Get students in the holiday spirit by decorating the classroom windows with holiday-specific decorations. For Halloween, string fake cobwebs in the window corners, tape fake spiders to the glass and set miniature pumpkins along the windowsill. If you are celebrating the winter holidays, string twinkle lights around the window and paste white, glittery snowflakes to the glass that the students make during arts and crafts. For Thanksgiving, window decals of turkeys, pilgrims and corn husks make cute window decorations.
Keeping plants in the classroom introduces students to the concept of taking care of living things. Plants need water and sunshine to grow, so you can decorate your windowsill with potted plants that students are responsible for tending to. Not only does this teach students how to take care of something that is alive, but it dresses up a bare window. If you want to make the window even homier -- to go along with the plants -- you can add curtains or drapes to the window.
If your classroom has a theme, such as Under the Sea or Free as a Bird, work the theme into your window decorations by purchasing window decals. You can create a whole scene using the window as your canvas. For instance, decal ideas for an Under the Sea theme could include fish, sharks, whales, lobsters and seaweed. If you are teaching students a particular lesson, such as the skeletal system, incorporate the lesson into the window decorations by hanging curriculum-specific decals.
You can encourage student creativity and decorate your windows at the same time with a little help from washable paints, crayons or markers. Give the students a chance to decorate the windows as they wish by using the washable products. They could draw shapes, letters, numbers, pictures of animals, trees, flowers or anything else they want. Leave the window art up for a week and then have the students produce more.