Setting up a classroom, whether it’s your tenth classroom or the first classroom that is all your own, is overwhelming! It’s tough to know where to start, and many teachers feel the need to create a Pinterest-worthy classroom before the students even arrive for the first day of school – but that’s just not needed! Your focus should be on making your classroom functional and comfortable, for both your students and yourself! Here are some tips to get you headed in the right direction!
1. Think It Through!
Setting up your classroom is actually not the first thing you should do to prepare for the school year! Your classroom should be set up around the routines and procedures that your students will utilize each day, meaning that you need to have a rough idea of what these routines or procedures even are! Before you set anything up, think carefully about how students will turn in papers, where communal supplies will be and how they will be accessed, how students will get help if needed, and how students will see and interact with the main teaching area, just to name a few. For example, if students will need to move to your desk to get help, you will want to set up student seating that is accessible from your desk. If you are going to utilize turn-in bins for each class, where can they be easily accessible? It can be helpful to imagine you are a student and mentally walk through a typical day in your classroom, paying special attention to the places you need to access. Then, make sure these areas are clear, organized, and easily accessible to all!
Bonus Tip: Set up a mockup of your classroom in Google Slides or Powerpoint! Use the shapes icons to create an outline of your classroom and use shapes or pictures to represent student desks, classroom furniture, and other features! Then, drag and drop them to experiment and create different classroom arrangements without lifting a finger!
2. Avoid Themes!
In my opinion, themes can be stressful to plan and can become outdated easily, meaning you’ll need to refresh and change things up in your classroom more often. Instead, focus on a general color scheme of 2-3 colors and stick with it year after year. I use mainly cool tones in my classroom, so I have class decor that is mainly blue, black, and white. Then turn-in bins I use, my student supply cart, and any bulletin boards are all variations on the color scheme, meaning they look good together! It also makes it easy to know what will match and what won’t as I’m shopping for classroom items. Also, these colors won’t go out of style, so I know I won’t need to start from scratch all over again! In addition, using color theory can help you achieve the vibe you want in your classroom. For example, using cool tones can have a calming effect on students, while using bright tones can increase energy and excitement!
3. Use Decor with a Purpose!
Instead of putting up too many distracting decorations, I recommend using classroom decor that serves a purpose, such as reference posters! Even in middle school, anchor charts or technology tools posters are a great addition to any classroom. For a math classroom, place value posters, number lines, and other visuals can be so helpful to students and can stay up for most of the year. For ELA classes, spelling posters, plot diagrams, and character trait posters are great to leave up! Continue to model referencing these posters throughout your units to help instill the concepts in your students and really get the most use out of your classroom decor!
P.S. love the bilingual place value posters pictured? Snag them here!
4. Give Every Item a Home!
Storage issues have a huge impact on the feeling in a classroom – they can distract students, limit functionality, and frustrate busy teachers! Create an organized system for backstock items or resources not often used. If your classroom has built-in storage, consider yourself lucky! I use free-standing cube storage shelves and labeled bins, which allows my instructional assistants or students to find items easily if they need to. Whatever it looks like, group similar items together. For example, my “Glue & Tape” bin holds all of my duct tape, painter’s tape, scotch tape refills, glue bottles, glue sticks, and velcro dots! Hold yourself accountable for putting items back where they belong – it will only take a few seconds, but will save you time and frustration when you go to look for the item later! Also, making time to clean out and declutter worn out, broken, or items you don’t need anymore as you come across them will help make sure your organization system stays functional. After all, it’s much easier to organize when you are first entering a classroom than when you are 15 years in!
5. Be Open to Change
Lastly, be open to changing your set-up! Especially in your first few years of teaching or the first few weeks of the school year, you will try new things and change your classroom arrangement when something isn’t working. It takes time to nail down classroom routines and routes, so get creative and try something new! Once you find a set-up that works – take a picture! This will help you remember what you liked when things get moved around or you move schools!
Which tip are you most excited to try while setting up your room this year? Let me know in the comments!
