Submitted by Pat Price, Gwinnett County, Georgia

Idea posted January 24, 2005

My ZooPals bulletin board/wall turned out great, and I have gotten TONS of comments from teachers, parents, and students. I took the original idea from the MusicK8.com Mailing List and changed it up a bit. Here is what I did: I took a large piece of blue bulletin board paper and stretched it out to cover the entire width of the wall. Then, I took some green bulletin board paper and cut large blades of grass about 3/4 of the way down the paper. I glued the grass across the bottom of the blue paper, and then pulled and twisted the individual blades of grass to give it a 3D look. I picked out 56 different ZooPal plates and wrote each teacher's name on one plate (i.e., "Ms. So-and-So's Class"). I glued all the plates on the paper and worked a few of them in and around the blades of grass. I filled the spaces in between the plates with different colored music notes cut from the Ellison die-cut machine. I finished it with "We're Wild About Music" in bright die-cut letters across the very bottom of the grass.

The kids love trying to find their class's plate. The wall is so bright, colorful, and fun to look at; it's been the hit of the school!