The Classroom Theme

Every year I'm all about a classroom theme.  I find it fun to take the time to come up with an idea and center classroom decorations around it.  This year it is super heroes.  I was really struggling with what to do this year when it finally hit me.  After spending all summer watching Avengers, Amazing Spiderman, and The Dark Knight Rises, I thought that I would incorporate my love of comic books into my classroom.

I feel that taking the time to invest in "decorating" pays off.  I teach seventh grade and it can be a really challenging year.  I have found that taking the time to create an environment that is exciting as well as colorful and bright can really drive behavior.  I think it tells the kids that you care and that you took the time to create a beautiful and engaging environment.  Granted it has cost me some money but I look at it as an investment.  I never mind going into my own pocket if it means I'm going to avoid other issues down the road.  It pays to have sanity.

This year I spent a lot of time scouring craft stores and flea markets for materials.  I was most proud of my city scape that I affixed to the wall.  I created it out of butcher paper and scraps.  It took about two hours to put together.  The worst was gluing all the "windows" onto the paper.  I found super hero fabric at Joann's and used that to create my table cloths.  The Spiderman stand up was an awesome find.  I discovered that with my husband at Columbus flea market in New Jersey.  There was a vendor who had tons of super hero stuff and he gave me fantastic deals on items including the stand-up.  He sold it to me for ten dollars!

This is my city scape wall when it was a work in progress.  I'll have to post a finished version!

Along with my super hero theme decorations, I add in little things to go along with the idea.  We called our rules "The Class Code of Honor".  I filled the front bulletin board with quotes from various super heroes such as the piece of Spiderman gold "With great power comes great responsibility".  Often, as I teacher Literacy, I will pull in comic book references.  I have a Captain America apron that I found from Williams-Sonoma on sale for six dollars!  (I wear it to hold tickets, pens, cell phone, etc...also keeps me from getting dirty because I have chalk boards).  I've developed a little bit of a reputation as a comic book nerd but I know the kids secretly think it's cool.  I hope!

The other theme I used in the past was a beach theme where I hung pool toys from the ceiling and hung grass skirts from the doors.

This is a palm tree that I created out of ribbon and a silk plant when I was working at Pastorius school.  This bulletin board eventually read "Riding the Proficiency Wave".

I can't even begin to think about how I will top the super heroes!