Bulletin boards always look so pretty on Instagram, but so brownish and crumbly in real life. Know what I mean? Never fear, in today’s post we’re going through ten fun creative displays you can put up in your classroom that will cover up all those crumbles. This was not my strong suit when I entered the classroom, but I’ve learned a LOT since the days when I had a CD rom of 10,000 fonts and Microsoft Word was my go-to design program.
A lot of these fun ideas come from our Facebook community, Creative High School English. I always love to see all the creative things people do for their students over there, and this year I asked permission to share some of them here with you!
While you know that some of my favorite displays are the kind you can change out in 90 seconds as your next class comes in, I also appreciate the beauty and inspiration of a longer-lasting display and the fun of an interactive display. You’ll find all three options here today.
I hope you’ll bookmark this post or pin some of your favorites below for easy inspiration in the coming months.
The Book Spine Wall Display
How cool is this wall of book spines, designed by educator Reagan Donald? For this display, choose books your students love and paint the look of the spines onto cardboard. Reagan shared that she ordered a roll of corrugated cardboard and had help from a relative with a Cricut machine for some of the book title letters. If a Cricut sounds too hard, just paint on your letters, no problem.
The River of Pages Bulletin Board
Maybe you’ve got some decrepit copies of ancient classroom texts no longer in use? This type of display is a perfect way to clear shelf space without feeling guilty about throwing away books. Staple pages across a background color, add a quote you love, and boom! Super cool library display you can keep up all year long!
The Booktok Bulletin Board Display
If your students are heavily into TikTok, a #Booktok bulletin board could be a nice way to harness their social media interests to promote reading. I created this display in Canva by pulling a smartphone image, then filling it up with a watercolor background and a featured book. You can go on Booktok yourself to find out which books are popular (that you would be comfortable featuring), or ask students to make suggestions.
The Book Tree
Another lovely way to use book pages, this time in the form of a tree on your wall. (Looking to make something WILD? Check out this 3D book page tree I found at a book shop in Bratislava). Once you attach your book pages, you can add any quotation you love over the top in black paper. Birds in any color combo are a plus!
The English is Lit Bulletin Board
I love the whole “English is Lit,” “Ya is Lit,” “Reading is Lit” slogan combo pack. It’s a wonderful win for our discipline, and Erin Sullens turned it into a lovely ELA bulletin board idea here. Start with your pages, then add your border, then overlay your letters and flames.
The Hall of Fame Bulletin Board
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of fantastic student work you’ve collected and never remember to bring it out. A Student Work Hall of Fame helps you keep your favorites out and on display, giving students previews of what’s to come as well as new heights to shoot for. A bulletin board can display lots of it, though you might want a shelf too if you have some 3D work or full papers you’d like students to be able to snag and read.
The Library Joy Bulletin Board
There are so many wonderful quotes about the library you could feature near your choice reading library. Set them up over book pages or just on a solid background (how fun is Kristy’s border here?).
The First Chapter Friday Bulletin Board
I designed this display after I happily discovered how many authors read the first chapter of their book aloud on Youtube. When students feel a little lost trying to choose a book for choice reading, you can point them toward a first chapter reading you think they’d like. They’ll benefit from hearing the author read out loud, and get to see if they want to check out the book from your library. Ideally, you’d have a class device or two and headphones available to make this work, unless you feel comfortable letting students take a phone out for this purpose (and that is allowed at your school).
The Fridge Student Work Display
I first saw this ELA bulletin board idea on Pernille Ripp’s Instagram, and I love it! It’s such an easy way to make room for stellar student work. Just add letters to any space that say “The Fridge” and you can fill it up with a constantly changing rotation of beautiful student work.
The Heritage Month Interactive Bulletin Board
While of course I believe we need to present our students with diverse books, written by authors with a range of perspectives, all year long every year, heritage months provide a fun chance to specially feature authors from your library you want students to know.
With that in mind, I’ve designed free interactive displays for you for Hispanic Heritage Month, Native American Heritage Month, Black History Month, Women’s History Month, AAPI Heritage Month, and Pride Month. Each features short bios of a variety of creators, along with QR codes to help student go deeper. You can feature them in rotation, or even build up a whole wall throughout the year, adding more and more creators while still keeping up your features from the past months.
Time to go Create
OK, my friend, I’m drawing the line on ten, even though I know there are scads more creative bulletin board ideas out there in our community. I hope you’re feeling excited to try something new on your wall whenever you feel ready for a little fresh inspiration around you.
