Recruit the best decorating corpsyou have for this year’s classroommakeover—your students! Notonly does involving kids save

money and effort on your part, teachersagree that it increases kids’ sense ofinvolvement and respect. Try these 10 teacher-tested ideas for a classroomthat shines with color and learning.

1TRAIN OF RULESSusan Stackhouse, a middle-school teacher in Warminster,

Pennsylvania, takes photos of students

modeling quality behavior to accompanythe rules they draft together. “When thechildren have ownership in this activity,they take more responsibility in living upto the rules,” says Stackhouse. For atwist on her idea, have each child designa construction-paper train car; paste onephoto showing great behavior on eachcar. Tape the cars together along a blankwall. Every time you see a child model-ing great behavior, add a strip of con-struction paper “cargo” atop his or hercar; each strip can count as 10 pointstoward a 50- or 100-point special reward.

2 POEMS AT YOUR FEETJane Hsu, a first-grade teacher inNew York, New York, emphasizes

poetry in her classroom—but it doesn’tjust appear on the walls. When a childwrites a particularly compelling phrase,Hsu will cut the letters out by hand (forspeed, you can use a die-cuttingmachine) and affix them to the floorwith heavy, clear tape. Occasionally, sheadds the words of well-known poets. Asthe children go through the day, theycan’t fail to glance down for a surprisingturn of phrase or a quick inspiration.

10 ways to

...DECORATE YOUR CLASSROOM

Get your class involved and watch the community feeling bloom. By Jennifer Prescott

INSTRUCTOR AUGUST 2005 29

Old rain bootscan be recycledas innovativeplanters.

3 RECYCLING WALLAudrey Kennan, a third-gradeteacher in Plainsboro, New

Jersey, likes to “keep the prefabricatedstuff to a minimum” when it comes tobulletin boards. “I want the students tofeel invested in the classroom,” she says,“because they helped to create it.”Instead of cheery, anthropomorphicapples, try an eye-catching bulletin boardthat celebrates the unlikely: garbage.Have each child bring in a piece of rea-sonably clean trash: a glass jar, a mis-matched sock, or an empty potato-chipbag. Use heavy-duty glue to attach eachitem to a bulletin board. Next to eachobject, have kids draw and write theirideas for how to use the item creatively,instead of consigning it to a landfill.

4 ROOM WITH A VIEWEven if you’re stuck with a win-dowless basement room that

once housed janitorial supplies, there’sno reason to despair. Get out the paint—with your principal’s permission. First,invite kids to sketch ideas on paper forfantastic scenes that they’d like to seeoutside a window. Then have them workin teams to paint those scenes, windowframes and all. When they’re done, hangcolorful, inexpensive curtains around thewindows for a finished look.

5 FOAM-BOARD KIDSHave kids make life-size cut-outsthat can really stand up to a

year’s worth of use. Have kids each liedown on a large sheet of foam board,while a partner traces carefully aroundthem. Cut out the shapes and affix stur-dy cardboard stands to the back so thateach figure will stand on its own. Invitestudents to embellish their figures usingcraft supplies, yarn, buttons, and fabricscraps. Then arrange the figures aroundthe room or put them in a public spaceas a special display.

6 WHERE IN THE WORLD? To build social studies and geog-raphy skills, introduce a map

theme at the beginning of the year. Havestudents design and build “street signs”

indicating various classroom areas; forexample, “Reading Boulevard” and “TheMath Manipulatives Corner Store.” Makeother signs showing where the class-room lies in relation to major cities andsites. Invite kids to set up traffic patterns

for the room and come up with creativeways to guide “drivers” as they navigatethe space: stop signs, green lights, androadways. Don’t forget to map out a spotfor a city park where kids can read!

7 CEREAL BOX STORAGEWhy store student writing in dull,grey binders? Instead, have your

students bring in empty cereal boxes.Provide acrylic paint, wallpaper scraps,glue, and fabric, and have kids fashionthe cereal boxes after store-bought mag-azine holders. They can personalize eachwith a name, and then use the boxes tostore writing projects.

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Left even if you’re stuck with awindowless basementroom that once housedjanitorial supplies, there’sno reason to despair

8 FINE ART GALLERYOpen up a student art gallery inyour classroom, just as former

Kindergarten teacher Rick Ellis did atthe Dutch Neck School in PrincetonJunction, New Jersey. Scour garage salesfor decent frames (spray painting a dullframe with gilt paint can work wonders).Ask kids to suggest ideas for wall place-ment, mount the artwork, and have each child add a title and description ofhis or her masterpiece and the mediumused to create it. Display the descrip-tions beneath each painting, and theninvite visitors to stroll the gallery withkids as their tour guides.

9 SEEDS IN A SHOECreative planters on your class-room windowsill will give kids

something to tend and care for, whilelending your room color and life.Sneakers or rain boots that they’ve out-grown (or you’ve outworn) make fun,colorful planters. Pound a few holes inthe bottom of the boot with a nail, thenhave students pour a thin layer of gravelin the bottom of the boot for drainage.Fill with potting soil and transplant flow-ers or seedlings from science experi-ments that have run their course.

10 SPACE CASEFor a big splash, build yourentire classroom décor for

the year around a single theme. For aMars Space Station, for example, collectjunk-mail CDs and pin them to the wall(shiny side out) to represent a galaxy ofplanets. Have kids add homemade aster-oids, moons, and rings. A computer deskcan become a NASA-worthy workstationwith the addition of some large Lego“buttons” and some old TV rabbit ears.Students can write their wishes anddreams for the year on star- or comet-shaped mobiles. Finally, a reading cor-ner could feature space-themed informa-tional and fantasy books, housed insidea cardboard box designed to look like arocket. The sky is the limit! nn

JENNIFER PRESCOTT’S LAST ARTICLE FOR INSTRUCTOR WAS “MUSIC IN THE CLASSROOM: A USER’S GUIDE FOR EVERYTEACHER” (JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2005).

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