Two teachers at Parkside School in Cullman County transformed their hallway into Hogwarts, the fictional wizard school made famous by the Harry Potter series.

photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

Two teachers, English teacher Jacy Douglas and math teacher Tracey Jones decided last year to decorate their rooms like different classrooms at Hogwarts.

"It went over so well with the students and parents that we decided to take it a step further this year and theme our whole hallway," Douglas said.

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

Parkside school

Parkside is a K-8 school in the Cullman County school system. Parkside is a Title I school, with about 73 percent of Parkside students receiving free or reduced lunch.

Aug. 8 is the first day of school for Parkside students. Open house will be held Aug. 5 and 6.

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

The funds needed for the project came from proceeds from the school's 9th Annual Parkside Pumpkin Run, which was held in October 2017.

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

"We now have transformed three classrooms and our entire seventh and eighth grade hallway so that our students will feel like they are walking the halls of Hogwarts," Douglas said.

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

Local artist Aaron Sullivan was hired to paint the murals in the hallway and around classroom entrances.

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

The hallway features murals of several key places in the Harry Potter series like the Hogwarts Express, platform nine and three-quarters and Diagon Alley.

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

"I have never seen a school do something like this," she said. "Our principal, Richard Orr, has been very supportive of our ideas and allowing us to do this project."

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

"We added several three-dimensional elements to give our students a totally immersive experience," Douglas said.

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

Aside from the murals, the rest of the work was done by Jones, Douglas and their families. They used inexpensive materials and donated items to complete the transformation.

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

But why Harry Potter?

The Hogwarts theme was chosen in part because of the popularity of the series.

"It's something most people are familiar with. Even if they haven't read the books or watched the movies, they have heard of Harry Potter. Almost all of our seventh and eighth grade students have read at least the first book in the series."

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

"Second the school of Hogwarts is made up of four houses with differing traits. Our hall has four classrooms with teachers who teach different subjects and have different personality types, so it worked out very well to have one classroom for each Hogwarts house. We tried to match up the teacher to her 'correct' Hogwarts house."

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

The teachers also had a more serious reason for choosing the Harry Potter theme.

"Some of our students have a hard time at home. Harry was able to escape a miserable existence at his aunt and uncle's home by going away to school at Hogwarts. We wanted to make our school a bit of an escape from the ordinary, where all of our students can see reading come to life and escape any negativity that might be happening elsewhere in their lives," Douglas said. "Middle school can be a hard age. We want our students to look forward to coming into our classrooms to learn."

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photo courtesy of Jacy Douglas

Douglas said they have had a decrease in student discipline referrals. More middle school students have also become more interested in reading since Jones and Douglas transformed their classrooms last year.

"We anticipate a continuation of those trends going forward," she said.

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video courtesy of Jacy Douglas

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Courtesy of Danny Weaver

Fourth grade gets a face lift too

Fourth grade teacher Danny Weaver also got a classroom makeover this summer.

Artist Aaron Sullivan transformed the entrance to Weaver's fourth grade classroom into Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Weaver says his classroom is only trying to keep up with the other impressive entrances across the school this summer as they prepare for a new school year.

"The seventh and eighth grade teachers have turned their hall into Harry Potter, and it looks amazing," Weaver said. "It looks like something out of Universal Studios."