The holiday season is here, and Elkhart’s teachers are here to spread the cheer!

This holiday season, teachers of the Human Services School of Study have been working diligently to show their festive spirit by decorating their classroom doors. Mrs. Kara Sears, a teacher at Elkhart High School, has decided to do this project with her Early Childhood Development class to show them the importance of a classroom environment to the success of of a child. “With the help of our Human Services teachers, we came up with the idea to let students plan out and create a fun holiday door for a teacher of their choice!” Sears explains. “The idea was so ‘spice up’ the environment in our school of study for this season!”

With so many doors to decorate, there’s definitely a lot of themes to choose from. To narrow it down, Sears explains that some of the doors were designed specifically for the class or teacher. “We had a Gingerbread House for our nutrition teacher and a marine biology theme for Mrs. Shannon, who leads the Marine Biology Trip!” Sears explains. Other students also designed the doors to have fun with the teachers. Many of the themes vary from Snowmen, Olaf, The Grinch, Elf, Festivus, and even Holidays Around the World.

Luckily, these awesome student designs definitely won’t go to waste. Teachers are voting this week to decide the best door, and winners will be receiving a pizza party. Not only is a pizza party awarded, but students also had the opportunity to practice honing their groups’ working skills, as well as planning and executing an idea on a bigger scale. “It was great work for my students to learn how much time and effort goes into creating fun ‘environment’ spaces for classrooms!” Sears comments.

Not only was this project fun for the students, Sears herself loved to see her students accomplish so much, as she concludes: “Students really thrived in their creativity for sure!” And, the rest of the student body can also reap the rewards of their efforts as they enjoy these festive doors.