Classroom Layout
Posted by Diane Badden on 04 Aug 2010 | Posted in: Classroom Management, The Mailbox Books
Should my reading table be at the front or back of my classroom? What’s the best location for my sensory table? Where should I put my classroom library? Laying out a classroom isn’t for wimps, is it? 
Every teacher wants his or her classroom to be set up for optimal learning and classroom management. Perhaps the biggest challenge in meeting this goal is being aware of the many things that need to be considered. For example, there once was a teacher who was quite pleased with her classroom layout until she realized she’d left no room for her students to line up. Yep, that was me! This consideration completely slipped my mind.
What are your tips and strategies for classroom layout? Think about the teacher who is setting up a classroom for the first time, the teacher who is moving into a different classroom, or the teacher who is looking to improve the layout of her existing classroom. How can you help? Are there certain considerations that drive your classroom layout? Where do you start?
To thank you for sharing your ideas, all posts made before the end of Friday, August 6, will be entered in a drawing for a free copy of our classroom management book Super Simple Classroom Management.
Good luck!
Diane
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49 Responses to “Classroom Layout”
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More Comments Pages: [1] 2 3 4 5 » Show All Comments
I am in my third year teaching at a preschool but this year I have older children (3 years old and 2 turning 3 this year.) I have a large room but have to make due with a lot of hand me downs from other classrooms. So I only have about four shelves. I am trying to figure out the best way to divide centers in my room with limited physical boundaries. Plus there are those items that have to be against something or else they will fall over. Any help will be greatly appreciated!
I have read a couple of books about using feng shui in the classroom arrangement. Has anyone else tried this?
I am getting many good ideas from all of you, rethinking how I am using my space. Thanks, Colleen, for answering my question about what to do with my desk things. I really could better use the space that my desk takes up. I rarely sit there anyway! I think I will start relocating those things, especially as I have had to move to a new school this year.
I have been teaching Kinder for 10 years. I usually change my room around about every other year. I love tables for that age. It helps the kids really interact and learn to share. I keep all my noisy centers together and put the quiet centers (reading, writing, alphabet, computers) near my desk.
I teach kindergarten in an older school building. One entire wall in my classroom is nothing but windows so that limits the space that I have to work with. Once I set up my room I check and double check traffic flow to make sure I have a design that is functional for both me and my students. I found a layout that worked wonderful last year so I’m using the same one again this year too.
When determining your classroom layout it really comes down to trial and error. You’ll know pretty quickly when something just isn’t going to work. The kids have a way of “showing” you things you never thought of when arranging your classroom.
I’ve discovered a simple way to separate areas, make the environment welcoming, and still be able to keep an eye on little ones. Hang sheer fabrics from the ceiling. They can hang half way down, just reaching the top of a shelf, or they could go all the way to the floor, creating a cozy feel to a quiet area. I’ve also used bamboo shades. They can be raised and lowered, and opened and closed throughout the day.
I moved my computer center next to the dramatic play area last year & it worked out great! The headphones blocked out the noise very well. This allowed me to move my writing center to the quiet area where my computers used to be. The kids got much more done in that center with it being more out of the way!
I’m very excited to be starting at a new school this year in a Pre-K full time inclusion classroom (where half of the students are receiving special education services and half are not). Although I haven’t seen my room yet, I plan to arrange it so that quiet activities are together (i.e. reading, writing) and ‘noisy’ activities are together (i.e. housekeeping, blocks). I want to be sure to label all areas, shelves, and cubbies to encourage and facilitate organization and individual responsibility. To ensure my students’ safety, as others suggested, I want to arrange the seating so that all areas of the classroom are visible, regardless of where I am. I have found plastic tubs (of all sizes) to be useful in organizing materials as well as small, plastic drawers.
One of the things I suggest for classroom layout is to have a wall of shelves built so that most of your floor space is freed up for centers, desks, tables, etc. Any extra cabinets or book shelves that took up space can be eliminated because everything can go on the wall of shelves. My daughter teaches 1st grade and my husband built shelves that cover the back wall of her classroom. She has so much more space this year than she did the previous years. I plan to be teaching kindergarten next year and look forward to having my own set of shelves built.
Since space is at a premium for me, I keep all my centers in Sterilite Ultra™ Latching Storage Boxes, which stack but don’t easily slide off one another or tip over
This system allows me to easily rotate centers in/out and to use the contents of each box for more than one purpose. For instance, the 18-qt boxes are the perfect size to store paper towel/plastic wrap/aluminum foil tubes for use as “telescopes.” I use them along with binoculars and magnifying glasses for both science exploration and word wall/ceiling work.
I also keep rolling drawer carts on each end of my work table–one with art supplies (erasers, pencils, pens, crayons, markers; glitter glue pens, washable glue sticks and bottles; school scissors, craft scissors, popsicle sticks, etc.) and the other with craft supplies (paint boxes and bottles; stencils, stamps, and washable ink pads; hole punches and craft punches; pipe cleaners, pompoms, googly eyes, sequins, or confetti). This way, I can see what’s being used and where it’s going during the school day, and being able to wheel the carts over to the storage cabinets/bins makes replenishing the supplies a snap.
Sitting atop my Art Cart is a desk tray full of “scratch paper,” which usually consists of extra handouts or my printouts with boo-boos. The “what do I do now” student is encouraged to use the scratch paper as extra practice, a source of graphics or print material for a project, or simply to draw or write on the back of.
I also keep a desk tray full of both whole and scrap construction paper atop my Craft Cart, which conveniently sits near a foldable bookcase where I keep my manipulatives. Besides the usual assortment of magnetic and non-magnetic marbles, transparent and opaque chips, and plain and decorated paper clips, the second bookshelf holds boxes of brightly colored beads of varying sizes, shapes, and shades that I use for craft projects, lacing, patterning on pipe cleaners, or as math counters. (And yes, I have been known to use the pipe cleaners themselves as math counters. Pompoms and the larger sizes of googly eyes also make fun math counters as well.) The top shelf holds jigsaw puzzle books and boxes, and I use the space under the second shelf to store the decorative melamine plates I often purchase on clearance for tray tasking.
I keep my file folder games in a vertical wall organizer/storage pocket chart next to my manipulatives area because I think the paper counters that come with some of the math-oriented FFGs are not nearly as much fun as the more hands-on craft/science/math manipulatives I have available
And to ensure the noise, mess, and demand for manipulatives is kept to a minimum, I use the privilege of having a turn at the nearby computer station as a reminder to be respectful of both classroom people and possessions.
Finally, no classroom would be complete without a Book Nook, where a student can plop down on a bed of old pillows with a good read and an even better reading journal
I have been at the same school and in the same classroom for the last two years and at the end of the year in June, I vowed to change my classroom around for the upcoming school year. I, like Diane (poster of this blog!), didn’t make space for lining up. I had my rug right in the doorway along with my “hand-me down” rocking chair and chart paper easel. I just went to my classroom yesterday to help the custodians put my room together the way I wanted it and I have now moved my rug area to the back of the classroom (out of the way of doorways!!!!) I have also taken a table I didn’t know what to do with and that always gathered clutter to right up against the front of my desk to be used by the special educator OR my listening station. I will be putting one of my shelves along my blackboard behind my guided reading table to hold all of my supplies as opposed to cluttering up my table and my other two shelves will become partitions for another literacy station area. My guided reading table is now in the front of the room where I can use my white board when necessary and also to post my new reading strategies bulletin board set to aid in my teachings. Since I also use that table for writing conferences, I will also have a space for my writer’s workshop workboard which tells me which step in the writing process my students are on. I think you need to do what works for you and your students but in a way that maximizes space and allows you to be comfortable in a place you spend a whole lot of time!
I teach older two year olds. I tend to use Lakeshore’s classroom designer and my assistant and I usually go shopping together, and we both design what the room will look like. Plus we are a Reggio inspired school, so we tend to let the kids help design the room.