Everson Elementary Teachers Create Winter Wonderland Hallway Experience

Typically, students found gazing toward hallways ceilings might lead to questions, but a new Winter Wonderland experience at Everson Elementary makes looking to the walls and ceilings a welcome practice. 

New for 2020, as a way to brighten hallways and bring “a little joy” to staff and students, a group of Everson staff gathered on Sunday, Nov. 29, to get to work. Fifth-grade teachers Maddy Libolt and Tara Olson collected items to hang in the hallways and gathered the ideas for the walls. They then recruited kindergarten teacher Sarah Adkins and paraeducator Michele Himango for the six-hour project so that when students came to school the next week they’d be met with a surprise. 

“The response was special,” Libolt says. “Their faces lit up with smiles.”

“Classes have been found taking breaks to walk down to that hallway,” she says, “to find the familiar characters hidden in the mountains on the wall and even lay on the ground to admire all the ornaments, snowflakes and lights hanging from the ceiling.” 

The teachers plan to keep the hallway decorations in place through the winter and over the next few weeks each Everson Elementary class will complete a snow globe art project out of a plastic plate that includes each student’s picture on the inside of the globe. These will be hung on the wall, ensuring every student has a chance to be part of the Winter Wonderland hallway experience.