Tricks of the Trade Linky: Bulletin Boards!

The wonderful Jessica from Joy in the Journey just started a new linky called 

Tricks of the Trade Thursdays!

This week's topic is bulletin board creations and tips for making bulletin boards.

Um, I have a little confession...

Bulletin boards are NOT my favorite thing to do.

Nope, not in the least.

I used to change out my bulletin boards often and (try) to be creative.

Over the past years 13 years and two kids later, I have gone more for the 

"create multi-purpose low maintenance bulletin board plan"!  

Okay, okay...I know you are thinking that I am so lazy...

I FEEL pretty lazy after reading Jessica's post and admiring her beautiful creations that she changes out often.  So, I LOVE Jessica and want to be able to link up with her, even if it means embarrassing myself.

Well, I have three small bulletin boards in my room and here they are at the beginning of the year (and, yep, they are still there but have had student work swapped out on two of them.  The "Be Wise...Organize" board is where I write down the homework each day.  We do have large bulletin boards in our hallway pod and right now those have writing samples and activities from all three fourth grade classes.  We change the samples out but have kept the writing theme the same since about December!

On the "Whooray for Words" board, I post different vocabulary activities.

These Idiom of the Day cards from Fancy Free in Fourth have been posted here as well.

I like posting these "Define It, Illustrate It, and Use It" vocabulary activities on this board also.

I do use paper as my backing and this year was the first year that I used all black as my backgrounds.  I saw this somewhere on a blog (surprise!) and I liked the cohesive look.

One necessity of putting up bulletin board paper is an exacto knife:

Tip:  I staple around the edges of the paper that overhangs the board on all edges.  Next, I take my knife and just cut around the edge of the bulletin board.  This is SO much easier than using scissors and it gets it nice and straight.  Even though I use borders, sometimes when I used scissors to cut the paper, I would manage to mess it up so that even the border wouldn't cover up the mistake.

Tip:  There is a method to stapling the paper on the board too.  I know this might sound basic but it took a little practice for me to realize this when I started teaching.  I start in one corner with a staple and smooth the paper with my hand across as I add more staples.  I cannot stand it when the paper has waves!

Tip:  I use my Cricut to create my letters and have received many positive comments on them.  

Again, it is super fast and easy to do this:) 

Thank you for reading my not so inspiring post about bulletin boards and I hope you won't hold it against me:)