Teachers are expert bulletin board designers.  They are filled with ideas, brimming with knowledge, and have an uncanny knack for visual design.  Along with those beautiful boards and sophisticated displays comes a plethora of cut-outs, borders, supplies, and posters.  Without a system for storing those items, they can quickly become damaged and useless for the following years.  Save time and money by creating a storage system that makes sense for the bulletin board supplies on hand.

Bulletin Board Supply Organization

How to Organize

There are a few ways to organize your bulletin board supplies, so finding the system that works best for you is what is important.  If you use the same bulletin boards year after year, consider storing the components together by board.  Remember, you may have seen the bulletin boards before, but they will be new to your new class of students.  (Remember:  The exception to this is bulletin boards that are outside of the classroom door.)  If your bulletin boards vary from year to year, you might want to organize by the type of pieces that you are storing.  For example, store all of the cut-out letters together, all of the borders together, and so on.  Another way to store your bulletin board items would be to organize by unit.  If you always do a football unit in the fall, you may opt to keep the pieces to those bulletin boards in the football unit containers.  There is no right or wrong way to organize; it depends on what system is most efficient for you.

Container Size Matters

What happens when you try to put a poster into a small storage tub?  It rips, bends, creases, and looks awful the next time you pull it out.  The same can be said for your bulletin board borders and trims, letters, and other cut-outs.  It is important to find a container for each item that is the proper size and shape.  Use a bulletin board trim storage container for borders and store small pieces in a box with separate compartments or even in a zippered baggie, for example.  The key is to make sure that the size of the container matches what is going to be stored in it.

Label, Label, and Label Some More

It is one of the mantra’s of storage:  Label everything!  When it comes to bulletin board supplies the idea holds true and can save you countless hours over the course of the school year trying to find the pieces that you need.  Label each bag, each box, each file folder, and each storage tub with the exact items contained within.  Depending on how you organize your items, you might also label the boxes by the months when they will be used during the school year.

By creating a storage solution for organizing your bulletin board supplies early on in the school year, or even before school starts, you can rest easy knowing that everything you need will be on hand when you need it.  You can spend less time searching for supplies and more time turning those plain, drab boards into works of art for your students.  Less work and more learning?  That is what bulletin boards should be all about.

How do you organize your bulletin board supplies?  Share with us below!

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