By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

NORTH SHELBY—Looking for a good book? Look no farther than Inverness Elementary School’s cafeteria hallway. For the month of January, the hallway will be decorated with artwork featuring the students’ favorite books.

Following the theme “warm up with a good book,” the hallway has been transformed into a café decorated with paper coffee cups personalized by each student and featuring each student’s favorite book.

“It’s become a monthly tradition,” Assistant Principal Jeff Norris said of the hallway decorations. “We have an older school building, so we’re always looking to brighten it up, and we’re trying to make it meaningful.”

In November, the hallway featured student-decorated turkey feathers emblazoned with their favorite vocabulary words, and the Polar Express took over the wall in December.

“It’s almost like (the students) forget they’re walking through (the hallway),” Norris said as a group of students paused to examine the cups while they made their way to class.

In addition to creating the decorations, the students engage in the decorations through contests, such as guessing the number of turkey feathers that adorned the wall in November.

“One of the teachers said their students said, ‘Yay, yay! Another (decoration) is up! When do we get to count it?’” Principal Christine Hoffman said, adding both teachers and students have responded positively to the project. “We like it because the teachers don’t have to do it, it goes home, and the parents know what’s going on.”

The monthly decorations get Inverness Elementary School parents involved as well. The student-decorated pieces are take-home projects that parents and students can work on together.

“It’s promoting the home-school connection,” Norris said. “One of the goals of our school is to strengthen the home-school connection.”

The hallway will remain café-themed through January, until new scenery is revealed in February.

“It’s always a surprise,” Norris said of each new theme. “It’s just something we get excited about.”