DIY:Decorating my Dream Classroom_Teacher Aurelija MC->Designer

[July-August, 2014]
Once the hardest repairs of the classroom were completed I began to think a lot about classroom design for the first school year. 

I wanted to choose a topic that reflects the whole school year, not only in the classroom walls, but also in the tasks that I will present to the students, the activities we will do with children and so on. Since we are a seaport school, I chose the theme "Travel to a vast ocean of knowledge".

It was important for me to classify the class into thematic "areas" according to their purpose. Another thing that matters to me was this: I decided to make  every decoration, decoration element or teaching tool with my hands. I wanted my pupils to realize from the very first moment that a man can create anything with his hands and effort.

Let's start with the rules of the class.On the wall between the two windows there was an old heating element that we repainted...but I still wanted to hide it. This created the idea of creating a special space for class rules. I've been developing class rules for quite some time because I wanted them to be understandable and close to first-grade students. I set the rules according to importance (most important at the top of the wall).
Later, my students successfully mastered the rules of this class and tried to respect them honestly.

Each of our class rules was presented on a black-colored sheet of paper and marked with colored chalk. I wanted this to remind students of the school backboard. Below is a list of the rules we have agreed to follow. Maybe it will be useful to somebody :)

Our class rules:
1. Be brave and do not be afraid to take risks.
2. Never give up.
3. Try to do good works and help others.
4. Ask a lot of questions, take interest.
5. Listen when someone speaks.
6. Learn, work and play effectively, honestly and safely.
7. Stay polite, kind, attentive and caring student / friend / child.

READING is a complicated process but it is one of the best ways to help children to improve on various aspects. It has been also noted that reading can help those children who have learning and behavioral problems, survive peer excursions, have low self-esteem, poor social skills, suffered injuries. Reading books often helps these children to feel better, change their behavior, develop and grow personally.
For these reasons, I wanted the reading area to be extremely attractive and suitable for students with different reading abilities.

 Here's what I did:
- I removed the door of the closet and made the little library of our class open to everyone.
- I painted the shelves in bright colors and decorated them so that students would enjoy the little library.
- I collected all the books for kids I just had in the library at my home (all of which belonged to me when I was a kid). An important point here is this: I carefully wrapped each (even the smallest) book with dust-cover so that students learn to save and preserve books from the very beginning.
- I've put soft pillows and pillowcases next to the little library so that the readers feel comfortable.
- In the header of the little library I wrote the letter "E" on the contrary: I wanted to provoke my students a little. As I noticed later, this step proved to be beneficial and the note became very cute and close to first-grade students.

 

I spoke about the influence of colors earlier ( here. ).
For the same reason, I also wanted to colorfully decorate the classroom ceiling. Until then nobody had done anything at school because the ceilings were very high, requiring special ladders.
My Dad lent me the ladder. So I made colorful flags from the colored paper. I also produced a cute white garlands of little clouds using white paper (it looked very playful on the ceiling). In one shopping mall, I accidentally found colored paper lanterns that hung on the classroom lamps.

Also a very important element of the classroom decoration, which later served as a learning tool, was the garland with an alphabet on the front-class wall. At that time, I did not receive any Lithuanian alphabet cards, so I decided to make them by myself. I bought a lot of colored paper.
I made one flag from each sheet of A4 paper. On individual pink cards, I have beautifully written each of alphabet letters (uppercase and lowercase). I glued the cards on the flags and decorated them with yellow stripes and rollers. This alphabet hanged there for a year. It was "held" by two little first-graders (silhouettes of black paper).

I paid a lot of attention to the development of classroom stands. There weren't any stands in the classroom before and the school could not offer me something either. Because of this, my Dad made the stands by himself: he used old window frames for this. First he took out their glass, repainted them white, snapped a thin wooden plate instead of glass and covered it with a corrugated cover.

I decorated two stands with colored paper strips. Then I used regular paper napkins to make a colorful "pom poms". I found the all progress in this link: here These decorations hung on the stands for the whole school year. Only the content of the stands has changed.

Another area I wanted to decorate was a washroom area. I used the colored paper to create an application "The friendship of water, soap and hands".  This symbol should help students keep in mind the importance of regular and correct hand washing. Above the sink I also hung a playful hand-washing poster with a clearly marked moves.

 

The last but not the worst accent in the classroom was my work desk. I wanted it to reflect on my personality and become an example of creativity for students. So first of all I wrote down my name on the red paper with fine art. I thought that would make it easier for children to remember it in the early days of school. I decorated a poster with the portrait silhouette of myself. How to make such a product can be found  here.

I also made my own pencil case for the most important items. I used various old boxes of food (rice, peas, salt) and finished rolls of toilet paper for this purpose. I decorated each element with colorful wrapping paper and covered with playful souvenirs. Then I used the cover of the shoe box as a base and clutched everything on it. Great pencil case (has served me for four years already)! I decided to produce a pencil case by myself  with the purpose. I wanted my students to realize that most household waste can be and MUST BE recycled or sorted. The idea has come true. Many student later told me they were also producing a pencil case or storage box for things (together with their parents).

So as you can see, there are no bad colors! Until now, I'm glad I was not afraid to let them into my classroom.

See you next time! 🙋