Fabric is a great way to cover a bulletin board.  It doesn't fade and if it gets dirty, just throw it in the washer.  Holiday themes in fabrics can be found, and after the holiday season ends, purchased at a discount price!

Give each child a large construction paper ear and ask each child to write one thing they have heard about the teacher. 

Give each student a t-shirt pattern and allow them to design and put their names on their own t-shirt.  Put a construction paper pole at each end of the bulletin board and connect with a length of yarn.  Hang the t-shirts across the line with clothes pins.

Students trace and create hand prints and label with their names.

Students put names on tennis shoe patterns and design them in their own unique way.

Students decorate stars with their names and place on a dark blue background or use a digital or disposable camera and put pictures of students on the stars.

Ask students to bring in pictures of themselves or copy pictures from last year's yearbook and glue inside a construction paper barrel.  Use index cards to list names under the barrel.  Students use yarn to connect the index card name to the student's picture.

Students trace arms and hands and draw a watch on each showing the time school starts each day.

Create a fall theme with a tree and fall colored leaves falling to the ground.  Put students names on leaves.

Create large jigsaw puzzle pieces putting students names on each piece. 

On a dark blue background put a large cutout of the Earth and an alien in a space ship.  Use a digital camera or disposible camera to take pictures of students.  Give each child the picture but only the head section.  Have them glue this on construction paper and create a body.  Cut out and staple to the Earth. 

Create paint buckets with paint brushes.  Give each student a piece of colored construction paper shpaed like a paint spill on which to write their names.  Another variation:  Use empty crayon boxes and crayons for student names. 

Give each student a piece of white construction paper in which to create a fabric design.  Students put their names on the design and arrange them on the bulletin board in the shape of a quilt.

Create a pond background on which to place frogs on individual lily pads with student names.

Students create paper doll images of themselves, dressing themselves in precut wallpaper or magazine clothing. Yarn can be added for hair.  Place the paper dolls in a circle on the bulletin board.

Design a large magician and a cauldron.  Put stars coming from the cauldron and on each star write an item you would like to request that parents supply for the classroom (Kleenex, shaving cream, dry erase markers, disposable cameras, etc.) At the open house invite parents to take a star from the Wish List and send it back with the item.

Ask parents to send in 2 or 3 family pictures to put on this bulletin board. Older students could write a sentence or two about their families to include with the pictures. Note: You may want to make copies of the pictures and use the copies, sending the originals back home.

Back to School

Create a very large fishbowl for the bulletin board.  Give each student a cutout fish shape which they can design and label with their name.  Staple these in the fishbowl. When these are removed they can be returned to students to use as bookmarks.

Blasting Off Into ______ Grade

Place planets and Earth on a dark blue background . Give each student a rocket shape to design and label with their name.   Staple these on the background.  When removed they can be returned to students to use as bookmarks.

 

Ideas from A to Z Teacher Tips:

Displaying Birthdays ...
Submitted by: Nikki Ahn, 5th Grade
At the beginning of each school year, I like to decorate my desk. This year I have chosen to turn my desk into a 'gift'. I wrapped it with birthday wrapping paper and made a bow out of other paper and curly ribbon. I used a colorful evelope and placed my name on it and taped it to the front of my desk. Next to my desk sits a 3-file cabinet. I wrapped that with a yellow wrapping paper and die-cut colorful balloons. I attatched curly ribbon at the bottom of each balloon, and placed a student's name and birthdate on it as well. This frees up wall space, is an eyecatcher, and makes the kids feel special once they see their name and b-date posted!!!!
 

The Teacher's Corner Bulletin Board Ideas:

A Brand New Batch of ____ Graders!

Make a giant cookie sheet out of aluminum foil. Construct several "chocolate chip cookies" out of a brown paper grocery bag and coloring in a few chips. Write the name of each new student in the middle of a cookie. As a background, use a plastic picnic tablecloth (red and white checkered). Title your bulletin board" A Brand New Batch of Third Graders".
Submitted by: SStar5245@aol.com

Awesome Autumn Attractions

Use this BB to display students' work. Keep it open for artist work as well as academic items. A student may not produce excellent language, math, or science papers, but can draw incredible fish or flowers. Let students choose which of their papers to display. This BB is great because it can stay up for several weeks in the fall, just change the papers every couple of weeks.

Submitted by: Lori, Fourth grade teacher, Cassie3099@aol.com

Back-to-School Animals

Put a background up of a ocean or jungle, etc. During the first week, have students talk about what kinds of animals can be found within that settling. Organize the group so that every child has their own animal or it is disbursed evenly. Then give the students many different kinds of materals and tell them to create their animal to put on the board. Just make sure that they put their name on their animals!
Submitted by: Jaime Boyce- Special Education Teacher - jboyce357@yahoo.com

Back-to-School "Recipe for a Great School Year"

You cut out a giant recipe card out of poster board....put the title in the index tab part such as "Recipe for a Great School Year". Then write "ingredients" and list the kid's names. Then write "directions" and add your part about one cup cooperation etc... You can also draw a chef to go on the board and write the teacher's names in it.
 

Back-to-School Writing

My team partner and I put up red gingham red and white checkered cloth on a bulletin board. We had the kids write on plates what they did over the summer and displayed them on the cloth with the caption..."What We Did Over the Summer". The border of the board were ants. The kids loved making the ants and loved writing!! We also used the same cloth when we were studying Italy and made pictures with pasta and labeled the board "Pastabilities".
Submitted by: Just2ha102@aol.com

First Day of School

The first day of school my giant bulletin board had on it a quote that I love very much and feel something the kids should hear..."If you shoot for the moon and miss at least you land among the stars." It tells the kids a lot in just a little sentence. Then Iput stars all around the words with the kids names on it. I was very impressed by their facial expressions as they walked through the door. They loved seeing their names on the board.

Submitted by: Shaun Vest Portsuk@aol.com

6th grade teachers at Croton Elementary in Melbourne Florida

Gumball Machine

Draw and place a huge gum ball machine on your door. Use the heading " Wel GUM to my Class". Then place your student's names on the gumballs inside the gum ball machine.
Submitted by: Flashete@aol.com

"Lights, Camera, Action!"

"Lights, Camera, Action! Meet the Stars of Room 7!"

I cut out a large silver star for each child and place it on the board with their name and a picture (taken and developed the first day of school.) I use discarded filmstrips to decorate around the stars. The filmstrips can also be used as a boarder.
Submitted by: Maura Cantwell CantwellM@aol.com Third Grade, Highcrest School Wethersfield, CT

Look Who Popped In!

Another teacher at school has this adorable welcoming bulletin board in her room and I thought I'd share it. She made popcorn pieces out of paper and wrote each child's name on one. Then she made a pan - with aluminum foil so it looked like a real pan. She put the popcorn on the top of the pan (so it looked like it was popping out) and all over the bottom of the bulletin board (so it looked like the pan overflowed with popcorn). In big letters she wrote, "Look Who Popped In!"
Submitted by: IL2Teach@aol.com

 

Watch the 1st Graders Grow

I put up a huge tree with branches and fringed grass. I made a banner that says "Watch the 1st Graders Grow". I do a lot of fall apple activities and one of the first things we write about and learn is the new word c-a-n. So we write a sentence on a red paper apple that says "I can ---------". I then hang the apples on the tree. I have seen these trees kept up all year and you can change them for the seasons. I may try that this year.
Submitted by: Nancy Flashete@aol.com

Teaching is A Work of Heart Suggestions:

Take a Leap Into First Grade

I covered the board in blue. Made a large frog, with my name on it, sitting on a lilypad and surrounded the large frog with small, die-cut frogs with the names of the children.

Fishin' For a Great Class

I covered the B.Board to look like a pond. Used brown paper to make a dock. Reproduced a child sitting and fishing. I had each child's name on a fish.

We'll Have a T-rrific year

T-shirt cuttouts with the names of the children. they decorated the shirts at "Meet Your Teacher" and we displayed them at that time.

Swinging Into First Grade

I made a tree and placed monkey cuttouts for each child hanging from branches.

Class Bus
Create a large school bus and put photos (or drawings)
of your children's heads (in the windows. Add your classes name or the teachers name to the side of the bus.

A New Twist
For a beginning of the year bulletin board, use the game board for a twister game as the background. Put the spinner on as well, with the words "A new twist to a new year." Add cut-out feet and hands with the students' names on them. It is very colorful!

Who's the Teacher?
This bulletin board is about you, the teacher.  Choose a background and border that represent your personality.  Collect pictures, clip art, book covers, etc. that show your interests.  Laminate them and post them on the bulletin board.  Let your students ask you questions about the items on the board.

School's In!
Ask each child to draw their face with a fish body or a fish with their name on the body. Use a blue paper back ground with waves, bubbles and other sea creatures drawn on.

Our Class Comes In ___ Flavours
Cut a cone out of brown butcher paper, then add a coloured construction paper scoop of ice cream on top. Add a picture of the child on the ice cream scoop and put the child's name on the cone

Mrs. Shunk's Treasures

One year I made a big pot with a rainbow coming out of it. Put gold circles to look like coins in the pot and wrote each child's name on a coin. Labeled it "Mrs. Shunk's treasures" Was fairly easy--you could save and put new gold coins on for a different year. Another year I cut worm shapes out of wallpaper, and put a little face on each one and a child's name. Put a big book shape in the center of the door with a few corners missing and the bookworms all around. Labeled the book "Mrs. Shunk's bookworms."