Back to School Bulletin Board Contents
it’s that time again. The leaves are starting to change color and there’s a slight chill in the air. Autumn is about to arrive, and teachers have to start putting up an eye-catching, welcoming back to school bulletin board.
Long before students start arriving, I’m thinking about what to put on my back to school bulletin board. You want to bulletin board to be bright, attractive and pleasant to look at. You want it to convey a positive message about school, which will make the students feel pleased to be back. You want to soothe their anxieties about starting a new year with a new teacher, while still reminding them to shake the summer cobwebs out of their brains and get ready to work. All of this with one unique and original back to school bulletin board.
What you decide to place on your first bulletin board of the year will depend on what grade you teach. For lower grades, you certainly want the back to school bulletin board to be colorful and appealing to young children. For upper elementary and middle school students, you want something that reflects a more serious, academic environment. But still, you don’t want your back to school bulletin board to scare them away on the first day. You can still have some fun.
The best back to school bulletin boards involve the students in some way, immediately creating a sense of belonging and class unity. They also tend to center around a theme.
The theme could simply be “back to school.” Most teacher supply stores sell wonderful bulletin board cutouts with autumn or school themes. You could make a giant red school house out of construction paper, with an open window for each student in the class. Then take photos of each child and place them in the windows of the school. Or, you could create an apple tree with an apple for each child. I’ve also seen teachers decorate their back to school bulletin boards with fall leaves in an array of wonderful colors. By the end of the first day, each child has written something unique about him or herself on a small piece of paper, which the teacher places on the leaves of the bulletin board.
But school and fall are not the only themes you can use for a back to school bulletin board. Consider a Hollywood theme, with stars for each pupil’s picture. Or you could go with an underwater theme, with a “school” of fish, each one representing one student in the class. Either way, it’s always a nice idea to leave the back to school bulletin board partly unfinished. That way, your students can contribute to making it complete, and they will immediately feel welcomed and know that this classroom is their new home away from home.
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