Many classroom teachers choose to focus on the geographic origin of their students’ families, to demonstrate how classrooms and other groups are formed from people who hail from various cultures, ethnic groups and religious backgrounds. Post a world map on your bulletin board and have each student use a thumbtack to post a smiling picture of themselves, along with a short paragraph detailing a custom unique to their place of origin. Some students might originate from more than one area, depending on their parents' heritage. In cases like these, have students use a string to link all the places they come from. For students who aren’t sure about their family history, have them interview relatives and share what they’ve learned with the class.
Use your multicultural bulletin board to showcase different languages around the world. Choose simple words like “Welcome,” “Hello,” “Love” or “Family,” and translate the word into as many languages as you can find. Decorate the bulletin board with a brightly colored background, post the chosen word in block letters in the center of the board and place your translations in smaller print around the perimeter. Next to each translation, paste a small flag that represents the country each word comes from. To enhance your students’ multicultural language skills, create a new bulletin board to feature a different word each month.
Celebrate different foods from various lands on your class's multicultural bulletin board. Assign each student a different country and ask them to research what types of meals are prepared there. Have your students locate a picture of the meal they find most interesting and bring in the recipe. Decorate your bulletin board with the pictures, recipes and the names and flags of the countries they come from.
Holidays are a common multicultural bulletin board theme. Divide the school year into four seasons; during each season, pick two or three different holidays celebrated in various cultures and post pictures and detailed descriptions of each holiday. Include how the holidays originated, how customs have changed and how they’ve stayed the same.