Home to the Great Salt Lake and the Arches National Park, Utah is indeed a physical reminder of nature's beauty. However, many American students who live outside of Utah, and even many of those who call Utah their home, do not know much about the history of Utah and its importance to the history of the United States in general. This is why it is important to teach about the 50 states if you are an American teacher. However, you may think that you need to dedicate a week's worth of lesson plans to each state. Think again - you may not have your bulletin board in mind, but it is the perfect way to passively teach your students so that they know more about each of the 50 states.

The following instructions will help you create a Utah-themed bulletin board, but you can use the instructions to create a board with any theme, from any of the other 49 states to plants, animals, and peoples and other places and events. Make the best use of your bulletin board and you will also make teaching easier.

First, you will need to decorate the board. You can use trim to create a nice border around the board and you can use a solid colored sheet of paper as the background. However, because Utah is known for its natural beauty, you might also decide to make a background that reflects that natural beauty. You can find pictures from magazines and textbooks, photocopy them and attach them to the bulletin board. They make neat backgrounds that speak volumes about the subject matter.

After you have decorated the board, it is time to start looking for information. Historical information is very important when you are dealing with this kind of subject. You will also need to include fun facts and pictures to make the board visually interesting. After all, young students are interested in pictures more so than in words. You can photocopy pictures from textbooks or cut out pictures from magazines.

Once your students have cut out the pictures or typed up the information, printed it and cut it out, they can attach these various components to heavier, colored sheets of paper. Then, they will cut the components to size and attach them to the bulletin board using thumbtacks. Thumbtacks allow for easy removal of the components when you are done using the bulletin board and are ready for a new subject.

When you're done decorating and adding information, make sure that you go over the bulletin board with your whole class.

Resources

1. The History Channel

2. 50 States

Learn more about this author, Joan Inong.
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