Obsessed with Kindergarten Door Decorations

You know what one of my biggest infatuations with the Teaching Profession was before I graduated college? Decorating my OWN classroom door! I literally COULD NOT WAIT! (I can hear the tenured Teachers laughing and rolling out of their chairs this very second.) I basically daydreamed about my plans to cover my door with magnificent décor. When I finally landed my own door, I would have the most lavish decorations imaginable. Yep, that was my plan and I had it all figured out. Well, guess what college kids? That plan was quickly aborted sometime around August the 1st! Real-life set in within the blink of an eye and former ideas passed away. 

When you have been in a classroom with 27 rambunctious little ones all day, staying after school with a huge roll of paper and a hot glue gun isn't as lovely as it once sounded.  Especially when you are relied on to provide the sole foundation of their entire learning experience within one school year! Not to mention Common Core Standard aligned lesson planning, new-Teacher training and countless ours of PD and Program Review! Shew, the last thing on my mind now is the flimsy paper hanging from my door.

But, regardless of my new grudge against the act of  door decorating, I still find it to be an important aspect to my job. It is not something I'm paid to do, but something worth putting the effort into for the betterment of my classroom environment. The door facing is what welcomes my Students' into their classroom, it is something they walk by every day on the way in and on the way out.  Why would it not be important to make this an appealing aspect of our classrooms?  So yeah, I somehow manage (within all the craziness) to put my big girl britches on and get it done!

So, today I'm sharing my favorite doors from my first year of Teaching. I worked hard on them whether I enjoyed the time involved or not. I'm proud to say not one of them went unappreciated by the little ones that this door closes in every day.  That is the most important thing anyway, right? <3

This is my very first door of the year, from the time I still had that glimmer in my eye that represented a complete misunderstanding and underestimation of what the real life of a Teacher is like. LOL. This door went along with our Looney Tunes theme. I had Buggs Bunny, a childhood favorite. I really enjoyed preparing it for my new Kinders and even had some help from a great Teacher friend. That was an exciting time for me, and a time when I had not the slightest idea about what I was actually getting in to. :)

This is a door for our Red Ribbon (Drug-Free) theme. I found the skeletons at the Dollar General for $1 a piece (SCORE!).  I made the slogan up from there. Then, this next idea spawned from that and EVERYONE loved it, especially my students!!!  "We're not Boneheads, We're DRUG FREE!" I joked with my co-workers that this is a picture of me from when I was a few pounds lighter. LOL!!

  As if putting my students heads on skeletons wasn't cute enough, we did this next. I made a template for them to create their own Penguin and put their little heads on those too!! Cute!!! Waddling into Winter is a theme I found online, but I just decided to put my own little twist on it. It lasted me from November to around February!

Here is the STUDENT FAVORITE door of the year. One parent walked by my room and announced, "You know you just turned your whole room into a circus fun-house, right?" Yeah, she was right. Every day I left it up for them was a WILD day! LOL. 

Even though we had a ton of snow during the months of January, February and March, I still managed to get up a quick Lorax door for Dr. Seuss week! Yay! 

 

Here is my door right now. We are testing next week and our Kick-Off theme is Disney. I quickly decided on Disney's UP. In my opinion, it is one of the best films of ALL time, animated or not. I love the slogan some friends helped me to develop. "We're flying UP to Distinguished!" Yeah buddy!

So, that is a glimpse at some door decorating action from this past year. I wonder if I'll find the time or energy to put effort into one more before summer?

We'll see I guess! :)

God Bless!