Tips Archive » Getting Organized » Posters

• Sticky Situation (5 tips)
• Storing Posters (2 tip)
• Mounting Posters (6 tips)

A Sticky Situation

Getting Tape Off I

From Jane Stern, a French teacher at Wheaton High School in Montgomery County, Maryland:

"To take tape off the back of posters when I take them off the wall, I have the poster laminated before posting. This makes the poster last much longer. I use only wide transparent polypropylene package tape to mount the poster. This type of tape sticks very well, even on painted cinder block walls. The tape should come off the poster easily at the end of the year. If not, I use my other trick of getting tape and labels off things: a hair dryer to warm the tape or label. I pull slowly and keep rewarming the next section."

Getting Tape Off II

From Nancy Brooks, a kindergarten teacher at Dutrow Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia:

"I find it protects posters or cut-outs that will be hung with tape first to attach a flat piece of tape to the back of the item being hung. This way when the tape is removed, the poster will not be torn."

Getting Tape Off III

From Joan Peirce, an English teacher at Myers Park High School in Charlotte, North Carolina:

"The best method I have learned to keep posters on the wall all year and still easy to take off the wall in the summer - a glue gun. It does not harm the poster or the paint on the wall. The posters stay up all year!"

Getting Tape Off IV

From Linda Bacon, a library information specialist at Pinellas Technical Education Center in Clearwater, Florida, currently on leave to serve as full-time president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association:

"Here's another tip for posters and things that have been taped to the wall. When I am doing a presentation with visuals I want to post briefly, I use masking tape 'circles' on the back to put them up quickly. When I take them down, instead of trying to pull the tape off and tearing the visual, I cut the tape and smooth down each end. I use this 'mark' as the guide for my next placement of tape and adhesive."

Getting Tape Off V

From John Hendricks of Wisconsin :

"When I remove posters that I have attached to the wall using tape, I have a hard time pulling the tape off the back of the poster without tearing it. If I leave the tape on, it sticks to another poster when stored. So I've come up with this solution. I go over the sticky tape with a chalk board eraser that is particularly dusty. The chalk dust neutralizes the sticky surface and I can store the item without worry."

Storing Posters

Laminating Posters

From J. Shoemaker, a high school English teacher at Christian Academy of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky:

"To preserve the beauty and usefulness of posters, I laminate them. To store the laminated posters for the summer, purchase a cardboard garment box from any travel agency like AAA. Place pieces of tissue paper or newsprint between each sheet of laminated material. Store upright out of direct sun. This way, you protect those posters from sticking together and save storage space. It works for me!"

Organized Boards and Posters

From Holly Alderson, a second grade teacher at Tuloso Midway Primary School in Corpus Christi, Texas:

"To organize all my bulletin boards and posters, I hang them up where I can see them. I purchased an inexpensive garment rack, hangers and clips. I hang my items from the rack where they are readily available and easy to sort."

Mounting Posters

Gluing Posters

From Anne Thomsen, a social studies and communications teacher at Centennial Middle School in Circle Pines, Minnesota:

"I use a hot glue gun to get posters to stick to cold brick walls. It easily peels off the wall and the poster when you're ready to change. It works well on other surfaces too."

Hook Tape

From Christy Goodney, a teacher at Dripping Springs High School in Dripping Springs, Texas:

"I have painted cinder blocks for walls and found that the backing for the 3M removable hooks work great to hang up laminated posters. The hook tape is similar to double stick tape but has a pull-tab that releases the tape from the wall and the poster. It doesn't pull the paint off the walls and I don't have to worry about my posters falling down. I just buy packets of the tape since the hooks are reusable."

Hanging Student Work

From Leah Keith, a kindergarten teacher at Cullman City Primary School in Cullman, Alabama:

"I have painted cinder block walls in my classroom and I found that charts stay on the wall better with hot glue than with stick tack. To display student work, I hot glued clothespins to the wall in alternating rows. I glued my students' names above the clothespins. Changing displays of student work has never been easier and the pins lift right off the wall when I'm ready to remove them."

Hanging Posters on Cement Walls

From Gus Barreto, a third grade teacher at Peace Lutheran School in Detroit, Michigan:

"I found out how to hang posters on cement cinder block walls. I laminate my posters and put masking tape on the edges of the backside. I put white school glue on the tape and hold it on the wall for about thirty seconds. Sometimes they slide a bit but they usually stop after a minute or two. At the end of year, my posters come right off the wall. I'm careful when I remove them because sometimes a little paint comes off the wall too."

Low-Temp Glue Guns

From DeAnna McDonald, a teacher at Palo Verde High School in Tucson, Arizona:

"A hot glue gun loaded with low-temp glue sticks works wonders attaching posters to the walls of my classroom. The glue comes off the back of laminated posters very well and doesn't stick and smear like that clay so many educational catalogues stock. It comes off my walls, both brick and stucco, both painted and unpainted, without peeling or smearing. And best of all, it doesn't leave holes in either the walls or the posters. A couple of hints: check the spot on very old paint to see if the glue pulls the paint away from the wall. My walls are painted latex semi-gloss and it does not peel. For unlaminated posters, reinforce the corners with a square of book tape so that the glue doesn't adhere to the paper directly."

Liquid Nails

From Susan Q. Reid, a math teacher at Olive Branch Middle School, Olive Branch, Mississippi:

"Two big problems in my classroom used to be the lack of storage space and keeping posters and charts from falling off my walls when they were put up with tape. I solved both problems with one solution - a tube of liquid nails and a bag of clothespins. Before school started, I used the liquid nails to fasten clothespins neatly all around my classroom walls. They are perfect for putting up posters and charts in a hurry. I also can fasten a piece of butcher paper here and there so that groups can go to different areas of the room to record that group's solutions to problems. As for storage, I use large zip lock bags fastened to the pins. In them I store measuring tapes, pattern blocks and all sorts of puzzles for students to use before class begins or if they finish a test early. It's wonderful for organizing my manipulatives."