If you’re a new teacher, just moved into a new space, or want to freshen up your look, there’s never been a better time to give your classroom a little personality.
Students appreciate walking into a classroom that feels homey and gives off a fun, personalized vibe. And, you’ll be spending a lot of time in your classroom, so it’s for your benefit as well! It doesn’t take much work to take a drab, boring room and make it bright and inviting, either.
Read on for six ways to immediately transform your classroom into a welcoming and personalized space.
1. Use personality-driven wall decorations. You could use decorations from your local teaching supply store and make your classroom look like every other classroom in the building. Or, you could go to home decor stores and pick out original items that you really love.
Find a color scheme that makes the classroom feel cohesive and pick out decor items in those colors. Choose fresh, happy colors that are relaxing and enlivening. Steer clear of colors that are too bold or too fluorescent. They’ll be distracting instead of calming.
2. Create student art space. Kids love to show off what they’ve created and what better space for that than in the classroom? Use existing cork or magnetic boards to create small art galleries of students’ work. Get their input on how to design and organize it. It will make the classroom feel like it’s theirs, too.
Alternatively, you can use these display spaces to showcase creative lessons. If you have students creatively draw or paint a science lesson, dedicate a board to this lesson and show how different students interpreted it through art. Get creative and get kids involved!
3. Bring in the lamps! That harsh, overhead lighting is the farthest thing from homey that you can get. To counteract the clinical glare, bring in some house lamps to put around the classroom. Stick one on your desk, another on a counter, and put a couple floor lamps in the back corners of the room.
You can also make the room more festive and inviting with mood lighting. Bring in pretty hanging lights and lanterns. Put white holiday lights around the artboard or over the windows. Anything unique and fun will do the trick.
4. Fill your room with green. Want more life in your classroom? Add some live plants! Houseplants can be a fun way to involve students in caring for their school space. They also just make everything feel a tiny bit fresher and more lively. You can teach kids about how plants give us oxygen and the many wonderful ways that humans and plants benefit each other.
If you want to bring in an animal for the classroom to care for, it can be a fun experience for students. Just make sure that you’re up for the commitment and that you know how to protect the animal from being mishandled or overhandled. And don’t forget to bring Fluffy or Slimy home over the holidays!
5. Fabric for a softer look. Typical classrooms are full of hard chairs, desks, filing cabinets, bookshelves, and other furnishings. Hard furniture is anything but comforting. How do you counteract the hard effect?
Put curtains over your windows and throw pillows on chairs. Keep a few lap blankets for students that are chilly. Add rugs with a higher pile to bring more softness to the room.
6. Comforting and personality-filled furniture. Typical student furniture is very important, but it’s not all there is to an excellent classroom space. Add in a different kind of teacher chair that showcases your own personality and is better for your back. Find shelves and other cabinets that are warm looking instead of institutional. Add great looking padded chairs into the room to add variety and unique tables and chairs for better function and learning experiences.
Don’t forget to create a reading nook! Include cozy rugs, beanbag chairs, a comfortable couch, bookshelves, and other warm touches to the corner. You can use a lot of design elements in this space to really make your classroom personalized.
Personalize for Impact Students enjoy spaces that feel warm and that make sense. They thrive with teachers that know how to make their classrooms a wonderful place to learn and grow. You don’t need to do anything radical to your classroom to give it that personalized touch. And you certainly don’t need to do it all at once. Just keep working at it and soon your students will be telling you that your classroom is their favorite place at school!
When you’re ready to upgrade classroom furniture and find chairs, tables and other furnishings that will make your space come alive, reach out to Classroom Essentials Online. We offer a wide selection of student and classroom furnishings and pride ourselves on quality customer service. We’d love to help you find the best solutions for your needs. You can find us online at classroomessentialsonline.com and by calling (866) 404-7671.
