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TEACHER TIPS: WAYS TO REFURBISH OLD CHRISTMAS DECOR FOR YOUR CLASSROOM

Happy New Year everyone!

I’m teaming up with Michelle over at Teach 1-2-3 to bring you some great teacher tips for 2017!

Christmas is over and I can hardly believe it!  It came and went so quickly! Now it’s time to start packing everything up to save for next year. Do you hate packing up all your Christmas decor?  I do! It always make me a little sad because I love how my classroom and home look all decked out for the holidays.  But this year, as I was looking over everything, I began thinking about  ways I could recycle some of my Christmas decorations to use in the classroom this winter.  So, here are three ideas I came up with. Read on to find out how I made them!

Tip 1:  Use Garland and Ornaments

Even though it rarely snows here in Alabama, I love teaching about snow and winter weather during the months of January and February.  As I was looking at my leftover decorations, I found  tinsel garland, snowflakes, and icicles.  Wow!  Those would make a great bulletin board!  So I gathered them up and this is what I came up with!  This is a choice board of extension activities to accompany the book Snowflake Bentley, but you could use these ideas for many types of bulletin boards.  I used the tinsel garland for the boarder and  added the icicles to hang from the top boarder. Finally, I stapled  the snowflakes around the task cards. The task cards on the board are from my Snowflake Bentley Unit which you can find in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. You can click on the picture to go to my Snowflake Bentley unit.
 
 Tip 2:  Make Wrapping Paper Bunting
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I had a little wrapping paper left over and I decided to make a fun classroom banner for New Years – Welcome to 2017!  I cut the triangles out of the gift wrap and made circle letters on my computer and glued them on the top of the gift wrap banner, and then I laminated them and used ribbon to put the banner together!  You can find a copy of the template for the stars and circle letters here or you can click on the picture.  I love having the kiddos write resolutions for the New Year.  You can have each student write a resolution and their name on a star for the bulletin board.
 
 Use Props for Displays
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 There are many Christmas decor items which you can use as props for displays in your classroom .  For this bulletin board, I used white snow sheets I had used for my Christmas village.  I decided to have the kiddos write the directions for how to catch a snowflake.  Each kiddo can make a head and glue a snowflake on their tongue.  I also used silver tinsel garland and snowflake ornaments to finish the board.  Finally,  I placed a fun snowman I had on the table in front of the board to finish it off and then put the writing and craft supplies on the table next to the snowman to make a fun writing center. You can find the writing prompt for this activity along with a prompt for how to build a snowman here or you can click on the picture!
 
Here is a list of other items you just might have and ways you can use them:
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  • Christmas Lights – put them around a bulletin board as a border.
  • Artificial Greenery – Use them as border for a bulletin board or make a tree trunk out of construction paper and add the greenery to the branches.  This would be great for a bulletin board about wildlife in winter.
  • Small sleds – use as props for bulletin boards or a writing center.
  • Christmas Village houses – writing prompt – you saw a house in the snow in the woods.  You step inside and suddenly….
  • Stuffed Penguins with winter cap – this one came from Amazon.  You can click on the link to find it.
  • Clear plastic ornaments you can fill to make snow globes
  • White plastic ball ornaments for snowballs
  • Plastic harp, drum and horn ornaments for a music theme bulletin board

I had a blast coming up with ways to use lots of my decor in the classroom for the winter months.  I am sure you have tons of items around your house that are begging to stay out a few more months.  Just look around and use your imagination! Leave a comment, we’d love to hear your ideas!

Be sure to head over to Michelle at Teach 1-2-3 to see some great Teaching Tips for the New Year!

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