CES holds holiday door decorating contest
Kindergarten students at Coshocton Elementary School lined the hallway to welcome judges to their part of the building. Josie Sellers | Beacon
COSHOCTON – Coshocton Elementary School got into the holiday spirit with its first door decorating contest.
“They could compete as individuals or teams and it was neat to see how some of them played off of each other,” said Megan Crook, a literacy coach at the school who helped coordinate the contest. “The third grade classrooms progressively built a snowball. The kindergarten team worked all together and the sixth grade team all played off of each other.”
The doors were judged on Dec. 19 by Superintendent Dr. David Hire, Director of Curriculum and Federal Programming Kaitlyn Ashbrook, and Coshocton High School Principal Grant Fauver.
“You could see the creativity and that they were obviously excited to do this,” Ashbrook said.
The judges toured the building on Dec. 19 with Crook and Tony Meiser, assistant principal at the elementary school.
“For the first year doing this, some of them have gotten really elaborate,” Meiser said.
The Elf on the Shelf, also known as Tim Ward, sixth grade teacher at Coshocton Elementary School, was part of his floor’s attempt to win the door decorating contest at the school. He even had cookies ready to handout to judges on Dec. 19. Josie Sellers | Beacon
The kindergarten teachers and students created a winter wonderland for the judges to walk through complete with music, lights and fake snow to throw at the judges. Each judge also received a stocking and gifts.
Susie Mann showed her love of coffee with her door that even smelled like her favorite beverage.
Some worked books their students have been reading into their decorating themes and others worked in the subjects they teach. Others tried to play on specific themes they thought the judges would like.
“The library focused on Dr. Hire’s love of Star Wars,” Meiser said.
The sixth grade staff also offered the judges cookies as a bribe that were passed out by their own Elf on the Shelf who was Tim Ward dressed up in costume.
“The sixth grade staff went for as many categories as possible because they really wanted to win,” Meiser said. “A lot of them really took it to the next level.”
He e-mailed pictures of the doors as they were done to encourage participation in the contest.
“We probably had about 75 doors decorated,” Meiser said.
When the tour was over, Dr. Hire wasn’t sure how they were going to choose a winner.
“I loved seeing the creativity,” he said. “I think it created an environment of teamwork too. You could feel the excitement over this in the building.”
Fauver liked the sense of school spirit that was created by the contest and how it brought the school together.
“It was nice to see everybody having fun and being competitive,” he said. “It’s going to be difficult to pick the winners because they were all so good.”
After deliberating, the judges handed out the following awards:
- Most Neat: Mrs. Bowman – “Let It Snow”
- Most Creative: Ms. Shaw – “Dabbin’ through the snow!”
- Most School Spirit: Mrs. Yoder – “Don’t be a Grinch. Be a PAX leader.”
- Best Winter Theme: Preschool – “Come Chill With Preschool”
- Best Overall: Kindergarten experience
Winners received ribbons and best overall winner will be awarded with doughnuts and juice on a morning of their choosing.
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