Teachers, describe your classroom?

Question

Pictures would be great, just planning for how I will be decorating it next year!

Answer 1

Colorful, welcoming, and peaceful.

I have seen classrooms where every square inch of space is covered by posters and banners and signs.  The rule that I go by is if you are posting it in your classroom, you better be using it!  If you're not using it, take it down.

I picked a color scheme and stuck with it.  Everything matches.  I have very little bulletin board space, so I utilized all areas.  My calendar area is on 2 closet doors that allowed a large enough space for the class to sit.  I have a table in the front of the room, under the board, where I keep their center activities and the "turn in tray" I use the underside of the table for storage, so I attached fabric to the underside like a table skirt to cover it.  The fabric is cloud, so I call it the cloud table.

I have a long narrow bulletin board that runs horizontally, I use that for my author wall and post kids writing.  I have a small board that is near a math center (cubbies with math tools) that I just have posted a hundreds grid and multiplication chart.

The other bulletin board is in the reading corner (a corner created by 3 low shelves on wheels and 2 taller shelves against the wall) and I post book reviews that the kids write.

The last created area is for space is the large cabinet doors.  There are 4 doors in a row, and I use that for a "changing board" where I display content information - posters, key points, etc.

It is key to not "clutter" the space, no matter what age you are teaching.  A little decoration is nice, but not at the expense of calmness.  (I know some rooms where every shelf, every piece of space, all areas are covered by decorations and trinkets - this can not only be dust collecting, but it can also be distracting!)

One last thing to note - I rearranged my classroom yearly (even 2 times the first year) before I finally settled on the layout I have used this year.  And just as I got comfortable with this layout, and absolutely love how it works in the room, I might be changing rooms next year!  Gotta love that flexibility!

Answer 2

It's Lord of the Flies, with a touch of Hogarth thrown in for good measure.

Answer 3

One thing I do is cover parts of the walls (which are a drab beige/tan color) with fabric.  I used to cover with "butcher" paper, but then I discovered that fabric looks better.  What I have done is shop around for cheap sheets (as in bed sheets) and put those up!! One wall has a cheerful red color, another wall has a spring green color panel, and so forth.  I have received many compliments.  I use cute borders (purchased at teacher supply stores) to decorate around the edges of the sheets.  I also leave several of the panels blank for student work.

Answer 4

Don't be afraid to only put up a few decorations (posters, etc), and leave lots of blank space. It will feel neater and calmer to new students, and leaves lots of space for their work.

Answer 5

Kind of depends on the age group you will be teaching and/or the subject area.

First thing, you will need a calendar, you can keep it "fresh" by changing it out each month to something seasonal or based on a specific holiday (like apples in August, hearts in February, clovers in March, etc.).  The calendar should be close to where you will post assignments, a daily agenda, and/or a list of upcoming events.  You will also need a place to post important information, like the lunch menu, evacuation plans, etc.  I would put these close to the door or close to the calendar.

You should also have a bulletin board that you change out occasionally throughout the year.  For example, you can start the school year with a bulletin board about you - something to help the students get to know you.  Put up pics of you when you were in their grade, pics of your spouse, children, and pets, maybe even places you have visited.  Then later in the year, change that board out to display a very special project your class has done or a "star student" board.  You could change it to something interesting that the kids might want to look at - like a display of optical illusions or funny tongue twisters.  You might even want to have a birthday board displayed somewhere - just put up the students names and birthdates for a month at a time - use something like cupcakes.  

Depending on what content area(s) you teach, you may want to display some posters based on what you will be teaching.  You can change these things out periodically depending on what you are teaching, or if you have a specific subject you teach all year long, leave something specific to that up all year.  For example, say you teach world geography/social studies, you might want to have a huge world map out for the kids to refer to.  Or say you teach math, and the kids are really struggling with their times tables, put up a multiplication table or multiples chart.

Some teachers at our school even have things displayed for work, for example, have a math minute display.  Post problems for the entire week (a couple of problems for each day) then change them out each week.

Good luck!

Answer 6

I had one whole bulletin board filled with dog pictures and the students asked whether they could name the dogs, so every year I kept up the pictures and let the kids rename the dogs--these were 6th graders. I got the pictures from old calendars. One board was reserved for puzzles and student-made posters (done for extra credit.)

Good to change it throughout the year. Since I taught math, it was leaf symmetry in the fall, snowflake symmetry in winter, flower symmetry in the spring.