Interactive bulletin boards invite student participation, both in creating the board and in using it for classroom activities. Many fascinating ideas for these are available free on the internet, or in inexpensive books that can be purchased as a resource for the entire year.
Keeping the board attractive will be easier if you use a durable background that won’t tear, fade or show pin holes. Wallpaper is a good choice, and many attractive colors and designs are available from discontinued merchandise. A plain paper that allows for different themes will be more useful than one with a pattern that may overshadow the other components. Make a border from smaller pieces of wallpaper with a more distinctive color and pattern.
Another great choice is fabric, which will not fade, tear or show pin holes. This takes a bit of an investment, but is well worth the trouble and money because it can be used year after year and is easy to display and to store. Borders can be made from almost anything; newspaper cartoons, paint samples from a home improvement shop, wide ribbon or crepe paper banners.
Lettering for bulletin boards can be created by the teacher or by the students, if they are old enough for this activity. Students who participated in the creation of the bulletin board will be more inclined to use it, and will take pride of ownership. They will usually want to keep it attractive. Ideas for creating lettering are available at http://www.creativityprompt.com/.
Ideas for themed boards are nearly inexhaustible. Coordinate the bulletin board with the unit of study, invite students to help with creating and maintaining it, and you’ll have a winner.
Icebreakers, brain teasers and personal space
“My Space” is a bulletin board that will be easy to maintain because each student will “own” a section. Simply put up a fabric or wallpaper background that won’t fade or tear, and won’t show pin holes. Divide it into sections and assign each section to a student. They can use their space to put up pictures, news, their own work, or anything else that interests them and is appropriate for public display. A border can be made free and easily by going to the local home improvement store and picking up colorful paint sample squares, stapling them in strips around the board.
For older students, purchase artificial grass to cover the bulletin board. Then back pieces of your display with flannel, and they will adhere to the artificial grass. Students can move the pieces around on the board to play educational games. You could also create a news bulletin board this way by using laminated colorful paper backed with fabric. Let students use glue sticks to adhere news stories to the laminated paper and post them on the board. They can be changed easily.
A fun ice breaker is to collect baby pictures and current pictures from your students. Place baby pictures on one side of the board and current pictures on the other side. Number each picture. Provide forms for the students to use to try to match the baby pictures with the current pictures.
A trivia bulletin board can be created weekly to correspond with whatever the class is studying. Post trivia questions and have a large envelope available for students to submit their answers. Discard papers with no names or wrong answers. Then have a drawing at the end of the week for small prizes or privileges.
Or post a “question of the week” (example: What would you do with a million dollars? What is the best pet in the world and why? What would you like to ask President Obama?) Have students post their responses on the bulletin board.
Science
One of the very interesting ideas is a board on simple machines that can be manipulated by class members so they can see how the machines work. This could be accompanied by a learning center table that displays simple machines to explore, and related books. The board can be viewed at http://www.squidoo.com/bulletinboards.
Habitats of various kinds make interesting boards. One board can be divided into desert, forest and ocean, and children can place pictures of the plants and animals in their appropriate places. For older students, ecosystems and how they stay in balance would make a good theme. Collaborative teams can be formed to create the bulletin boards for their particular ecosystem.
Almost any science topic can be adapted for interactive bulletin boards that will stimulate learning and help students take ownership of their experience and their classroom.
Math
Math bulletin boards are a natural for creating interactive experiences. Excellent examples of these are available free at http://faculty.kutztown.edu/schaeffe/bulletinboards/ bbs.html.
For younger children, number concepts, categorization and simple shapes to measure will be attractive and fun. Older students can create bulletin boards around geometric concepts and shapes. They can use part of the space to display their best work.
Language arts
A word wall will be useful for learning sight words, improving spelling and writing skills, and to use as a reference. About 5 words per week should be added to the board, and practice games using the displayed words should be used. Encourage children to look up words that are displayed for more independent writing.
A bulletin board can be divided into sections for various parts of speech (noun, verb, adverb, etc) and children encouraged to write words on colored paper to add to the different categories. Be sure to check spelling on students’ contributions.
A picture of the week can be displayed to be used for creative writing. Vary the type of picture used—city street , a restaurant, scenic views, a junkyard, a crowd gathered for a ballgame, a father or mother and child, or a class. Display completed stories with frames made by the children from construction paper and their own border designs.
Resources for ideas
Kathy Schrock maintains a website with links to all sorts of bulletin board ideas. This is available at http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/bu lletin/index.html The bulletin boards are geared for use with any age and any subject. This is a very comprehensive list. It will be hard to exhaust the resources found here.
Whatever you decide to do, keep it simple to maintain and have fun with it. Laughter and talk are a vital part of the learning experience. Encourage your students to take ownership, and you will encourage learning and higher thought processes.
References and further information:
http://www.nea.org/home/20570.htm?s=bulletin+board&t=Works4Me
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/bulletin-board/clas sroom-management/6514.html?detoured=1
http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/classmanagemen t/bulletinboards.html
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/bulletin-board/curr iculum-planning/6515.html?s35
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/bu lletin/index.html
http://faculty.kutztown.edu/schaeffe/bulletinboards/ bbs.html