Turn one of your classroom walls into a scene from the Old West with a painted mural. If you'd prefer something less permanent, cut the mural images from large rolls of craft paper and affix them to the wall. Western-themed mural ideas include a stable and paddock full of horses, a stagecoach traveling down a winding dirt road or a street scene from an Old West town.
If you usually post homework assignments on the wall, make a large "Wanted" poster from brown craft paper. Instead of fugitive photos, use repositionable tape to affix each day's assignments.
Dress your classroom windows with red and white bandannas. Fold them over a tension rod with the triangle points facing down, or tie them cowboy style and thread them onto the rod in a row. If you have a bank of windows too wide for tension rods, attach the bandannas to the top of the frame with thumbtacks. You could also turn a single window into a jailhouse window. Paint wrapping-paper tubes or wooden dowels to make the bars.
To add some greenery to your window ledges, turn old cowboy boots into planters. "Scholastic Instructor" magazine's Jennifer Prescott suggests adding nail holes and gravel for water drainage, or you can just use plastic pots inside the boots. Cacti and other succulents are especially appropriate for your theme.
Cut double-swinging, saloon-style doors from brown craft paper and add them to your classroom, closet and restroom doors. Make signs to hang above the doors, and label the doorways as places you'd find in an Old West town -- perhaps general store, sheriff's office and blacksmith. Make the signs from the same brown craft paper, and letter them with twisted rope glued onto the paper.
Continue your theme on your bulletin boards. Border them with real rope, and be sure to add a few twists and loops. Cut a big sheriff's star from gold craft paper. Under the words "Sheriff's Picks," add the week's top literacy or homework papers, suggests Art and English teacher Lyn Kirksey. Under the image of a cowboy hat, add the words "Hats Off To" and list the students with the highest scores on the latest test.
Other bulletin board ideas include horseshoes with the slogan "Don't trust your grades to luck" and cattle brands with the slogan "Be branded as a good student." To promote reading, Kirksey recommends a row of cowboy boots with "Stomp off to the library" written beneath. You could also tie the end of your border rope into a lasso, and list recommended books inside the loop. Beneath the book list, add the slogan "Lasso these books."