Create a bulletin board of jobs that kids can aspire to by posting pictures of people at work. Include pictures of policemen, firefighters, doctors, nurses, teachers, construction workers, chefs, pilots, dancers, artists and writers. Affix phrases that describe a positive responsibility such as "protect us," "put out fires," "cure patients" and "help kids learn" next to the corresponding worker. Feature one type of job a day and bring the picture of that worker to the center of the board. Use your bulletin board display to discuss the jobs and responsibilities with your students. Create a classroom job list on your bulletin board. Attach pictures of your students to the bulletin. Affix the names of classroom jobs such as "line leader," "sweeper," "light person" and "teacher's helper" next to each kid's picture. Relate the classroom jobs to the real-life jobs so students understand the importance of helping others, having a role in society and being responsible.
Make a holiday bulletin board for each holiday celebrated throughout the school year, using different colored butcher paper and décor for borders or detail such as cornucopias for Thanksgiving, hearts for Valentines Day, and photos of the White House and presidents for President's Day. Change the holiday board at the beginning of each month. Add vocabulary words that represent the holiday. Discuss why and how we celebrate each holiday, offering students age-appropriate history and references. Prepare multiple activities based on the holiday and celebration for first-graders to accomplish and post the activities on your holiday bulletin board.
Create a map skills bulletin board by posting maps of the world, country and state and affix the words "world," country" and "state" above each map so students can begin to understand the difference and the general location. Use sentence strips that say: "The name of our continent is North America," "The name of our country is the United States," "The name of our state is New York" and "The name of our state capital is Albany." Have students recite the information daily at the beginning of your social studies lesson. You can add sentence strips with information such as the state bird, state flower and state tree. The map skills bulletin board can extend to include the names of the four oceans and seven continents and the compass rose. You can post student activities such as projects in which students color and cut out the state and paste the name of the state, state capital and other state specifics onto the cut-out.
Design a multiculturalism bulletin board for first-graders that represents the various cultures and ethnicities around the world and in the classroom. Post pictures of celebrations, foods, dances, instruments, people from various ethnic groups and cultural artifacts. Involve students and parents by planning a day where they can share a cultural food, artifact, dance, song or custom that represents their culture. Take a picture of each child sharing his culture and add it to the bulletin board.