Creative Ideas to Make Your School Counseling Bulletin Boards Interactive

Are you in charge of bulletin boards at your school? Me too! School counseling bulletin boards can be a great tool to share information with teachers, students, and parents.

This year, I wanted them to be more engaging than "walk by and look."  Adding QR codes was a simple way to engage stakeholders and make the boards interactive.

The best thing is that it's simple and can be used with any board.

3 Steps for Interactive School Counseling Bulletin Boards

Yep that's it.  Just a 3- step process. So how can you use them?  Let me share some of the ways I'm using my interactive bulletin boards.

Ways to Use Interactive School Counseling Bulletin Boards

Send Parents & Teachers to your Website

I spend a lot of time working on my website, but it doesn't get much traffic.

So on the bulletin board closest to our front office and my room, I added a QR code that links to my website. When parents visit, they can easily scan it.   Additionally, if I'm not available to meet, they can scan the code, which takes them to my website, where they can email me or fill out our online referral form.

I also told teachers about it, so that when they walk by my room, they can easily scan and go.

Introduce Yourself

I used to do a full "Meet The Counselor" lesson, but time is valuable, and I could use those 45 minutes to jump into our curriculum.

To solve this problem, I posted a QR code on my "Meet The Counselor" bulletin board that sends visitors to a video of me introducing students to my room.

I also have a code that sends scanners to a StoryBird book called "The School Counselor." The story explains what a counselor does and is super easy to read. With two quick scans, students and parents can meet me and get a better understanding of what I do.

I've also encouraged teachers to bring iPads on their annual beginning-of-year "school tour" so they can pause, scan, and learn without me being there.

Give Students, Parents, and Teachers More Info

I have posters around school inviting students to my "Mindful Mondays" and "Flexible Fridays," but I realized they may not know what yoga or mindfulness is, or they may be intimidated.

To solve the problem, I added code that takes them to a YouTube video explaining mindfulness in kid-friendly terms. I also included one that links to a YouTube video that takes them through a simple yoga routine.

Downstairs, we have a school counseling bulletin board that encourages mindfulness practices.  I added a code that takes them to a lesson I created in Google Slides called "What is Mindfulness?"  As stakeholders have questions about what mindfulness is, they can scan for quick answers rather than email me.

Bring PBIS Expectations to Life

We have our PBIS expectations posted school-wide, including our full matrix by the cafeteria. It's fantastic to have a visual representation, but I wanted to add to it.

Adding QR codes on the matrix that link to Google Slides lessons and videos brings the words to life. I'm hoping to gather more videos of students following the rules this year and add those links and codes to our board.

Encourage Reading

Reading with my students is my passion, but I definitely have more books than days of the school year.

This summer, I've been recording myself reading my favorite titles (with a guest reader - my dog Boss). Then I added a page on my website called "Read With Boss."  From my website, students can visit my YouTube Channel and watch us read a story.

I've also put QR codes on our "Meet The Counselor" and "Story Squad" bulletin boards that send students to our read alouds. Think of the endless possibilities in the library!!

Consider creating a school counseling bulletin board with book covers of the books you plan to read this year, and link to each book's trailer. What a fun way to get students excited about what you are about to read.

You could also make a board of books you've read. Then add in links to videos of the book so students can revisit stories whenever they want. "The Book Wrangler" has this amazing QR code that links to over 100 book trailers! He is also the creator of the "Story Squad" bulletin board.

Send Students Directly to College or Scholarship Websites

The sky is the limit on college and career readiness! Create a bulletin board that shares a college, university, or career of the month. Then use a QR code to send students directly to that college website or to a video about that career. Elementary counselors, did you know that Near Pod has virtual college tours? Yep!

Have a lot of due dates coming up? Use a small section of a large board entitled "due dates" and place 1 QR code that links to your website where the dates are listed.

Just think, instead of updating bulletin boards, you have to update them online. It's great for getting students real-time information.

The possibilities are endless with the simple addition of a QR code. 

Need more Bulletin Board Ideas? Check out these creative ideas from three Confident Counselors!