It is not a coincidence that English teachers advise students to read as much and as widely as possible. Of course, reading is fundamental to all education and something we all want to encourage our students to do. Reading bulletin boards in your classroom can set your students on the path to discovering the world through books.
In this post, you will find 35 ideas for reading bulletin boards, which can serve as inspiration for your own boards. I have also given you some ideas about how to use the various boards in your classroom.
Table of Contents
- Elements to look out for in a good reading bulletin board
- Resources from TeachSimple to use on a reading bulletin board
- Ideas for bulletin boards from other sources
- Final points about reading bulletin boards
Elements to look out for in a good reading bulletin board
A good reading bulletin board should use a creative feature to grab the students’ attention. This can be an image, use of color, message or shapes.
Another feature of a good reading bulletin board is the use of words. Reading is about encountering and making sense of words. You can either use words sparingly, or as a cloud of ideas on the board. For example, using a clever title for your bulletin board will show the students how a person can play around with the meaning of a word.
I have found that some of the best reading bulletin boards use some kind of 3D in their execution. Most often, this is in the way the illustrations on the board are created. For example, creating pages or books out of cardboard and adding them to the board.
Color is definitely very important when it comes to creating a reading bulletin board. Most printed pages are black and white, so let the other parts of the board contrast with this.
Then, this might sound obvious, but always make sure your bulletin board includes the presence of reading. Don’t get too carried away making it pretty and clever and then lose the focus.
Resources from TeachSimple to use on a reading bulletin board
- Classroom Bulletin Board Lettering Pack By Crafty With Calani
This Classroom Bulletin Board Lettering Pack is an invaluable resource when it comes to creating a reading bulletin board. The letters are available in black and white or in color. The letters can be modified before you print them, which makes them super useful.
- Alphabet Posters By Joyful Noise Teaching
This resource is a set of alphabet posters, which are just about essential for a reading bulletin board. You can feature those that are relevant to a particular lesson, week or passage. You can remove and add as required.
- A Good Reader By Dressed In Sheets
Students will benefit from and be reminded by this bulletin board display to follow some guidelines when reading.
- Difference Between ‘b’ And ‘d’ By First In Line
This resource is an anchor chart that is aimed at teaching kindergarten to grade 1 the difference between ‘b’ and ‘d’. It is just the sort of resource you can display on a reading bulletin board. This is an example of common letter confusions students may have. You can create or look for similar resources that help students remember tricky reading strategies.
- What Will Happen Next? By Twin Sisters Digital Media
vI enjoy finding worksheets and other activities that could feature on a bulletin board. This activity asks ‘What Will Happen Next?’ Recognising moments in a narrative and the logical flow of the events is one of the fundamentals of reading. You could have great fun with your students by reproducing an enlarged version of this sheet on the bulletin board and asking them to complete it. Of course, they can also do versions of other stories.
Ideas for bulletin boards from other sources
Encouraging students to read
- Pop Into A Good Book From Teach Version
This bulletin board uses the idea of pop it fidget toys encouraging students to Pop into a Good Book. It is colorful and fun and will grab their attention. You could begin a ‘campaign’ to encourage your students to read’ You could follow this with boards that feature specific books.
- Whoo’s Reading A Good Book? From Teacher Vision
This is a rich bulletin board that should do a lot to inspire students to pick up a book. The question ‘Whoo’s Reading a Good Book?’ engages the students in a little bit of a mystery. You can use pictures of people they know, hiding behind the books in the individual pictures. You can also use photos of the students themselves, holding up a book that they enjoy.
- Get Caught Up In A Good Book! By Michelle Brinn
Reading bulletin boards can be wonderfully seasonal, as you can see by this Halloween-themed board. The image of the spider’s web will definitely catch your students’ attention. You can encourage the students to bring pictures of their favourite books to add to the board.
- Bright And Fun Bulletin Board From QuotesGram
This is a bright and fun bulletin board that gives the opportunity for the content to be changed throughout the year. You can use the recurring image of the bug being caught by the net and add elements from books, or from reading on the cards.
- Catch The Literacy Bug! From National Federation Of The Blind’s
This is quite a delightfully busy bulletin board that has a lot of features to attract your students’ attention. They may not all understand the invitation to ‘Catch the Literacy Bug!’, but they will undoubtedly find the butterflies attractive and the pictures interesting. You can put pictures of their favourite books into the circles.
- Pop Open A Good Book By Mrs. Stembrarian
Here is another board with a witty title and a visual pun. This is one that will speak to a number of different grades. The way the popcorn is made out of printed pages shows the abandon that reading can give your students.
- Reading Bulletin Board From Qwerty Thoughts
This seems to be such a simple reading bulletin board, until you look just a little closer. It’s effective just as it is, but you can work with the idea to create your own board for your class. This could be using pages from books they may recognize. What may work well is to get your students to write their own short stories, which you could use as the background to the quote.
- Grab A Good Book From BoardsbyTee
This is an interesting idea for a bulletin board. The idea of the hands reaching for books shows eagerness, as the students are encouraged to ‘Grab a Good Book’. You could really have fun adapting this to your own class. Why not color-coordinate the hands with particular books? Or let the students put their names on their hand and then on the book they are looking for?
Seasonal reading bulletin boards
- Winter From HikenDip
Seasonal bulletin boards that promote reading are great to use in class. You can change them each season and re-introduce your students to the joy of reading. This winter reading bulletin board gives a perfect opportunity for the students to make their own snowflakes.
- Fall From Tales From An Open Book
As you will pick up from my choices, I respond well to reading bulletin boards that use some kind of pun. This is one of these and is very visual, as the leaves and the readers Fall into Spring. It appeals to different grades quite easily. Turn creating this board into an interactive exercise as the students stick on the leaves themselves.
- Spring By Ms. Costello
Here we have a Spring reading bulletin board. There is a degree of intrigue in the wording, as the students may ask what reading makes them do. You can guide them to talk about how the flowers are growing. They can also choose their own book covers to stick onto the flowers.
- Summer By Michelle Brinn
This Summer bulletin board uses color, the 3D effect and just a jolly good sense of fun in the sun to attract the students’ attention. The book is quite small in the picture, but becomes the focus. You could replace the sea creatures around the edges with elements of reading: words, phrases, or book covers.
Reading takes you on a journey
- Where Can Reading Take You? From Supply Me
This is a great inspirational reading bulletin board that shows the students how they can really go in any direction. The posts on the signposts are relevant to popular books, but you could use your own words that relate more directly to what the students are reading.
- Reading Is Magic From Art Of It
I find this bulletin board exciting. Just the image of what is coming out of the book will surely tell the students just how much Reading is Magic. If you create this bulletin board for your class, then why not get them to add images linked to their books, or stories they have read, to add to what is coming out of the book?
- Discover The Magic Of Reading From Creative Shapes Etc.
On its own, the board is beautiful and inspirational, with the butterflies going beyond the confines of the board. You can show the students how their imaginations can escape even the words on the pages. The books displayed under the board give it an extra dimension.
- Reading Gives You Wings From Bored Teachers
This is another beautifully engaging and inspirational reading bulletin board, telling us that Reading gives you wings. The 3D butterflies bring the idea of reading to life. Your students can each make one and attach it to the board. Even better, you can make the butterflies a little bigger and they can write some of their favourite words on them.
The advantages of reading
- Reading Quotes From QuotesGram
The message on this bulletin board is truly inspirational for any reader. It is also something kids in any grade can get their teeth into. The colors, font and emphasis focus on the ideas of what reading can really offer.
- Reading Makes You Sharp From My Calcas
This is such a simple bulletin board, but it says so much. First, there’s the pun about being ‘sharp’, then there are the connotations of what your students can gain from reading.
- iRead From We Are Teachers
This reading bulletin board featuring a mobile phone will be fun for middle grades. The focus is on the progress from reading to succeeding. You can use pictures of book covers as the icons on the phone home screen.
- Books Are Gold By Cinjoella
This board refers to the myth about the end of a rainbow. You can begin the journey with this board by reading that story to the students. They should bring their own ideas for books to put into the pot.
- Reading Alert By Amy Lemons
This is a cute, somewhat mysterious bulletin board for your students to puzzle over. You can use it to teach the basics of crime stories and novels, as well as the meanings of the phrase ‘caught red-handed’. The images of the eyes are great. Your students can add book titles to the yellow cards as they read during the semester.
Making content fun
- Let’s Read A Latte From SupplyMe
This reading bulletin board is great on a few levels. The pun on ‘Let’s read a latte’ will be appreciated by higher grades (and the teachers!), while the pictures, letters and mugs catch the attention of lower grades. You could use this type of board for each letter in the alphabet (perhaps weekly).
- Emoji Reads From We Are Teachers
This is an idea for an emoji reading bulletin board that will speak directly to the students. You can ask the students to bring their favourite book or story to school. Make a copy of the cover and let them color it. Then, they should create the emoji that goes best with their book.
- I Wonder From Bored Teachers
Ask the students to write down any questions they have about what they have learned or something they have read.
- 5 Keys To Become A Better Reader From Bored Teachers
This is a reading bulletin board that inspires action. Instilling a love of reading in kids also means helping them feel competent and confident. This bulletin board gives hints on doing this. The image of the keys also links to the idea of books being treasure chests.
- Warm Up To A Good Book From The Classroom Creative
This is a great winter bulletin board to encourage reading in your class. You can create an image of a mug using colors that suit your class and their favorite colors. The beauty of the message on the mug is that it comes from the teacher. You can use a different message, and definitely choose different books. From a different angle, allow your students to choose books to highlight.
Reading rewards
- Don’t Bug Me…I’m Reading From Mrs B.’s Beehive
I absolutely love this idea for a reading bulletin board. It’s the perfect way to bring together your students and reading. Guide them to find their favourite book or story and then to create their own book cover to go on the bulletin board.
- Star Readers From Coloring In Cardigans
This is one of the simplest, yet possibly the most valuable and effective reading bulletin boards you could put up in your classroom. You will have to set the criteria for what constitutes a ‘reader’ and a ‘star reader’. Possibly set a reading challenge for your class and then see how it goes from there.
- A Picture Is Worth of 1,000 Words By Ms. Dougherty
This bulletin board brings together pictures and words. There is a lot of scope with this idea for using this idea with all grades. The lower grades can bring pictures of themselves reading, which will remind them how important words are. Older grades can bring pictures and then write descriptions of them.
- Our Books Are Blooming From We Are Teachers
The heading our books are blooming and the images of the books growing out of the pot plants are quite inspirational. You can give this bulletin board life (pun intended) for quite a long time, by replacing the books. Even better, get the students to write their own stories and display them.
- May I help you Pick Out A book? From Coloring In Cardigans
This bulletin board also uses the image of books growing as flowers. The idea of choosing a book as one chooses a flower, because it is attractive, will help to encourage your students to reach for a book.
Final points about reading bulletin boards
The effect of a good reading bulletin board should be to encourage your students to read. The features and quirks of the board must attract their attention, but they need to take with them the desire to read. Keep this as the focus when you work on your reading bulletin boards.
