Kids love to see their name in print and it usually brings a smile to their faces. One way to do that is to create a bulletin board with a space theme. Cover your bulletin board with dark blue construction paper. Cut stars and a moon out of yellow construction paper. Make sure you have one star for each student. In the middle of the board, write out the saying, "If you shoot for the moon and miss, at least you land among the stars," and scatter the stars and moon around it. Sixth graders are old enough to grasp the meaning. Write the name of each student on a star. If you'd like, you can create a "Student of the Week" award for each week in September. Write the Student of the Week's name on the moon.
Sixth graders are old enough to comprehend the gravity and meaning of September 11th. A tribute bulletin board is a nice touch to kick off the new school year. Start by placing a small- to medium-size flag in the middle of the board. Cut handprints from red, white and blue construction paper. Have the students write their names on the handprints along with a short description of why they're proud to be an American and place them around the flag. Top it off by putting the words "United We Stand" in red, white and blue letters at the bottom.
Use bandana fabric as the background for the bulletin board and then create a banner that reads, "Wanted: A Group of Great Kids. Reward: A Year of Learning and Fun" and mount it over the fabric. Create a "Wanted" poster with each student's picture on it and mount the pictures around the banner. Use heavy rope as a border for the display.
For a great ice-breaker bulletin board, use the '80s song "The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades" by Timbuk 3 as inspiration. Change it to "Our Future's So Bright... We've Got to Wear Shades!" and write the words on your bulletin board. Cut out stars from yellow construction paper to create a border. Take Polaroid pictures of the students wearing silly sunglasses and add them to the board. Take individual pictures if the class is small or do a group photo for larger classes. For Open House, the students can place Post-it notes next to their photos with messages for their parents. Save the photos and give them out at the end of the year.