Creative bulletin boards

Here are a few of my favorite bulletin boards from my teaching years. I hope these pictures get your creative juices flowing for decorating your classroom, even if it's at home.

This is one of the first ones I made when I was in college. I got the idea from a book from the campus library. I colored everything in using pastel chalks then laminated each piece. This was a fun one to display at the end of the kindergarten year when the students were being introduced to the long vowel sounds. When I taught third grade, I changed what the title said to "Take a long look at homonyms" or to reinforce other things they were currently learning.

I created this board for the entire school to look at in the lunch room. On the sheets of paper I typed out a verse, compared the candidates' views, and reminded the students of the school-wide election. I made simple ballots for each student so that they could vote on the same day their parents did.

This was one of my favorites and I did it at the end of each third grade year. I don't remember where I got the idea, but it was a big hit with everyone! For a creative writing assignment, the students were to write a paragraph sharing what their favorite thing in third grade was, and they wrote it on the paper plate! This picture shows the picnic tablecloth with the ketchup and mustard bottles, but I think one year, we added ants and food on the plates.

This bulletin board was for kindergarten graduation. The students and parents could look at it during the reception. I wrote a detective play, so I came up with this interactive board. I asked the parents to give me a baby picture of their student and I color copied each one. I even put mine up there! Next to each picture is a piece of card stock folded in half that has clues on the front and the name of the student under the flap. The clues had to do with their "character" in the play. Parents and students took turns guessing who was who!

This board was also for a kindergarten graduation. Since the students performed the musical, "The Little Red Hen," I thought it would be fun for the students to come up with their own ending to the story. I typed out their version and placed that on the board next to their drawing. Some of them were really funny to read and were enjoyed by the parents.