Ideas To Decorate Your Catholic Classroom

Need FREE ideas to decorate your Catholic classroom? Well, here are a few links that might come in handy.


ehow.com- Catholic Classroom Door Decorations
Classroom doors are the first impression students, their families and others have of your classroom. Decorating the door sets a tone for what people will encounter when they step into the classroom. Catholic schools have the opportunity to display both education and faith with door decorations.

Bulletin Boards- Religious Classroom Bulletin Boards

thatresourcsite.com- Free Faith Based Posters for Homeschoolers, Catechists and Classrooms
Looking for a way to display the Faith in your homeschool, school or CCD classroom or learning area? How about using on of our faith based poster sets below? Each has a different focus.

• Hail Mary Prayer in Picture Series- Help children learn and better understand the Hail Mary prayer with this set of 8 full page posters. Created from beautiful, classic religious art found in the Public Domain, these posters are sure to brighten any room.

• The Stations of the Cross- Encourage daily prayer and meditation this Lenten season with this 14 page set of posters on the Stations of the Cross.

• A – Z Letter Poster Set Featuring the Faith- Help teach about some of the key elements of the Catholic faith with this bright 26 page set of A-Z learning posters. Almost all of the sheets feature real photographs.

• Trinity Poster- Help teach about the Holy Trinity with this classic graphic depiction that shows the relationship of the 3 persons of the Holy Trinity - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is a single poster.



4catholiceducators.com- Daily Bible Poster
The posters change every day. Bookmark this page to return to it often. Click on the image to get the poster size version and print.

bibletimelines.org- 23 timelines to print out for your classroom

Good Manners Bulletin Board

You know how cheap I am and decorating your classroom is a must for CCD teachers. I found a Good Manners bulletin board online and came up with a homemade version that you can do in your classroom or home for next to nothing.


To cultivate good manners in your classroom or home have the children help you make this bulletin board. Children love seeing their work displayed and this is an excellent way to reinforce good behavior.


*Cut on one edge of green construction in uneven cuts to make grass (the longer the better so it will be floppy and look like long grass). Staple to the bottom of the bulletin board. Make handprint flowers (you can have the students make these flowers using their own handprints) with stems and leaves and position them in varying heights along the grass. Inside the handprint flowers write good manner words and phrases such as: "Please", "May I?", "I'm sorry", "Thank you", "You're welcome" and "Excuse me", etc. Have the students help you come up with more and write on the flowers.

*Tips: You can also use this to introduce the class rules and write some simple ones on the flowers.

As a craft- Your students could make one of the handprint flowers and glue it to construction paper. They can pick out a good manner that they need to work on most and write inside the flower (you can do that for them if necessary). Then they can take the craft home to help them to remember to use their good manners.



Have the students make butterflies and place above the flowers.

Butterfly- A butterfly is made from using the child's handprints. (From the Hands of a Child by Anthony Flores, page 40).

Coffee Filter Butterfly- Make a beautiful butterfly using a coffee filter.

Plastic Bag Butterfly- Make this butterfly according to the directions or use a painted clothes pin for the body that has googly eyes glued on it. Gather the plastic bag together at the center and slide it between the clamps of the clothes pin. Shape some pipe cleaner into antennae and glue the center of the pipe cleaner between the clamps of the clothespin. You can make this into a magnet by putting a sticky magnet on the back of the clothespin.


Then make a banner on the computer or use a bulletin board letter set saying, “Garden of Good Manners” and/or “How does your garden grow?”.



*This would go great with the following games and lessons:

The Golden Rule- This game helps promote why someone would use proper manners and etiquette in our daily lives.

Church and Respect- lesson for 1st grade on up

Good Samaritan- lesson for 1st grade on up

Decorating Your Classroom

All too frequently CCD classrooms are not decorated which does not make the students feel welcome or promote their curiosity and challenge their creativity. Having a decorated classroom will encourage students to come to CCD and students love seeing their own crafts and activities displayed in the classroom for everyone to see.

What can a catechist do? First, don’t panic. Here are some ideas that might be of some help:


• Display posters, pictures, etc. on the walls and/or bulletin board. Remember to keep in mind the age level of your students. Put up posters, pictures, etc. of things that can reinforce your lesson. Decorate your classroom door, have a word wall, decorate student desks with personal name tags, etc. You can also display the following in the classroom: classroom behavior plan, classroom jobs, attendance chart, prayer chart, assignment sheet, etc. If you share your classroom and cannot hang things up, use something portable that you can remove easily (example: mount decorations on a sheet or fabric so you can take it with you when class is over). Make sure that you do not put up too many colorful items. Classrooms that are over decorated can distract and stimulate students and it can sometimes lead to behavior problems.

• Stop and look at what there is in the CCD supply closet and what you have that can be used from home. Example: My son collected LARGE Star Wars & Star Trek models of various space ships. I plan on using fishing line and hanging them from the ceiling with glow in the dark stars that I already had.

• Decorate by theme, subject or upcoming holiday. Example: Sacraments, Beatitudes, Building Christian Character, Bible Story, Fruit of the Spirit, Ten Commandments, etc.

Religious Classroom Bulletin Boards


• If you don’t have it, make it. Example: To go with the space theme stuff on the ceiling I made on the computer a large classroom sign (3 pages long) to put on the wall.




To put underneath the sign I made stars on the computer (you can buy a bag of 24 colorful bulletin board stars from Target for $1). I will cut the stars out and put the student’s names on them.




Links:

scholastic.com- Recruit the best decorating corps you have for this year's classroom makeover-your students! Not only does involving kids save money and effort on your part, teachers agree that it increases kids' sense of involvement and respect. Try these 10 teacher-tested ideas for a classroom that shines with color and learning.

atoteacherstuff.com- Teacher Tested Tips

teachforever.com- 20 Cheap Ways To Decorate Your Classroom

ehow.com- How To Decorate A Sunday School Classroom



How are you doing to decorate your classroom? Please leave a comment to help others find ideas.

Religious Classroom Bulletin Boards

Need to do a bulletin board for your religious classroom? Here are several sites to give you some ideas.



boardsgalore.com- Church and School Bulletin Board & Decoration Ideas

Classroom Displays and Bulletin Boards- Pages and pages of Christian bulletin boards

psscentral.com- Christian Themed Bulletin Boards

kidssundayschool.com- Creative Christian bulletin board ideas to brighten up your children's Sunday school classroom.

Bulletin Board Ideas- Scripture & Character boards (scroll down for these)

daniellesplace.com- Bulletin Board Displays For Sunday School

apostolicfaith.org- Just click on Holidays, Seasonal or Themes

dltk-teach.com- Several bulletin boards posted as well as some links