by Elizabeth Cossick, M. Ed. and Diane Burdick, M.S. Ed.
Back-to-school time is upon us! Just look around any grocery store and you’ll be reminded that school will be starting up any day. So, we’re here to help you come up with a few new ways to welcome your students into your classroom–and into the new school year–with style and, well, class.
Bulletin Board #1: Getting to Know YOU
As the teacher, you’re interested in getting to know your students, but your students (and their parents) are equally as interested in getting to know all 
about you. So why not help them learn more about you with a YOU-themed bulletin board?
Title the board “Mrs. Smith welcomes you!” Include a brief biographical paragraph, pictures of yourself and your family, and pictures of you at the age of the students you teach. Create a list of your likes and dislikes, a list of the fun things that you did this summer, a list of your favorite things about school (it’s okay to put recess on there :).
Doing a YOU-themed bulletin board helps the students feel less intimidated by you as the new authority figure in their lives and sets the tone for a cheery new school year.
Bulletin Board #2: Look Whooo’s In Our Nest!
Owls are all the rage currently, and given their tie-in with knowledge and learning, why not incorporate them into a “Look Whooo’s In Our Nest” bulletin board?
Use strips of brown paper to create a large nest at the bottom of the bulletin board, and then fill it with owls. {Download printable owls here or here or here. Or create your own using this printable template from CraftJr.com.} Write each child’s name on an owl.
To vary this idea with photographs, ask parents to bring a fairly recent picture of their child with them to meet-and-greet or orientation (or the first day of school). Glue a child’s head over each owl face. Can’t you just picture a big brown nest filled with your new lil’ owlets?
Check out some of the great downloadable and purchasable owl items from Teacher Pay Teachers {an online marketplace for educational ideas}, too.
Bulletin Board #3: Heroes of the Class
Since hero-themed movies were so big this year in the box office, consider creating a bulletin board celebrating the different heroes in your classroom: your 
classroom helpers! Assign fun names and pictures to your different classroom jobs to help invoke a spirit of helpfulness, and post them to the bulletin board for all your students to see.
For example, students might not want to be on trash duty for the week, but they probably wouldn’t mind being called the Royal Rubbish Remover.
Other fun classroom helper names:
• Inspector Desk Inspector (for the student who inspects desks for cleanliness)
• King/Queen of Calendars (for the student who helps mark things off the calendar)
• Mr. /Mrs. Clean (for the student who helps others at the sink to wash their hands)
• Professor Paper Passer (for the student who helps distribute papers)
• Agua Man/Woman (for the student who waters the classroom plants)
• “Bat” Man (for the student who helps collect sports gear)
The possibilities are almost endless! And if you have the time (and creativity), consider allowing students to wear a special pin or badge that denotes their assignments for the week. For more creative ways to display classroom jobs, check out the free resources at thecornerstoneforteachers.com.
Have fun planning out your inaugural bulletin boards!
A Learning Experience 