Dress up your class room contest. (Instructor and Ellison's).

HERE ARE THE WINNERS!

In the August 2000 issue, we challenged teachers to send in their best, original ideas for making their classrooms unique, eye-catching, and inspirational. The winning projects shown here make their classrooms a motivational haven for learning, tying in with the curriculum in refreshing ways. Hopefully they will I inspire you and your students to create your own low-cost, ambitious, and educational "works of art."

GRAND PRIZE WNNER

An Eruption of Learning. My third-graders and I built a seven-foot tall volcano for $50 out of chicken wire, donated lumber, and help from parents. We covered the frame with wire and glue-drenched brown craft paper, scrunched up to look like rocky outcroppings. We sprayed the sides with faux granite paint, then added patches of real moss, mountain grass, and tiny robins and bumblebees. The cloud of white smoke and ash is made of shredded cotton, and hides two heat lamps with 25-watt red party bulbs inside. This makes the cotton glow, letting us know an eruption is imminent! Two people can fit inside a gold mine inside the volcano. It has a sandy floor covered with bits of iron pyrite, amethyst, and quartz crystals.--Janet Muller, Third-grade teacher, Duniway Elementary School, Portland, Oregon

1st RUNNER UP: Game Table. I painted an old wooden table and chairs set to look like animal coats: zebra, cheetah, giraffe, and tiger. Then I painted a generic board game on the table. I used stickers to decorate the game board, and added directions to some of the squares. Students are challenged to generate their own questions and games, using laminated game cards.--Jackie Howes, Second-grade teacher, FM Kearns Primary School, Cranby, Connecticut

2nd RUNNER UP: Ancient City. This year, I chose a course of study that included the Alhambra, a fortified palace in Spain dating from 1238 A.D. The classes decorated their hail to resemble a room in one of the Alhambra palaces. The ceiling was draped with decorated sheets of material. Colorful tiles or plates adorned the wall. The project was incorporated into all major curriculum areas. --Patricia Anduss, Seventh-grade teacher, Madison Middle School, Bartlesville, Oklahoma

3rd RUNNER UP: Readers of the Roundtable. As we begin our unit on the middle ages in Europe, we transform our classroom into a royal kingdom. A castle is erected as our Royal Reading Center. We use the castle as a backdrop to our videotaped book chats, calling ourselves the Readers of the Roundtable. In daily shows, we summarize and discuss some of the great books we've read. During our unit, each child constructs a shield. The students must write a story explaining how their unique shield emblem represents them or their good deeds done. --Wendy Fuschetti, Fourth-grade teacher, Lake County Elementary School, Lake Placid, Florida 

The Grand Prize winner will receive an Ellison machine and dies (worth $1,000) for her classroom or school. Runners-up will each win a Scholastic Classroom Library of over 25 hooks.