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Nothing says “the first day of school is almost here” quite like decking the walls and halls of your classroom! Creative and inspiring back-to-school bulletin boards are one of the most effective ways to set the tone for a positive and engaging learning environment. If you’re staring at blank walls and not sure what to fill them with (or are in need of new ideas), never fear: The TPT community has plenty of back-to-school bulletin board ideas to inspire you and your students. These are perfect for classrooms, anchor rooms, libraries, hallways, and even offices. It’s time to say “welcome back” with style.
Get to know everyone with an “all about me” bulletin board
The start of a new school year is full of energy and excitement, and it’s the perfect time to bring student-focused back-to-school bulletin board ideas to life! Create a board that highlights your students and their stories. With the right design, you can even tie it to CCSS, like retelling a story. It also lets you check “About Me” pages off your back-to-school checklist.
Back To School All About Me Flip-book Activity
By Love Live Laugh TEACH
Use an “all about me” activity to create your first bulletin board of the year! With these flip-books, students can uniquely share about themselves while learning about their peers. Post them on a bulletin board to introduce everyone.
Start the celebration with a student birthday display
Get the party started from the first day of school and help students learn something new about each other at the same time with a class birthdays bulletin board.
Student Birthday Display | Dreamy Brights Decor
By Ashley Stepp – Stepp Into Elementary
Increase community in your classroom by displaying student birthdays with this welcome-back-to-school bulletin board. The resource includes a birthday banner, clipart, and editable student name pieces.
Welcome students back with messages of wellness
A bulletin board filled with affirmations isn’t just cheerful décor: It’s a powerful tool to boost mental wellness and help students feel confident. Research from the Dominican University of California backs up the importance of positive affirmations on self-esteem and well-being.
This Is Us Bulletin Board Kit | Community Building | Back to School
By Joanne Miller
Create a bulletin board to boost self-esteem! With this “We Are” bulletin board, you can showcase positive thinking that your students can live by throughout the school year. It comes with 60 different frames, script title letters, posters, and teacher directions.
Build a classroom community from day one
Last year’s chapter is closed, and this year’s story is just beginning. From day one, make it clear: We learn together and grow side by side. Students may need a nudge to rebuild that sense of belonging, so give them the bulletin boards that say, “You belong here.”
Classroom Community, Back To School Bulletin Board, First Week Activities,Puzzle
By Miss McRaes Teaching Tales – Beka McRae
Give each student one hashtag on the first day of school and tell them to decorate it however they would like. It encourages them to add anything important to them, such as family, pets, and interests. The resource comes with headers, editable Google Slides, and community-building activities.
Make everyone more comfortable with a “meet the staff” bulletin board
Whether students are stepping into a brand-new school or leveling up to middle or high school, the start of the year can feel intimidating. That’s why your staff introduction board should be unforgettable. Get creative with your “About Me” info. Instead of listing your favorite color or hobby, add a twist.
Did You Know Bulletin Board | Staff Bulletin Board | Community Building Board
By 2nd Grade Sassy Pants
This “Did You Know?” bulletin board is a fun, easy way to introduce parents and students to teachers and staff members. It comes with two “Did You Know?” forms and title letters.
Create a sense of calm to tame the chaos
The second your students step through that door after summer, it’s game on. A calming corner (or at least a bulletin board) is a must. Go bold with a creative, calming strategies themed board they’ll want to use. The go-to techniques like deep breathing, counting, and mindfulness don’t change, but the theme is where the magic happens. Watch your students chill out in style.
Calm Down Corner Bulletin Board, Calming Strategies Visuals, SEL Bulletin Board
By LoveGrowsLearning
Grades: K-3rd
Even if you don’t have a calm corner, this bulletin board is perfect for teaching your students about calming strategies they can use if they are feeling overwhelmed. It is designed for a 6×4 board and includes lettering, shooting stars, and directions.
Plant the seeds of nurturing a growth mindset
Growth and learning are the name of the game when back-to-school season kicks off. Whether students step into the classroom or hang out in the counseling office, it’s the perfect time to spark motivation and help them set meaningful goals. These bulletin board ideas are just what you need to level up your space in a counseling office, library nook, or calming corner.
Growth Mindset Bulletin Board – Neutral Boho – Growth Mindset Vs Fixed Mindset
By Shayna Vohs
Grades: K-5th
A banner, growth mindset sayings, and arrows can help change students’ thinking from a fixed mindset to one that embraces growth and hard work. This resource uses a neutral boho design to promote calm and inner peace.
Do double duty and highlight Hispanic Heritage Month
Unless your school is all year round, many students return to the classroom in September. Show them the importance of celebrating who they are by creating back-to-school library bulletin board ideas that celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. You might use a highlighter theme to bring to life Hispanic greats like Cesar Chavez (activist), Juan Felipe Herrera (poet), and Frida Kahlo (painter).
Spanish Bulletin Board – Frida Kahlo art and culture lesson
By Mister Senor
Grades: 3rd-12th
Illuminate Hispanic culture and art with this colorful, creative bulletin board about Frida Kahlo. The resource includes a materials list, size dimensions, printable facts, and easy-to-follow directions.
Focus on relevant milestones like financial aid information
High school is a game of preparation. From the moment students enter as freshmen to the day they graduate as seniors, the goal is to prepare them for the world ahead. FAFSA is a big and often complicated part of that journey for college-bound students. Make sure they know that deadlines don’t wait by putting FAFSA information front and center from the very first meeting. The future doesn’t wait, and neither does FAFSA.
Financial Aid and FAFSA High School Bulletin Board
By Counselor Clique
Grades: 9th-12th
“Slay your way to financial aid” is a premade bulletin board package that provides everything you need to answer the FAFSA and financial aid questions. It’s perfect for back-to-school since it gets seniors thinking about everything they need to do, but this resource is not editable.
Mix math into back-to-school fun
When it comes to back-to-school bulletin boards, a major part of your curriculum deserves the spotlight. That’s why your math boards should be more than just decorative. They should grow with your students. Design boards that empower, inform, and most importantly, prepare them for the year ahead. A strong start in math sets the tone for confident learning all year long.
Middle School Math Reference Sheets – Spiral Review Cheat Sheets Bulletin Board
By The Sassy Math Teacher
Grades: 6th-8th
Making your life easier starts at the beginning of the year with this grab-and-go math bulletin board. It includes full-page reference sheets for whatever you’re working on and cheat sheet bookmarks that students can easily grab.
More Creative Back-to-School Bulletin Board Ideas
From common themes of owls, rainbows, and magic, to more unique themes like math, culture, or even college readiness, your imagination is the limit for BTS bulletin board ideas! Use these eye-catching opportunities to introduce students to the staff, your room, and each other in fun and engaging ways.
- We’re a Work of Art: Give students printouts of easels to create drawings of themselves. Be sure to leave room to list three interesting facts. Then you can have a back-to-school gallery walk to learn about each other.
- Stories of Our Summer: Create printouts of little books and have each student write a story about a favorite summer activity or a favorite book they read. You can even embellish with summer cutouts.
- Meet Our Class: Use an instant camera to take photos of students with first-day-of-school boards they create at the start of the day. Display them using string and clothespins.
- Let’s Taco Bout the Staff: Put staff pictures in taco shells. The “about me” information will be written on different ingredients that make each staff taco original.
- The Perfect Blend: Add coffee mugs with each of the different staff members and steam curls with inspirational quotes from them or information about them.
- The Story of Us: Create a book with each staff member’s image. Add a fun title for their book and include their name, role, and title on the covers of the books. Put them all together on a bulletin board bookshelf.
- We Grow Together: Cut out several petals and add positive classroom community quotes, like “We are creative.” Add each student’s name to a flower stem to create a garden of positivity.
- Motivate Your Mind: Pair students and have them create motivational posters on half a sheet of paper. Give them inspirational starting points like love awaits, explore the day, make today count, etc. Decorate the board with their posters.
- Travel Through Growth: Create a time machine with steampunk elements, gears, clocks, and more. Challenge students to build a stronger mindset in the past, present, and future.
- Puddle Jump into Positivity: Let students color rain-booted characters, then add them to a board with puddles on it.
- Rain Confidence and Strength: Place puddles at the bottom filled with powerful words like “brave,” “unique,” and “kind.”
- Bring Bright Thoughts to Cloudy Days: Let a sun peek out behind the clouds with a rainbow arching across the board.
- Lift Each Other Up: Use clouds to create a board that is all about lifting students up.
- Grow Together: Have a tree on the board with names in leaf shapes. Students can use sticky notes shaped like leaves to leave positive notes for classmates. It can double as a positive fall bulletin board.
- I Am Enough: Create a neutral board background with a colorful header. Give each student a sentence starter with “I am enough because.” Laminate and display them.
- We Rise by Lifting Others: Create a colorful title on a black background. Trace students’ arms, cut them out, and their names. Place them along the bottom of the board to leave space for positive sticky notes for students to add.
- Mapping Out a Year of Discovery: Map different learning goals as locations on a fictional map.
- Calm With Color: Decorate your board with different color crayons for different calming strategies.
- Catch a Calm Bubble: Create an ocean on the bulletin board with a large wave, sea creatures, turtles, and calming strategy bubbles.
- Find Your Shine: Decorate the bulletin board like a calm, starry night with a big moon. Shooting stars can highlight anything you want, like each student.
- Tame Your Dragon: Create a scene with a dragon and smoke rings that each feature a calming technique.
- Potions of Peace: Have a magical room with a cauldron and potion bottles each depicting a different peaceful word.
- Find Your Mood Caldon: Fill the board with cauldrons that each have a mood on them. Then, have words that represent strategies for calming them come out of each cauldron.
- Welcome to Math Superpowers: Create a comic book style board with all the different math skills students will learn over the school year. It can also have rotating missions that students will complete.
- Constructing Knowledge: Use a construction site theme with bricks labeled with math skills. They will build their knowledge throughout the year, adding a new brick as they master a skill.
- Voices of the Past: Have students research and create posters of important historical figures to decorate the board.
- Owl About Me: Have students fill out an “about me” tag to add to an owl they color. Put them all together on the board.
- Begin with Wise Words: Add a unique or original quote in a thought bubble above an owl cutout colored by each student.
- Spellbound on the Road to Scholarships: Decorate with magical elements like crystal balls, scrolls, and wizard hats. Each component can include a different scholarship tip or deadline.
- Adventure Awaits You: Make your board a treasure map, with each X marking a different step in planning for after high school.
- Donut Forget About Financial Aid: Create a food-centric board with different types of donuts that highlight the deadlines and provide tips for students.
- Play the Financial Aid Game: Create a game board with different tips and deadlines for FAFSA. It should have a start and a finish, with money at the end. You might even make it interactive so students can move their game pieces through the process as they complete a task.
Tips for Back-to-School Bulletin Board Ideas That Last All Year
Not all bulletin boards are created equal. With limited wall space and tight budgets, every display you make has to work a little magic. That’s why many teachers keep their back-to-school bulletin boards up all year, adding seasonal touches or minor updates.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind to help you make the most of your boards without burning out (or breaking the bank):
- Use a Fabric Background: It doesn’t fade and weathers well.
- Laminate Your Clipart: Laminating your visual pieces can ensure they last for years.
- Make Sure To Measure Twice: Measuring can be key to setting up a bulletin board quickly and efficiently.
- Buy More Border Than You Think You’ll Need: It can be hard to find the same border again if you run out.
- Consider Interchangeable Themes: Tacos, donuts, magical elements, stars, and rainbows can be interchangeable, so these different elements can be used to create boards ranging from math to “about me.”
Make BTS bulletin boards your BFFs with TPT
Students will be flooding back into the building soon. Fire up the excitement with back-to-school bulletin boards that stop them in their tracks. Whether you’re aiming for inspiration or humor, the back-to-school bulletin board resources on TPT have everything you need to level up your space and wow your students from day one. Be the hype of the hallway!