How to Make a Bulletin Board for a Classroom

close-up of project

Need a bulletin board? Decorating your walls can mean a whole lot of work! Many new teachers think they must make their bulletin boards super splashy while others spend hours turning their classrooms into life-size underwater scenes or jungle-scapes. With standards as a focus and child-centered work the utmost importance, why not create a bulletin board that attracts students and their families, provides multiple great learning activites, all with little effort on the part of the teacher. Here is one example that takes minimal prepwork, and is always a hit.

Things You'll Need

• Construction paper of various colors, cut into 3X3 inch squares including black and white
• Full-size (skin-colored) construction paper cut into 1/4s, or store-bought blank multi-cultural (paper) head di-cuts
• gluestick
• Writing paper or access to a computer for typed work
• Black construction paper for mounting
• Student pictures to accent the final product
• hole punch
• glitter glue-optional
• Border
• Butcher paper backing

Instructions

1. Start with a butcher paper or material covered backing. Add border of your choice.

2. Students of grades 1st through 3rd are usually capable of writing enough of an autobiography to satisfy this project. If the brainstorming and draft writing is divided into three distinct paragraphs: past, present, and future, incredible ideas and information will be discovered.

3. Have students polish up their final drafts and cut them into 8X9 inch papers. For 2nd graders: Three paragraphs at an 18 pt font with Word Art (Microsoft Word) and a picture can usually fit within 8X9 inches. Adjust the font size or add multiple pages for 1st or 3rd grade.

4. Precut white cardstock 8X9 inches. One sheet needed per student.

5. Pass out the following to each student:
   1 3x3 in. white const. paper square, 1 black const. paper square, 1 eye-colored square, multiple appropriate hair colored squares, 1 dark peach or pink for mouth, and multiple squares for shirt collar to show.

6. To begin the self portrait: Start with students choosing a skin-colored paper that most resembles their skin tone. Pre-cutting a shape for the head with ears is the way to go for both 1st and 2nd grade. Blank di-cut head shapes (6 in. tall) can also be used. Arts/Crafts and teacher supply stores carry them in packs of multi-cultural skin tones.

7. Have students put name on the back of white cardstock before having students paste their head shape onto the paper.

8. Start with the eyes. Fold white square and tear a circle to create two equal sized circles of about a nickel in size. Do the same with eye-colored paper, but dime sized this time. Hole punch the black for the pupil.

9. Have students stack and paste the above circles to create eyes. Eyes should be placed at same level as ears.

10. Various colors of construction paper can be torn or cut to create hair, a mouth, a shirt, and optional hair accessories, eyebrows, and jewelry.

11. Students may need to place their torn paper before pasting onto their head-shape for good. This will eliminate eyes on the forehead, odd hair or mouths near the chin etc.

12. Glitter glue can make great accents and works well for students who wear glasses and jewelry.

13. Student photo can be placed in the bottom corner of the tear-art masterpiece.

14. Mount Autobiography and Self-portrait side by side on black construction paper and trim to 1/4 inch black border all around. This makes the project POP!

15. 

    Project may be folded to look like a booklet or displayed flat on a wall or desktop. Watch how your students will read day after day about one another. Parents will likely want to frame them.

Tips & Warnings

• Cutting and mounting the construction paper are the biggest jobs of the teacher.

• This project is a timeless keepsake that will be treasured by parents and less stress on the new OR veteran teacher.