I'm using for my backgrounds. I got it for $1 a roll at a wallpaper discount store. I have one board that has my helpers, announcments & calendar. One board is for birthdays. They do not change except for some small seasonal accents. I have another board that is changed occasionally, right now it has the writing process on it. I hang student work in the hallway & change it at least once a month. I also have a shelf in my room that is useful for displaying pumpkins, snowmen, & other seasonal accents. A lot of teachers in my school are hanging decorative flags in the windows. They look very nice. I have a big frog flag that hangs from my ceiling by the library. I added a sign that says "Jump into a Good Book".

Whenever I don't need a particular border, I roll it up and fasten it together with a paper clip. I then store a number of rolled borders in a storage box. One type of box that stores easily is the plastic shoe box. I get them at the dollar store, and they stack nicely.

I have a free solution that has worked wonderfully for me. Take one of those tall skinny boxes that bulletin board paper is delivered in and cut off a foot or so at the top and discard. Then clip the strips of each type of border together with binder clips at the top. Slide them into the box and voila! a way of keeping your borders perfectly flat,neat, and organized.

I put nails in my closet door, and hang up my borders. I have to make a small hole on the top of each border, but then they hang very nicely, and don't get lost/torn up. Now that I have collected so many borders, and use one of those O-rings to hook each border design together, then hook the Oo-rings on the closet door.

Michele