How I Use Social Studies Bulletin Boards

There's something about wondering what's hiding underneath that gets people to stop and look.  Think about how many bulletin boards you've walked past either as a teacher or a student and never stopped to look because what was on the board didn't grab your attention.  

I love seeing a student or staff member stop and peek under one of the cards of these bulletin boards to see if they guessed correctly.  The mystery of what's underneath is what makes these social studies bulletin boards different... people stop and look!

There are 3 bulletin boards outside of my classroom and one of them is used for  announcements, one is used to connect to what we are learning about, and one is dedicated for fun.  That's where these resources come into play.  I want something for my students to see that might be something they didn't know about before.  


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It's nice having resources that I can use as an extension to what we are learning about in class.  For example, right now we are learning about Manifest Destiny in our history class and students were introduced to President James K. Polk.  They don't hear that name much when it comes to presidents because they've usually only heard of the "big names" such as Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, and Kennedy.  The other day I saw a student flipping open the cards until they found James K. Polk and then read the information on the cover.  Then they flipped open the next two president cards to see who came after. 

​That's exactly what I wanted to have happen with these!

This Presidents of the United States Bulletin Board is available in my TpT store along with the Election Word Wall that will come in handy this fall during election season!


Here's some more interactive social studies bulletin boards I use throughout the year as well as Word Walls I include for the different units I teach.  One of the best things is when my student helpers ask if they can take down bulletin boards and put up new ones.  That saves me a ton of time and they enjoy the task... or the candy they get for helping :)

Enjoy!
​Matt @ Surviving Social Studies

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