Sunday, August 26, 2012

Back-to-school week kicks off with vintage bulletin boards

Today is the start of back-to-school week on Papergreat! I'll be featuring cool school-related ephemera all week long. I hope it's a nostalgia trip with a little bit of something for everyone as the country's children break out their backpacks, paper-bag lunches, slide rules, and Trapper Keepers for another school year.

To kick it off, here are some vintage illustrations from books that helped teachers get their classroom bulletin boards ready for the first day of school.

First, here are three great suggestions from 1967's "Hayes Bulletin Boards That Teach with Wit and Humor," which was written by Edith Ray and illustrated by Al Harris.




This next idea comes from 1964's "Bulletin Boards for the Classroom" by Lloyd Kendall. The text on the poster states:

September's here,
And so is Fall,
So, "Welcome, children!
Welcome, all!
I hope vacation
Was real fun,
And that you're glad
School has begun!"


Transitioning from leaves to apples, this illustration comes from 1984's "Bulletin Boards, Monthly Calendars of Learning Fun" by Robyn Spizman and illustrator Evelyn Pesiri.


Given yesterday's news of the death of American astronaut Neil Armstrong, I wanted to include this math classroom suggestion from 1985's "Bulletin Board Ideas for the Secondary Mathematics Classroom" by Peter J. Ketchum.


Finally, keeping with that theme, a rocketship is the centerpiece of this idea, which is featured in 1970's "Ideal Bulletin Board (Middle Upper and High)" by Lou Ann Dickerson.

The additional instructions state: "A good character building message to being the new school year! The dominant feature is the rocket; this may be done in a 3-D manner by bending oak tag or cardboard and painting with bright tempera colors. If a flat design is desired, use silver foil for the rocket and lettering. Make stars from red, white, and blue construction paper and print a reminder on or beside each star."

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