Falling in love with bulletin boards

Before I was a teacher, I pined over bulletin boards.  I dreamed of what I would create with my students and looked forward to the process.  Fast forward a couple years later and they became the bane of my existence!  Measuring, changing paper/fabric/border, trying to be cute and creative had its toll.

I now buy a black sheet for all my boards at the beginning of the year and buy borders that can withstand the year and look good no matter the time of year.  The boards in my room are used for our daily learning and reference.  I don't put up cute projects that are only relevant to one day...I save that for the hall.

When thinking of what should be displayed on the boards I think about: 1.what do the students need to be successful, 2. what am I obligated to display, 3. what do I think will motivate the students, and 4. how likely will it be that someone uses the board.

I left this as a whiteboard because we will be using it as our Inquiry Board and I would like the students to write on it as our inquiries grow.

This Word Wall is on a whiteboard and will stay the same except for the addition of words.  I decided not to make it a sight word board but a vocabulary board.  I printed the Dolch words pre-primer through 3rd onto one sheet and laminated it for each child.  You can pick it up here: SightWordSheet

This is my favorite board.  During Meet the Teacher night, I take pictures of each family.  We use this board ALL.THE.TIME!  When the students miss their families, when they need to think about solving a problem, when they need a character for a story...the list goes on and on to how we  use this board in class.

So as I said before, I save the boards in our room for our learning.  Right now our reading and writing have displayed anchor charts that we are referring back to again and again.  Math has our strategies and rotations.  

This board is our display for the hall.  Each month I change the quilt with monthly pictures.  I use props like glasses or hats that show the time of year (bat glasses, elf hat, etc.).  At the end of the year we make a scrapbook of our year.  Parents and students love it!

Now that I have found what works for me and most importantly my students, I don't hate the boards anymore!