Sprucing Up Schools
Posted by Amy Erickson on 10 Aug 2009 | Posted in: Classroom Routines, Organization and Supplies, Teachers and Teaching
I’m pretty particular when it comes to how my office looks. Since I’m at work a good bit of the day, I like my office to be neat but homey. I felt the same way about my classroom. I always made sure it was cheery and inviting. The institutional-green cinder-block walls weren’t a big help in that respect, but curtains, rugs, rockers, and pillows went a long way toward brightening things up!
In one school where I taught, a custodian had painted murals in several rooms. I was on
e of the lucky ones who had a room with a mural. It was a gorgeous marsh scene, and it certainly made my room look interesting and fun. Recently I visited a school where it is a yearly tradition for students to paint a mural on a hallway wall. It not only spruces up the school but also gives kids a sense of ownership. Can you imagine how the kids feel, knowing they created something that others will enjoy for years to come? How cool is that? I’m always inspired by the ideas teachers come up with to make their schools and classrooms inviting.
Congratulations to Linda Powell of Powell Family Child Care in Eureka, California. She is the winner of a copy of Math Melodies, PreK-K.
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Wow, I have gotten so many good ideas from your posts and I am going to incorporate them into my Headstart classroom. Thank you.
WOW - the ideas that everyone has posted are excellent! Thanks for sharing!
I teach prekinder in a school that was originally built for upper-level grades. All of the bulletin board space is up high, far from the students’ eye level.
While I do use my bulletin boards, I try to put most things up at the student level. They get so excited about seeing their own work showcased. It gives the room a happy, student-friendly feeling. And the students always want to bring in their parents to show off their work!
Like Amy, our school is fairly new, but reeks of institution!! When I moved from my third grade room from the past two years, to my new first grade room, the view out the windows was of the high school track and bleachers, instead of the mountain view previously…and the inside of the room was dirty linen gray!! A plethora of tempura paints later (because they wash off in case some school official gets cranky), created a “Very Hungry Caterpillar” 4-wall mural showing the four stages of a butterfly (a first grade standard). It only took my husband and I about 30 hours each to complete the four walls and both the students and my fellow teachers enjoy being in our “new” classroom!
My classroom is full of momentos from past students. The wall behind my desk is filled with drawings, notes and school pictures students. This summer I took them all down and laminated them into collages on poster board so they will keep longer.
The side of my desk is taped full of messages and small gifts to me. Collages with more tape and glue then paper and many different hats were the favorite last year. My Quality Quinn board is filled with quality work.
It may look like a disorganized mess to many-but to myself and my 25 kindergartners it is the prettiest classroom in the whole school.
This is a really neat thing… I just recently attended my 20th High School Reunion and one of my dearest friends painted a mural in the hallway of our High School our Sr. year; It is still there today! She was so happy it had never been painted over! The School had even encased it in plexiglass.
I’m lucky enough to work in a relatively new school - we opened in the fall of 2005. We have drywall, which looks great although it makes hanging stuff up harder than with cinderblocks. Each classroom has three white walls. The fourth wall is either pale purple or pale green, depending on which hallway you’re in. The hallways are painted pale purple/pale green as well. We have colorful carpeting in the halls. So, luckily, we don’t have to do too much to spruce things up!
I don’t have much wall space in my classroom, so I bring in lots of color by buying yards of different school themed fabrics and covering the tops of some of my work tables, rolling cart, movable cabinets, and mailbox area. For the walls I have 2 bulletin boards that get covered in bright colors, and I cover my cupboard and bathroom doors with posters and the other necessities for a classroom. I display student work outside my classroom as if the wall were a huge bulletin board.
Both schools I’ve taught in are older, and one great thing about it is that the district didn’t mind if we painted. My sister is artistic, so in my first classroom, I took a photo of a great old Maple tree and had her copy it–floor to ceiling–on my reading corner wall. It was awesome! In fall, I attached diecut leaves with the students’ sayings about autumn. In winter, I used snowflakes on the branches, and I added flowers in the spring. Every time I looked at that tree, I felt happy. I’m still in the same district, but my grade level moved to another building. I was sad to leave my tree, but was elated to discover that the new teacher decided to keep my happy lil’ tree!
Over the years I have tried many different things to make my room more inviting. The best thing I have found is using the children’s work, pictures of them and having each child bring in something that is very special to them. Add pillows and other soft things are wonderful. I too would like to try the mural.
I’ve seen classrooms where the teacher allow the students at the end of the year to decorate a ceiling tile. They get together, decide on a theme and pick an artist. You could also do it at the beginning of the year as a team building activity.
It ends up being a source of pride for the students and some interesting ceiling art at the same time!
It is amazing how much difference atmosphere can make in a classroom. When I started in my room, there was next to nothing. It’s been a constant work in progress, but the pillows and decorations make a huge difference. My goal is to incorporate some “real” artwork in the class as well. Something that can rotate and give the children a view of the history of art.
Our whole wall over by our quiet corner houses the children’s process-oriented art and always looks like a modern art display. Too bad we can’t do a mural…
I have a reading corner that my students get a chance to sit and read in. The corner has a bean bag, stuffed animals, pillows, and a rug. Colorful bulletin boards and posters help to ease the monotony of a solid white wall. I also like to hang up my students’ art work in the hallway and from the classroom ceiling.
I work as an after-school program teacher and one classroom decorating idea I have to share is using many pictures of my students. From family photos in a photo ablum and standing frames on various shelves to individual photos of their faces (up close. I put their face photos on their cubbies. I also use their face photos as “markers” for our reading race -they move themselves around the “game board” on a poster. I also take pictures of them doing various activities-especially those activities outdoors-hula hooping, sliding, jump roping, etc. and then blowing up the pictures to 8 x 11 1/2 and displaying them around the room. (It’s less expensive then buying those picture cards at a “teaching store.”) It really unites the differing age groups that I have and they love showing their pictures off to their parents and relatives.
I am teaching in a school made up of several buildings. There are no hallways to decorate, the buildings are not even connected. I have found that is challenging to create a sense of community due to this arrangement…everyone feels seprate. I hang as much student work on my walls as I can to create a sense of ownership at least in our room. Hopefully someday (soon)we will be able to move on to a campus that was built to be a school not the convert space we now use.
Curtains, rugs, a rocker, a recliner, and pillows have been in my reading classroom for many years now. In addition to those items, my shelves are full of awesome books and their respective characters. Kids love to read to the characters, and/or put on plays with Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the Three Little Pigs, Franklin, Little Bear, Clifford, Curious George, Arthur and D.W., Spider and Lady Bug, and many other characters. I even have a stuffed, scary Big Bad Wolf, Goldilocks doll, and an adorable Mudge dog (discovered at my local Good Will store for about $1.00 each)! Play practice, with its repetitive readings, makes fluency (expression, rate, and accuracy) absolutely attainable, even for my struggling readers. Last year a mother came in for conferences and paid a great compliment: “No wonder … likes to come in here to read! This room is so homey and comfortable!”
The mural’s sound very nice. I teach in a K-2 building and we’ve talked about designing murals around the drinking faucets and on some walls. In our Intermediate School (3-5) the fifth graders decorate a 4 x 4 inch tile and they put them on the hallway walls to make a border. The art teacher has been doing this for many years. She is now on her second row going around the school. It is really nice for the kids to leave something when they move on to Jr. High. It would be nice if our second grade could do something like that too. Keep sending those ideas, they’re nice to share when I go back to school!
I’m truly impressed with the idea of a mural. It gives the kids a sense of ownership and makes the room very homey. I would definitely tell my school staff all about it. I can’t wait to transform my classroom into an exciting and inviting place to learn.
I also like Kim’s idea of bringing in something personal from each student. I think, especially for younger children, that this might make them feel more at home in the classroom.
I’m still in college, so I don’t have a classroom of my own - but I’m really hoping to take some of these ideas and apply them to my own class someday! It’s my hope that students will feel comfortable being themselves in my classroom.
I love Kim’s idea of inviting student’s to bring in something of comfort or importance to decorate the classroom. Decorating my classroom is one of my favorite things to do. I always include some of my favorite items to make it cozy for me. With Kim’s idea I can include my student’s in the decorating process which will certainly add to the community feeling.
We have very little wall space available due to window (wonderful natural lighting, but…) so we hang a lot of things from the ceiling.
How neat- I love the idea of a mural. I wish I knew why they use that ugly color everywhere…yuk.
I try to be sure to hang pictures of my students and hang their work. I would love to try the mural.
My school is sponsored by my church. We just moved into a new facility with a GORGEOUS preschool space. The theme is “Friendship Island” with an ocean/island theme. The kids walk by whales and dolphins as they walk through the hallways, eventually moving up to the land and skies. We gave a tour of our school last week for new families to our school, and one three-year-old walked through the hallways, mouth wide open, and exclaimed, “This place is amazing!!”
When I was in 7th grade I won a mural design contest - the student with the best mural design was allowed to create their mural over our dull, institutional blue-green cinder blocks. (The janitor painted it white first, I think.) Ironically, during student teaching, I returned to this school - to the same wing as the mural! It was nice to reminisce about the old times and the old murals - as well as enjoy the new murals. Having a community mural would be so much more enjoyable - for everyone - wouldn’t it?
Does anyone know why schools, hospitals and other “institutions” always used that same blue-green-gray color on everything?
At my school. fifth graders get to leave a lasting contribution to the school. During their last six weeks of art, they design and paint a ceiling tile. The boring white ones are then replaced by their unique and colorful contributions to our school. I’ve seen students come back yearly to reminisce their grade school days.
I give each of my students a Ziploc bag and invite them to bring in a special item or photgraph, which we then find a special spot for on a wall or bookshelf. Each student introduces the item, and tells about its meaning. They help take care of the area their item “lives in,” which helps keep the room tidy, and are invited to swap out the item at the start of each quarter. It’s a great was to decorate the room and bring in kids’ personalities, while building a sense of community respect. To get the project started, I send home the following invitation:
Please bring in a personal joy item that can be displayed in class. This special momento or item should be something that brings you comfort, and can fit inside this bag. It should be something that has meaning to you, but would not cause heartbreak or financial burden if it were to be damaged or lost. It the past, students have brought in small stuffed animals, figurines, baseballs, ribbons, or photgraphs of items too precious or large for this project. We’ve had pictures of pets, grandparents, fishing holes, and even one of a bat hanging from a student’s dining room chandelier!
I have never had the opportunity to do a mural or in the school where the children do the mural. I can see how it would be very rewarding for them.
When I was in 3rd grade, they let us help paint a mural on the cafeteria wall of a farm scene. My pig is still on that wall and it makes me happy to be a part of that school’s history. In highschool, we got to help paint the library walls a fantasy theme…..my astronaut is still there,too. So, you are definitely right about the sense of pride it gives children to be a part of something like that.