New Year, New Decor: January Classroom Door Decor Ideas & Bulletin Board Ideas - Teaching with Kaylee B (2024)

January is not only the start of a brand new year but also a fresh beginning for our classrooms. I like to call it a classroom reset. We just finished winter break so we can review expectations and change any classroom routines easily. But I also like to make it a fresh start with fun January classroom door decor.

I teach in Idaho. And January can be a very cold and dark month. But I like to bring in some happiness with winter classroom door decorations. Plus, students love a surprise with some new classroom door decorations. Not only does it bring my students joy, but it brings me happiness as well. So let’s get into the January classroom door decor that I use in my 2nd grade classroom.

To help my students feel special, I like to include their names in our classroom door decorations. It helps build a positive classroom culture because it shows that each student belongs in our class.

I type my students’ names on the cutest mitten clipart and print them off. Then I like to have students color and decorate them before I add them up on our classroom door for winter. Students love doing this and get so creative with it! I love to see what they come up with.

I also put up a sign that says, “our class is snow much fun.” My 2nd grade students love a good pun, so they think this is so funny! And I add up cute banner underneath. This helps bring in some other fun winter colors to the door display.

You can make this a little more interactive with students by adding a fun read aloud with it. Read students a book and then have them decorate their mittens. You could read “The Missing Mitten Mystery” by Steven Kellogg or “The Mitten” by Jan Brett. Learn about other great winter read alouds that my students love here in this blog post: 11 of The Best Winter Read Alouds For Elementary Students

I love how adding in students’ names into your January classroom door decor can foster a sense of belonging, celebrates individuality, and welcomes all to a space when learning takes center stage.

These January classroom door decorations will warm your students’ hearts during the chilly winter months. Find the ones I use here.

But if you want to make these winter classroom door decorations to help your students practice the academic skills they have been learning, then you can easily turn it into a writing project.

Winter Classroom Door Decorations

Students just got back from winter break, so you can have students write about what they did during the break. I have a version of the mitten where students finish prompts about what they did over winter break. They write about where they went, what they played, what they ate, and their favorite part. Find these mittens here.

Or you can guide students on writing a paragraph about their winter break following the writing progress. Students brainstorm things they did over the break. They pick three of those to be the details or body of their paragraph. Then they write a rough draft that includes an introduction sentence, their 3 details, and a conclusion sentence. You conference with students and help students edit their writing. Then they write their final draft on a mitten with writing lines. Find this version here.

You can hang these up as January classroom door decorations with a sign that says, “Winter Break was Great!” And add a banner like the example I shared earlier. This helps tie everything together. Find everything you need for this here.

Students get so excited to write about their winter break when they know their writing will be displayed for everyone to see. It helps motivate them to do their best work and use their nicest handwriting. Find this version of the Winter Classroom Door Decorations here.

Not wanting students to write their whole paragraph on a mitten? I have a full page version here. These are great to include in a memory book that you are collecting work from the whole school year. Learn more about this writing project here in this blog post: 3 Winter Break Writing Activities to Start Preparing For Now

Winter Bulletin Board Ideas

Or you can make a bulletin board display with them. In the resource, I have also included bulletin board letters for both sayings of “our class is snow much fun” and “winter break was great.” Cut these out and staple them up as part of a winter bulletin board. That way, if you don’t want to use these things for classroom door decorations, you can make a cute January themed bulletin board. Find these here.

In this next winter bulletin board idea, you can have students practice their math skills. I have students make a snowflake math craft. They solve different math facts on small white papers. Then they glue the little pieces on a blue page that has an outline of a snowflake. They glue those white pieces on the outline and it looks like a snowflake.

You can display these on a bulletin board. I like to include these on my students’ memory books that are hanging up in our classroom. It is a great way to decorate our classroom for winter. Find this winter math craft to use with your class here. I like having my students do a fun math craft every month. Find my bundle with all my monthly themed math crafts here.

I hope you have enjoyed these classroom door decorations ideas for january. You can get students so excited when you involved them, even if it’s just a little like including their names on the decorations.

My students look forward to how our door is going to be decorated each month. They all have a similar layout of having a sign, banner, and then clipart with my students’ name on them. I have these included in a money-saving bundle. Find this bundle here.

Here are some other January themed blog posts you may be interested in:

5 Math Activities Perfect for the Winter Season

Classroom Behavior Management Tips for After Winter Break