Tips For Setting Up Your Classroom From Scratch
At this time of year, there are many beginning teachers who have been given the keys to their classrooms for the first time.
It that is you, then don’t panic. Don’t stress. Don’t fall into comparison mode. Don’t fall for all the teaching influencers and the perfect Pinterest classroom. There are no prizes, rewards, or incentives for having the fanciest classroom on the block.
You will soon learn there is so much more to teaching than a lovely presented classroom.
I hope you are not feeling the pressure to have it all set up and perfect for day one or any day of the year. Kids are kids. They will never question why you don’t have themed tray tags or ask where your colourful fan display is.
Let your class be part of the set-up instead. Give them ownership of the room, since it is their classroom too.
Pin up their artwork as you do it throughout the year to give your room some colour. Peg it, pin in, blutak it. You do not need to buy any fancy clips.
It is okay to have empty walls to start the year off
You do not have to spend a tonne of money on printing and laminating posters either. Create posters together using your kid’s ideas. You might like to create a birthday month poster, classroom job poster, left and right posters, classroom expectations, voice levels, learning goals, calendar, grammar posters, number line, what a good reader or listener looks like
You may like to have your children’s names on the door or the front window, as well as a label identifying your class to your visitors.
Work out where you want things to be kept and start with showing the kids on day one - e.g drink bottles, school bags, scissors, whiteboards, recycling…
Keep the front of your room - especially around the board/screen, free of clutter
Make it a space to have fun in. Remember you will be spending alot of time in this space.
You can find my other Beginning Teacher posts here;
How do you make your room feel welcoming without going over the top? We would love it if you shared your tips and joined the conversation and left a comment below.
