Hi friends! I am so excited to be part of Ashley & Angie‘s #2getherwearebetter link-up this month! It’s a fabulous linky party that is all about collaboration, brainstorming, and sharing ideas! I’ve gotten to know these inspiring bloggers mainly through Periscope, and I love all their amazing ideas!
This month, we are coming together to talk all about bulletin boards (or lack there of, in my case)! I can’t wait to read about how other teachers do their boards! What a perfect topic for the back to school season?!
As I hinted to above, I don’t have bulletin boards!! Yes, it’s true! I teach in Tanzania, East Africa, and we don’t have any bulletin boards in or outside the classroom. So I’m going to share what I did in place of bulletin boards. Let’s start with a view of my classroom at the beginning of the year:
As you can see, I didn’t have much space to work with. I used the area above the student chalkboard for student work. The cabinet doors provided space to put teaching aids, hang my chart paper, and more student work. I hung all kinds of things on the walls- and found out that masking tape and sticky tac work best for hot climates on concrete! I loved this space on the side of my bookshelf as a “focus wall” of sorts, or theme wall.
My favorite way to display student work for the rest of the school to see, was on my classroom door. Our school is on a compound. There are three buildings, and every classroom has a door to the outside. At the start of the year, I tied a couple strings of yarn onto my door, and then I used clothespins to hang up student work. It was also my go-to drying spot for glued/painted crafts!
Of course, hindsight is 20/20, and I’ve learned a lot over the summer. I’m planning on making a couple of faux bulletin boards this year (hopefully in a different classroom!). My plan is to attach the fadeless paper to the concrete wall with masking tape (or hot glue, if I get it okayed). Then, I’ll use my borders to close off the space and add some cute decor. I want to make a student work board- where I’ll hot glue clothespins onto the paper- one for each student. I can’t wait to show you the finished products! For now, here are some goodies I purchased from Dollar Tree and Lakeshore to use!
I’m very excited to see what this year holds for me- as a second-year teacher, teaching kindergarten for the first time! I’m itching to start decorating my classroom- but I have to get to Tanzania first! 😉 What are your best bulletin board tips??!
Much Love, Allie
