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.
27 Comments |
Subscribe
|
Email This
27 Responses to “Sprucing Up Schools”
More Comments Pages: « 1 [2] 3 » Show All Comments
More Comments Pages: « 1 [2] 3 » Show All Comments
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.