CCP: Episode 22 // Classroom Decor and Design Made Easy
An inviting and student-centered classroom design sets the tone for your school year.
You don’t have the spend hours decorating your classroom in order to create a cohesive and welcoming environment for your students. In this episode, you’ll learn some simple teacher tips and design hacks to make a classroom that will WOW your students from day one!
Learn tips for choosing a theme or color scheme for your classroom, making the most of your classroom space, DIY projects that ANYONE can do, as well as some bonus ideas that will take your classroom look to the next level!
Highlights from the Episode:
My FAVORITE part about planning for back to school! (3:22)
Choosing a classroom theme or color scheme (4:16)
Planning your room arrangement and making the most of your space (6:47)
making the most of your wall space (or lack there of)
arranging student work spaces (traditional vs. flexible seating)
to have a teacher desk, or NOT to have a teacher desk (it might be time to get rid of it!)
creating simple classroom storage
Classroom DIY projects (11:37)
Use cheap supplies such as spray paint, sticky contact paper, and tissue paper to create simple DIY projects for your classroom
Bonus decorating tips to create a cozy and inviting classroom (14:11)
add lamps throughout your classroom
use real or fake plants
put a welcome mat outside of your classroom door
hang up curtains and valences to classroom windows
have students bring in family pictures to place in frame around the classroom
Resources and Links mentioned in the Episode:
Get cheap black and white or color printing (and your first month FREE) with the HP Instant Ink Program
Check out these printable classroom theme decor collections from The Classroom Nook
Grab a FREE classroom design guide for a your favorite theme HERE.
Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced DIY projects for the classroom
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Transcript
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CCP: Episode 22 // Classroom Decor and Design Made Easy was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the latest audio-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors. Sonix is the best audio automated transcription service in 2020. Our automated transcription algorithms works with many of the popular audio file formats.
Hey, teachers, if you have a classroom and a commute, you're in the right place. I'm your host, Rachael, and I want to ride along with you each week on your ride into school. This podcast is the place for busy teachers who want actionable tips, simple strategies, and just want to enjoy their job more. Let's go.
Before we jump into the show, I want to let you in on a little secret. In fact, it's the best kept teachers secret that I've come across in a long time -- and I want everyone to know about it. For years, I would drive to my local print shop to have classroom decorations and resources that I created printed off in color. Now, only did this cost me a lot of money, fifty-six cents a page, to be exact - But it was such a hassle and a waste of time to drive all the way over to the print shop, often on a weekly basis, and wait for my order to be complete.
That's why I was thrilled when I came across the HP Instant Ink Program. HP Instant Ink is the perfect membership for teachers who do a lot of printing in black and white, or even color, and they want to be able to do so for only a few dollars each month using an Instant Ink approved printer - I got mine for under a hundred bucks. You can print your classroom resources right at home for as little as $2.99 a month. They have several plans to choose from to meet your printing needs. And the best part -- Instant Ink keeps track of your printing ink levels and will ship you new ink before you run out so that you never go low on ink in the middle of a project. This program has been a lifesaver for me and has saved me so much time and money, so I couldn't keep it a secret any longer. Right now you can get a free month of Instant Ink to get started. Just go to classroomnook.com/instantink to get all the details. Happy printing.
Hey, guys, welcome to the first week of the Getting Your Year in Gear Teacher Summer Challenge. I'm Rachael, your host, and if you don't know what I'm talking about, make sure you head back to the previous episode, episode 21, where I talk about what the challenges, what we cover in the challenge, and how you can get set up and started with the challenge.
But if you are ready to hit the ground running, this is your starting point. We are starting our first theme to help you prepare and get back to school, feeling less stressed and help you to plan with intention so that you are ready for the beginning of the school year. Now, if you're not participating in the challenge, per say, this episode is still going to be filled with lots of valuable information that will help you take some action when you are planning and designing your classroom for the new school year. But if you want those free resources that I'm gonna be talking about in today's episode to help you take action, make sure you sign up for the challenge at classroomnook.com/yearingear.
All right. This is one of my favorite things to talk about. Listen, I was that teacher that was in her classroom all summer long. I painted my classroom some years. I would do all the things to get ready and put all my effort into designing and decorating the classroom. It was my jam and I loved it.
Of course, that was before I had kids and I could spend all day in a hot, sweaty classroom over the summer - because we had no air conditioned in our school - But that's besides the point. I'm so excited to share this theme with you, because when our students arrive on that first day of school, we want them to be wowed. We want them to feel like, 'wow, I can't believe this is my classroom. This is the most amazing classroom ever.' And so even if decorating your classroom is your least favorite thing to do at the start of a school year, I want to give you some simple things that you can do to make your classroom look and feel special for your students.
The first thing that you might want to consider when planning and designing your classroom is to consider a theme or a color scheme. Now, you don't have to go crazy here to be effective. We've all seen those Pinterest-worthy classrooms where everything is designed down to the final detail. You don't have to do that in order to have a nice theme or color scheme in your classroom. But having a color scheme or a theme gives you a little focus when you are decorating your classroom. If you have a color scheme or a theme for your classroom, it keeps you from getting distracted from buying items that don't match that color scheme or theme.
So it really helps you to actually stay focused in your design and we'll help simplify the whole process. I personally used themes in my classroom and over the years, as I've been out of the classroom, I've developed several printable classroom decor kits that you can simply print and put up in your classroom. Simple as that. I will link to those collections in the show notes. But I also have, if you want to DIY it yourself, put together some classroom design guides for several popular classroom themes, themes like ocean, pirates, circus, beach, dog camping, jungle, Hollywood, sports and music. These guides have everything that you need to design a classroom around your desired theme. And these are just some free guides. So if you want those, head over to the show notes at classroomnook.com/podcast/22 To get your hands on one of those guides to help you plan your theme.
Now, if it's a color scheme that you're going for, think about choosing only one or two colors. If you go with too many colors, it can get a little chaotic. It can be a little too busy for your students. So I always suggest choosing one or two colors and then maybe an accent color like a black or a gray or some other neutral color. And like the printable decor themes, I also have color scheme printable packs as well. And I will link to those in the show notes too.
So your first tip for creating a really amazing looking classroom is to consider a theme or a color scheme for your classroom. And if you need some resources to support you, head over to the show notes and grab one of those design guides I have done for you or a printable decor collection.
The next thing that you're going to want to really think about and plan out as you are preparing your classroom for the new school year is your room arrangement and making the most of your space. Think about the wall space that you have, for example. Maybe you have very little space. Maybe you have too much wall space. Maybe you don't have any windows, or you have an entire wall of windows - and therefore it feels like unusable space because you can't put up posters and things like that. One of the ideas that we share inside the Getting Your Year in Gear teacher challenge is how to make the most of your wall space. So let's say that you have no bulletin boards already installed in your classroom. You can make your own bulletin boards by purchasing large cork boards and then wrapping those cork boards, if you want, in fabric or in wrapping paper and then hanging those cork boards on the wall to create your own bulletin boards.
Maybe you're lacking wall space, re-purpose your classroom door and cover it with that craft paper that we often use for bulletin boards and use that as a display for your classroom. Or take the side of a bookshelf or the back of a bookshelf, or the side of a filing cabinet, or even closet doors -- any space that's flat that you can cover with craft paper can be transformed into a bulletin board or a place to display student work.
Once you have your wall space figured out. Now let's think about the arrangement of your student working spaces. And I say "student working spaces" because maybe you have traditional desks or maybe you are going to opt for a flexible seating arrangement this year and allow students to work in and around your classroom instead of at desks. We might need to get really creative this year after having come off the pandemic. We may not be able to have our students sitting closely together at tables and desks like we have done in previous years. Instead, we might need to offer students choices to spread out throughout the classroom. And we need to think about how that would work in our classroom setup. So if that's the case, consider using things like stability balls or carpet squares or those foam squares. Even yoga mats are great to help define a learning space area. If you are using traditional desks, think about how you can create space between them in order to maintain distance between students. Again, inside the Getting Your Year in Gear teacher challenge that Mary Beth and I have for you, we go through a lot of ideas and into great detail about how to arrange your classroom so that it makes sense for your group of students.
Another important component of room arrangement is your teacher desk. Now, if you are in a small classroom, you may even want to consider getting rid of your teacher desk all together. Now, I know that sounds kind of scary. You may feel like you will not have space to work, but it could really maximize the space of your classroom. You might be thinking, 'where will I put all my stuff?' Well, there are lots of options that you can consider for organizing your stuff. Things like a movable rolling cart that you put all your things on that you can then move around the room and use wherever you need it. You might consider using your small group table that you might use for guided reading or strategy groups and things like that. And using that as your workspace when you're alone in the classroom, grading papers and doing things like that. And you can store your lesson plans and any teacher resources in cupboards or in filing cabinets. But guys, I did this my last year teaching and I wish I would have done it many years prior to that because it really makes a huge difference in the amount of space that you have in your classroom.
And finally, on the topic of room arrangement, let's talk about storage. So many times we feel like we don't have enough storage. But there are some ways that we can be creative to give us storage that also doubles as seating for students. For example, you can buy those large Rubbermaid containers and put a cushion over the top. And students can use those around your guided reading table. They can sit on top of them using the cushion, but then inside each Rubbermaid container, you could store supplies that maybe you don't use on a regular basis, but you still need to have in your classroom.
You can create a table skirt that goes around one of the tables in your classroom and store materials underneath it. Use an over-the-door shoe holders inside a closet somewhere to store small pieces for games or math manipulatively and things like that. Guys, we cover so many more ideas inside the Getting Your Year in Gear teacher challenge. So I hope that you will sign up for that to get tons of other resources and ideas for solving those storage problems that you may experience in your classroom.
All right. Let's move on from classroom arrangement and let's talk about some ways that you can put your own spin, your own flair on the design of your classroom through DIY projects. Now, if you're like me, you despise DIY, which is kind of funny because I love the whole aspect of decorating my classroom, but I hate being crafty. I'm the kind of person that will want to get out all the craft things because I'm motivated to get something done and then once I have everything out, I don't feel like actually doing it because I just don't enjoy doing crafts. But there are some DIY projects that you can do for your classroom that are simple, that will really make a big difference on the overall look of your classroom.
For example, spray paint can do wonders to giving your classroom a cohesive look. If your school allows it, maybe you can spray paint tables or chairs, or you can find chairs at garage sales and you can spray paint them to go along with the theme or color scheme of your classroom. You can also spray paint, plastic storage bins or even clipboards to match your classroom theme or color scheme. Take off the labels of soup cans and spray paint the soup cans different colors as well, and then use those soup cans for things like pencil holders and pens, or to store your scissors, markers and other things that would fit inside of a soup can. Super easy and takes just a very cheap can of spray paint to really make it match your classroom. If you're a coffee drinker and your coffee comes in one of those really large metal tins with the lids on top. Take those, once you're done with the coffee, and spray paint them to be used to store manipulatives or center items or games or anything else that may fit in them. Guys, a can of spray paint can do wonders for your classroom and it makes for a very easy DIY project.
Using sticky contact paper is another easy and cheap way to decorate your classroom with a theme or a color scheme. You can put these on the sides of filing cabinets or on the fronts of cupboards, if your school allows it to give a cohesive look as well.
One last simple DIY project that anybody can do is to create those tissue paper pompoms that you often see hanging from ceilings - so easy to make. And you can do them in any color. They really just add a fun feature to your classroom. You can find video tutorials all over YouTube to create those if you've never made them yourself, but they're super simple.
And finally, I just wanted to share some bonus tips for helping your classroom feel cozy and inviting for your students. Consider adding lamps throughout your classroom, maybe in your reading nook corner, or somewhere else where students might be working. They really add a cozy feel as opposed to those harsh lights that most classrooms come with in the ceiling. You can decorate your classroom with real or even fake plants and put those throughout your classroom to help make it more inviting for your students. Why not put a welcome mat outside of your classroom for students to walk over as they come into your classroom each morning? It helps make students feel like they're walking into their second home, which is how we want our students to view the classroom.
Adding curtains or valences to your windows really helps to soften the look of your classroom. And it's easy to make or buy curtains to match your color scheme or theme as well.
And finally, as the school year gets underway, consider inviting your students to bring in pictures of their families from home and put them in frames in your classroom to help build that classroom community with your students.
All right. We have covered a lot of information about designing and decorating your classroom at the start of the school year. So let's just take a quick moment to run through some of those ideas that we talked about. The first thing that you need to think about and plan for is whether or not you want to include a color scheme or theme into your classroom. And if you want some resources for that, I have design guides as well as printable decor collections. All of the information for how to access those is over at the show notes at classroomnook.com/podcast/22.
We also talked about classroom arrangement and making the most of your wall space as well as considering traditional versus flexible seating, especially as we are entering into a new year with some different guidelines as to how our students are allowed to interact with each other due to the pandemic. So that might play a role into how we arrange our classrooms this year.
We also talked about perhaps getting rid of your teacher desk in hopes to maximize the space, especially if you have a small classroom.
We talked about some creative ways that we can maximize the storage in your classroom, things like using Rubbermaid containers with a padded seat on top so students can sit on those around your guided reading table, but also double as storage as well.
From there, we talked about some simple DIY projects, things like using spray paint or even contact paper to add color and details to your classroom to match whatever theme or color scheme you may have going on. And I didn't mention this before, so I'll mention it now that I have a blog post over on the website, all about DIY projects for beginners to intermediate to advanced DIY-ers that you can check out if you want to. And I will link to that in the show notes as well.
And then finally, we talked about some bonus things that you can do in your classroom, things like adding lamps or plants, or a welcome mat, or even curtains and family pictures in your classroom to help create a cozy and inviting environment. And of course, this only just scratches the surface of what we cover in the Getting Your Year in Gear teacher challenge. So if you haven't already signed up for that, I would encourage you to do so. You can do that at classroomnook.com/yearingear.
All right. So there you have it. Getting your classroom decorated for a successful school year. We are just getting started with planning for the new school year. I hope you will join me again next week as we tackle a new back to school planning topic - all about organizing and taking inventory in your classroom. Until then, bye for now.
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