Bulletin boards are generally used for displaying classroom rules and guidelines, newsletters and bits of news, as well as informational bulletins. However, bulletin boards can also be used to teach your class "passively." This means that you will be able to share new knowledge with your students without having to spend too much time on a particular topic. The following article will help you create a bulletin board with a Colorado theme, since it is important for all American students to learn about all of the 50 states that make up the Union. However, you can suit the theme or topic to your liking and the instructions will remain the same.

In order to begin putting up information on your bulletin board, you will first need to decorate it. If the bulletin board does not already have a background, you can easily make one by cutting a colorful sheet of paper to size and then using a stapler to attach the paper to the bulletin board. Then, use trims to add a nice border to the board. These trims can be purchased online or at your local arts and crafts store or teaching supplies store. You can also find templates online, download and print them out (and color them, if they are black and white), and cut them out and attach them to the board.

Once you have finished decorating the board, it is time to gather all the information you want to include. For this stage, you can also decide to include your students. This would be a great time to introduce to them the concept of researching information. You can guide them through this process by giving them questions that will help them through their search. For example:

- When did Colorado become a state?

- What important events have taken place in Colorado?

- What is Colorado like today?

You can also encourage your students to start searching for appropriate images that will best represent the state of Colorado. They will need to print these out, or photocopy them from textbooks or magazines, and then cut out those pictures and attach them to the bulletin board using thumbtacks. It may also be a good idea to glue the pictures to heavier, colored paper in order to make them more visually appealing.

Because Colorado is characterized by its rocky geography, you can add a "rocky" background to the board. Just print out pictures of mountains and attach them to the board. Then, place the other components (the pictures and information) onto the mountain background.

Once you have finished the bulletin board, it's time to go over the information with your kids!

Resources

1. The History Channel

2. 50 States

Learn more about this author, Joan Inong.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Bulletin board ideas: Colorado?
We want to hear your view. Write now!