We were given the task last year to create a "Back To School Night" wall in our classroom to advertise to the parents. They actually made it a contest for the most creative and well done. The only guidelines were that it had to say something about the event, and my director let slip that 3-D was always a plus. So I took my inspiration from two books that my class loves: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Chicka Chicka 1 2 3. With that in mind, I made two trees from brown butcher paper taped to the wall on either side of the window, one tall and one short. The tops of the trees are green tulle I bought on sale at Hobby Lobby, gathered with a pipe cleaner and taped to the wall. I think I used five yards for the larger tree and three for the smaller tree. I put green cellophane on the window to give the illusion that you're sitting under the leaves of a bunch of trees. This particular part is probably the only thing I would change because when I went to take it down the cellophane had basically melted to my window and it took lots of scraping with a razor blade and scrubbing with Goo Gone to get it all off. It looked cool though. Between the two trees I had some posters on my wall that I didn't really want to move, so I cut another sheet of butcher paper to cover them and painted it green to look like bushes. I used some 6" letter stencils to cut the letters and numbers out of an old cardboard box for the letters and numbers climbing the tree. I painted them bright fun colors just like in the books. The poem on the window I came up with all my own and conveniently enough our curriculum is called "Journey." But you could use it without the capital or make your own poem. I cut those letters with my Cricut (and for the life of my I can't remember what size) with my Mickey Mouse font. I free-hand painted the white Back To School Night lettering, because that guideline was a late addition to the rules and that was the only place I had for it. I used a turtle stool that I've had since I was very young (my grandfather made it for me) to display the books to go with the wall. I slapped a coat of paint on him to make him stand out (and because I've always wanted to) and I'm really pleased with how he turned out. I still use the stool as an incentive for good behavior. Sometimes the kids earn reading time on him, and they love it! So, that's my wall! Here's some close-ups!
