New Room!
I have a confession. I am going through withdrawal. I am not setting up a room this September. I am looking at all these amazing class designs and posts and I couldn't do it. Tear.
Until....I volunteered my services in another room. This classroom is not a middle school classroom, it is a grade 2 French Immersion classroom.
Here is the before picture. I have pointed out three areas that I wanted to change.
The first was the lack of boarders and consistency in colours. The yellow up top, red below and all the "cute" boarders are different. Nothing pulling it in all together. It felt all over the place.
The second area is the lack of a reading nook. That bulletin board with the anchor charts left up from last year was the language board. The shelf contained books and there was a table for students to sit at but there was nothing cozy about it.
The third was the boarders. As I mentioned above they were not consistent and needed some wow but not overpowering. I wanted to pull in the yellow from the wall, the red from the bulletin board to make it feel more consistent.
The teacher of this room liked the red bulletin boards so I wanted to keep the red. I used double boarders up here! I have not done this in the past and I think it adds an extra pop to the bulletin board.
The top bulletin boards were painted black, double board and numbers for reference.
Since this is a second language classroom it is very helpful to have numbers available for reference.
The students input was that they used this the most in the classroom.
I think asking the student's what they thought of the room at the end of the year is beneficial to any teacher setting up. There are areas in the room that are difficult to reach so you may only want to set it up once a year.
What do you put on those areas that can benefit a whole year?
In this classroom, numbers for reference.
The language and math bulletin board are empty to build together as the year progresses.
The "notre travail" (our work) board is waiting for work to be displayed.
The best addition I felt was the reading area.
On the shelf that you can not see are books in bins for the students to choose from. There are now pillows, a carpet and cushions to sit on. As the year progresses the plan is to add more pillows and cozy seating.
Just a small sample of this room. I am itching to re due my room now!
Love this! What a great example of how small changes can really bring a room together. I'm jealous of your reading corner - I wish I could add something similar (but a high school science lab just doesn't have the space)(and cushions are flammable!). The double border idea is just fab. I bet the students will feel like they're entering a whole new room this fall! Are your services for hire? :)
ReplyDeleteI really like the changes that you made too, especially the reading area! I think that this cozy area for enjoying a good book is so important. Even my Grade 5's last year loved our reading nook, and they would go there often to read. (I LOVED that!)
ReplyDeleteI do like the different colour choices you made, but I wonder about so much colour. What about those students that find it distracting? Are there other areas in the room that might help with this? I think that self-regulation and colour choices can depend a lot on the student and class make-up, and while I haven't always worried as much about this, I've been thinking about it more lately. I'd be curious to hear what others have to say.
Aviva
I agree. I had hesitation with the red as well. There are some other areas in the classroom that are softer and not as distracting. I have some interest now- after hearing about how self regulation is linked with colour choices about other colours as well. Thanks Aviva for the comment.
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