Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/358877
P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y S C O T T B U S C H M A N A "beachy" laid-back vibe helps students relax and learn, says Quyen Bullard. A donated carpet roll tube becomes a palm tree. Beach decor a shore thing for student enjoyment "It's a beachy tiki luau room," explains Quyen Bullard excitedly when she greets visitors. Indeed, her decorations are likely to make a big splash with students when they walk through the door at the end of August and fi nd them- selves transported to a tropical paradise. The New Haven Teachers Association member and long- time kindergarten teacher transferred to Kitayama Elementary School in Union City to teach transitional kindergarten, and decided that her new classroom could be anything she wanted it to be. "I wanted to teach at the beach," she says. So she and husband Jeff, a paraprofessional at the school site, went to work. The results are, beachy, with a laid-back vibe to help students relax and learn. Amazingly, it didn't cost oceans of money, thanks to Party City's summer sale, where she bought grass skirts to decorate tables, beach and bamboo banners to decorate walls, palm tree decorations, and tiki lights. Spray-painted PVC pipes covered with bamboo fencing serve as the Book Shack and the room's focal point. Brightly painted spice racks on the wall display colorful books about jellyfi sh, sharks, clown fi sh and turtles. White and blue paper, stapled and pinned to the wall, give the effect of sand, water and sky. Colorful hand-painted cardboard cutouts of surfboards decorate the room with messages about learning. An enormous palm tree from a giant cardboard tube (donated by Home Depot from a carpet roll) is covered with brown paper and topped with giant leaves from Ikea. "I'm really happy with how it came out," says Bullard. "My kids will know the minute they walk in that they're going to have lots of fun here." Before A donated carpet roll tube becomes a palm tree. 21 V O L U M E 1 9 I S S U E 1