25 Bulletin Boards You Can Keep Up All Year

Advice from Real Teachers Series

Even if you love creating bulletin boards, chances are good that you don't have time to dream up a new bulletin board every month for all of the boards in your room. Wouldn't it be great to have at least one board that you could keep up all year and not have to replace?

Today's Question
April, a fan of the Teaching Resources Facebook page, asked, "What is a good bulletin board to keep up all year?" Over 150 teachers responded to her question with some terrific ideas. I compiled the answers and removed duplicate responses, but I could not narrow the list down to any less than 25! Luckily you'll only need one or two of these ideas if you plan to keep the board up all year.

Bulletin Board Photos Needed!  
The ideas below are terrific, but in this case a picture really is worth a 1000 words! I would love to see some of these ideas in action, and I know my blog followers would, too. If you create a bulletin board from one of these ideas, please take a picture of it. Email it to me at contact@lauracandler.com. If I'm able to use your photo in this post, I'll send you $15 worth of teaching materials from my store - your choice! In order for me to use it, it will need to be clear, sharp, and taken in good lighting, so turn up the lights and keep your hand steady!

25 Bulletin Boards You Can Keep Up All Year
Here are my picks for the top 25 bulletin board ideas in no particular order. If you would like to read all of the ideas, you'll find that question here on the Teaching Resources Facebook page.

1. Debbie Powell - I did a Classroom Timeline last year that the kids and I loved. The timeline is put up at the beginning of the year with the months of the year spaced along it. Each month I put up pictures of students having birthdays and other pictures of classroom activities.
2. Diane Fulp - I just bought some window valances and curtain rods.  I am going to make one of my largest boards a "window".  I'll use sheet protectors for the windowpanes to display student work all year.  I'll cut strips of a darker paper to use as lines to divide the windowpanes.
3. Elizabeth Odrap - I have a giant world map on one of my boards (Under $10.00 on Amazon) Students place a pin on it to mark the setting/ location of the current book their reading. Two years using the same map, and it still looks great!  It was an excellent opportunity to interject geography into every day! 
4. Paula Gentry - My 5th graders created an interactive social media board where the kids posted notes to each other and they used the board to ask questions to the teacher. I also used it to post missed assignments when a student was absent.
5. Stephanie Bradshaw - I have a giving tree and at the end of each day I have the kids post something positive about themselves. As the year moves along, I have them pull a name of a fellow classmate and say something positive about them. They hang all the responses on the tree. 
6. Paula Colvett - I have a board where I put a new random question each week. Students put their answers on a sticky note sometime during the week and stick it on the board. They enjoy looking at all the answers, some funny, some serious.
7. Mischa Yandell - I put up black paper black and white filmstrip border. Red glitter letters saying "NOW SHOWING" and foam stars on clothespins. I hang their work on them each week.
8. Zena Lewis - Google Board: This could be a white board or a bulletin board. When students have a question that needs be researched later this is your spot. The lesson can continue but it is not forgotten.
9. Jan Bryant - I give everyone a piece of paper that has a puzzle piece for them to cut out and decorate. Their assignment is to decorate it in any way that would represent them. Then I put them all together on a bulletin board titled "You Fit Right In."
10. Jenn Davidson - I have always kept our "Writing Wall" up all year. I put a writing sample up for each student each month. The latest is always on top so I can see the progress by lifting the pages. I do one on the first day of school and one every month detailing the student's personal favourite thing they did during the month. The last is done during the final week of school. I bind it nicely and attach a letter to each family telling then the significance of the writing. I do not edit this writing so that it is a true reflection of the students work and progress (both written and artistically). Each year I am brought to tears in June as I take it down when I realize how I have been a small part of a huge journey in the Grade 1 year.
11. Allie Serna - I love the idea of this Facebook bulletin board... It's fun and up with the technical age :-) and it can be used for famous people in history, characters in a book, student of the week, and many more. 
12. Mary Tudor - A birthday chart is a great year long bulletin board. When a student has a birthday have the other students write a positive comment and put it on the board.
13. Tina Thorp - On my large bulletin board outside my classroom in the hall, I have a large world map and heading with "Where in the World is Flat Stanley?"  I use this as my first book club book to introduce the rules and expectation of the book club.  I also use this as a social studies tool for geography, map reading, and cultures. I pose 3 questions for each location while my class and the entire school try to locate Flat Stanley.  After the clues, I write the location and connect red yarn from the location to point on map.  I also include a picture and 3 important cultural facts from that city/country.  All the grades love this!
14. Dan Watt - For the past four years (with this past year being the best year ever) I've created the "We Have Character" board where we share photos of people/pets/ items very important to each of us.  We talk about it and share it with the class.  As the year progressed, we posted pictures of family members who passed away, so the board evolved into a tribute board.  Very touching, and even more difficult to take down for the year.
15. Bobbi Jo - A couple years ago I made the Twitter bird and said, "A Class to Tweet About." Then I laminated conversation bubbles and the kids could tweet questions, comments, and compliments on their conversation bubbles w dry erase markers. The kids loved it.
16. Kelly Shuffield - I have a brag board. Each student has a piece if construction paper with their name at the bottom mounted on the board. Two paper clips are at the top of the paper. Students choose which graded assignments (90+) they want to post.
17. Vikki Grimley - I did a 'Celebrating Success' wall where students were able to display extracurricular achievements or just something they were particularly proud of. It was a mixture of photos, art work, certificates etc. all with captions from the kids.  It worked extremely well, particularly with the less academic children.
18. Kelly Witte - I do one that says, "I am proud..." And then the students can write on a star and put it up that says what they are proud of. It can be from home or at school.
19. Stephanie Borden - Instagram board. Take pictures all year long and post.
20. Mike Allan - I do an "inspirational quotes" bulletin board for middle schoolers!
21. Darby Gerke - Academic language word wall along with high frequency words
22. Heather Smith - I have jungle theme so I do "Spotting Great Work" (little safari guy/binoculars) on leopard print fabric. Just change the work out. Works all year!
23. Nicole MacDonald - "Look Who's Hard at Work" with a construction scene and workers. Or "A Handful of Learners" - trace hands, write 5 qualities(one on each finger). You could even send that home to the parents as homework, then put their picture in the middle
24. Stefanie Geoghegan - I'm going to build a tree outside my classroom and hang up leaves for each book the kids have read. All year I'll be adding leaves, but won't have to cover up anything for testing and I'll never have to take it down.
25. Joan Armstrong - I put up monthly calendars and we put examples of work, notes, birthdays, newsletter articles. Year at a glance, we can see where we've been and where we are going.

Question Connection - Advice from Real Teachers
Do you have an idea for a year-round bulletin board that you would like to share? Please post it in a comment below. If you would like to submit a teacher question of your own, be sure to watch for the Question Connection announcement on Wednesday evenings at 8:30 pm ET on the Teaching Resources Facebook page. Even if you don't have a question, please follow me on Facebook and offer your advice when you see the questions come through!

Great Questions + Advice from Real Teachers = The Question Connection! Enjoy!