Cristina Celzo from Bronx, New York, sent in these amazing pictures of her rainforest theme. As my colleagues and I were brainstorming how to make trees in our classrooms, Cristina sent me these pictures at the perfect time. It looks as though she used a parachute on the ceiling to engulf the entire room with leaves and branches – this transformed her classroom. I also noticed the cool animal print borders around the room. I can’t imagine the work that went into this wonderful classroom. What a fantastic learning environment for her students! You can tell from the pictures that Cristina is an amazing teacher! Congratulations, on a job well done!
AWESOME job, Cristina!!!!!!!!! =)
good job mini mee <3
WOW!! This is incredible!! Fantastic work Cristina!! Your kiddos must adore you, I know I do!
I chose you as one of my Top 10 Teaching Blogs. I cheated a bit but hey how could I resist? Go to the link below to read more.
Here is the post.
Go here to read more.
Ms.M’s Blog
A Teacher’s Plan
I wish you had Facebook – I just wrote about YOU! I also put a link to your blog. Thank you so much! Your support has been amazing! You are definitely one of my sweetest fans!
Awww, thanks! I don’t have Facebook but I read your post. Super sweet. Thank you and keep doing what you do, I love it.
Ms. M
Ms.M’s Blog
A Teacher’s Plan
I love it!!
This is an absolutely amazing classroom for understanding the canopy’s significance in the rainforest… Is there a holler monkey or sloth hanging out there too? Bravo, thank you for sharing your visuals!
I absolutely love this! Did you use green plastic tablecloths? Parachute? I am wondering if you have strict fire code laws? (i.e. Nothing on shelves or walls within 18 inches from the ceiling.) I just don’t know if I could get away with this. 🙁
I was just thinking the same thing Susan! I’m so jealous of some of these decorating ideas, but the fire marshall in California would rip it all down! 🙁
This is truly amazing. Your students are so lucky to have such a fantastic environment to bring even more excitement to their learning.
i did sometjhing like this a few years back and the fire marshall did an inspection at our school a few days later and Made me take it all down. He said he would fine us if I didnt. I was so bummed. He said it was a fire hazard. Party pooper!
What a wonderful classroom. The kids would love it. There needs to be lots more excitement in classrooms.
I did this same thing in my classroom last year, and we used the cheap green plastic tablecloths. Also used scrunched up crepe paper streamers to simulate vines dangling from the ceiling, creating a ridiculously realistic rainforest vibe. We also decorated foam butterflies in realistic patterns, and strung them on fishing line dangling from the ceiling. When the A/C kicked on, the “vines” would wave gently, and thd butterflies would flutter around- sometimes even “flying” in circles, depending upon how they were weighted. 🙂 It was great fun, and looked really impressive – but after a few weeks, all the green-ness started to wear on us (especially me). In fact, a few of my students began to complain of headaches, and once we took down the green, things improved. So while it looks great, be careful and don’t go overboard. I never would have expected our decor would have a negative impact on the health of our classmates. :-/
My husband was the fire chief so I struggled to even get to hang mobiles in my classroom. I did however discover the tinted cellophane rolls used for Easter baskets as an option for creating mood and and environment. Example= I painted arches on the windows with a few cactus etc a few windows had someone in a sombero sleeping pulled over his face. ( profiles hard to explain) Then the real mood effect came from the golden glow of the sun shining through the yellow cellophane that was applied to all the windows. We made /filled out passports and I had a pilot friend record a take off speech to take of on our trip to Mexico. He included a weather announcement, money exchange, fun places to visit in Mexico. He even sent peanuts over with the airline logo.
During art, students learned about crafts that were created to sell in Markets. Families( groups) were formed and they made a craft stand out of cardboard boxes, decorated and they traded and sold crafts they made in art to other students/staff during their lunch hour for the week.
It was only a bit more fun than taking the yellow down and putting up blue cellophane over painted fish in the windows and putting up blue cellophane. Studying ocean regions became so much more fun!
I’m always looking for inspiration to get my own kids involved or just to have a good time! I loved the jungle canopy in this classroom. I got a similar effect from using 3 shades of pink, plastic table cloths from the dollar store for a kids party I hosted about a year ago! Use double sided tape and gathered at the center of the room with any focal item and you’ve got a fantastic visual effect! Love it! So much fun!
This is awesome… at United states you work so hard in your classrooms… I wish I could, in México our education autorities said so much elemnts in the classroom are distraction… so we have to clean up everything that is not useful day by day… our classrooms sometimes looks a little bit sads. I’m sorry by my english, I don’t practice every day 😛
Thanks for sharing!!! A hug from México! !
I like this. Not doing a jungle theme, but this is certainly a winner!
You could use one of those big pop up shade tents and decorate it with the jungle theme…then it wouldnt be attached to any walls?? just a thought 🙂 I like this for a birthday party theme