Thursday, September 13, 2012

Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry: Harry Potter Themed Classroom

It's time for the BIG reveal....

THE BEFORE...




The During...with my "Pit Crew"
Lovin' my Cricut at home
Word Wall titles

Do you see a magical school?




I stick with three colors for my room as recommended at www.schoolgirlstyle.com.  Blue, Silver, and Purple.  I thought they were VERY *magical*!

My Pit Crew..My co-teachers niece from Italy...working on an
amazing art project (keep reading this post to see the finished product. 


My youngest cousin was even part of the crew, "sorting" popcubes


THE FINAL PRODUCT!
The view from my door

My fantastic HAND PAINTED curtains!

My back wall with purple curtains to hide the kids bookbag mess


Let's take a more intimate look, shall we....


Posters from Pinterest printed on VISTAPRINT



My newly designed House Points board (the papers get thrown out
and replaced each month-keeps it neat)

Close-up

My Magical Behavior Chart which can be found on our TPT store.  LOVE IT!


My NEWLY leveled library-Thanks to my cousin Violet!

Hogwarts the Bear (a gift from a former group of students)

Letters I sent to welcome my NEW class.

Dobby will manage our House-Elf Chores (or jobs)
 THE CURTAINS!!!!!





My homemade desktop nametags, also available on our TPT store. 

Our official Hogwarts acceptance letter, delivered by Hedwig. 
Hogwarts Castle as part of our whole class behavior chart

A comfy reading section in the owlery
So, what do you think?

I have to thank my Pit Crew for all their help.
-My Mom for making endless clipboards and cutting out more lamination than one person ever should. 
-To my cousin for leveling my entire library, cutting, cutting, cutting, and cutting.  For coming in to my room for days even when the AC was broken.
-To my Dad for securing curtain rods (without making any noise), making chairs, and constantly packing and unpacking tools.
-To my Co-teacher Susan for not only supporting my insanity but adding to it and her family from Italy for spending a large chunk of their vacation painting and sewing curtains.
-To my blogging buddy and friend Kelly for the constant flow of ideas and the ALWAYS honest opinions.

I will have more to share in the next few days but NEED to sleep as the first week back is kicking my butt. 

Happy Teaching!
Damien 

23 comments:

  1. Damien, your classroom is AWESOME!!! I'm so very impressed. You are so lucky to have such great friends and family willing to come and help out with your classroom. My mum is a great help to me, but I have never had so many people helping me out. It looks great! and I'm so excited to see how you have used some of my ideas. You have put loads of work into the classroom and it will certainly pay off.
    How is your new class enjoying it?
    :) M agreattitle@blogspot.com

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  2. They are loving it as did the parents since we've already had back to school night they were all able to see it first hand.

    I have to say, it really helps to LOVE the room you are going to spend the day in and I LOVE my room.

    Kelly should be posting pictures of her under the sea extravaganza shortly ( no pressure)
    -Damien

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    Replies
    1. Makes me wish I was a fifth grader all over again. I hope that some of the other Teachers take a note from this page and also carry out a book themed room, Dr. Seuss comes to mind.

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  3. I love it!! Wish we could have these kinds of classroom themes in our schools!! :D (HP is banned *sadfaceextreme*)

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  4. Cindy-

    That is such a bummer! Is there any reason given why HP is banned at your school?

    Just curious,
    Damien

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  5. THIS IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!! I am a music teacher and I also have a Harry Potter themed classroom. The kids really like that they can earn house points to earn a behavior party. I was happy to see that I wasn't the only one that used "HOGWARTS" as a house (everyone I teach with thought I was silly)! I believe I will be purchasing your magical behavior off TpT. I like it so much better than my card system! Thanks for sharing!!!

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  6. I am sooooo glad you like it! It really has come out nicely and the reaction from the kids, their parents, and my colleagues was unbelievable. More than that, I loved being in my classroom.

    Always great to meet another Potterhead in the blogging world.
    Damien

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  7. You do such an amazing job! I was a title 1 math teacher last year (my first year of teaching). This year I will have my own 5th grade classroom, and as a Harry Potter fanatic, I can't wait to set my room up with this theme!!
    Thanks for all of your ideas!
    Tiffany

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    Replies
    1. First- Congrats on joining the fifth grade ranks and thank you so much for the kind words! I absolutely love my Harry Potter theme and reading the books with my kids (yes, I call them my kids). I wish the idea for the theme was mine but the credit goes to my good buddy Kelly. It has evolved over the years with a HUGE overhaul last summer.

      However, I still have some interesting additions up my sleeve for the new school year. Keep checking in for more HP ideas.

      -Damien

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  8. I love it!!! I am thinking of HP for my own class room this year!! :)

    Karen

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  9. I love your classroom! It was one of the classrooms that I found online that inspired me when I was trying to plan out how I was going to decorate my Hogwarts classroom. Thank you for your pictures, post, and ideas. I work at an international school and I am the only 4th/5th grade teacher in the school. So instead of having a team to collaborate with, I rely on Pinterest and great blogs like yours for inspiration!

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  10. This is a fabulous idea. I want to implement it desperately, but I am worried about parent reactions…Have you had any bad experiences with parents regarding your theme?

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  11. I don't know if you still follow your comments on your blog, but where did you get your awesome clip art of your HP characters? I'd love to know!

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  12. Hello! I can't find the hat poster on Pinterest any more. I'm wondering if you might be able to point me in the right direction, please?

    Thank you!

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    Replies
    1. Hi- I found the poster on pinterest and had it made into a poster using vista print. Check out our interest account TheReadingBuddies, it's pinned there on my Harry Potter boards.

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  13. I love your classroom and I am thinking about doing a Harry Potter theme for my classroom as well. I noticed that you created your own introduction letters from Hogwarts but I can not see the whole letter. Where can I see the whole letter at?
    Thanks for your inspiration!
    Marian - Grade 6 ELA & SS Teacher

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    Replies
    1. Hi- thanks for your interest. The letter was really a welcome letter specific to my classroom/school. The opening line was the only thing Harry oriented. It said "I am pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to hogwarts school of WItchcraft and Wizardry". The rest of the letter was about my website, twitter, and Summer Reading info. Hope that's helpful!

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  14. I would love to add some of your HP ideas to my HP classroom. Where did you get the starry night sky paper for your backgrounds? Great job.

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  15. Hello- I ordered the starry paper off of Amazon. It reminded me of how the ceiling of the Great Hall would be representative of the night sky. Since I wasn't allowed to paint my classroom ceiling (believe me I asked) it was the next best way to incorporate that idea. Hope that helps!

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  16. would you share the Hogwarts school silhouette, Harry Potter is my theme next year for the library and I have a 20 foot wall that I would love to put that on. I love d your room. it was Magical. Have a great year

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  17. You are going to love using a HP theme. The silhouette I used to create Hogwarts was old school. LOL I googled a picture and blew it up on my SMARTBoard then traced it on black paper. Hope that helps!
    -Damien

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  18. Hi. I love the curtains. You said the curtains were hand-painted. Do you know what she used to paint them?

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