Making our Class Our Own

    Each year I spend a lot of time in the summer thinking about the classroom - where centres will go so materials can be accessed easily, how students will sit so they can work together well, where charts and "bump it up" walls will go.  I always put up a multitude of brightly coloured paper and trim on bulletin boards and alphabet friezes and number lines.  Everything is all ready for learning to begin.  When the children arrive in September, I hope they find the room bright, cheerful and engaging. 
     This year, at the request of our Principal to consider the new research about the classroom being a "Third Teacher", I took more time to think about how I decorate.  The "Third Teacher" theory is based on the idea that the children should take an active role in the construction of the classroom learning. The walls reflect what we value (the children's work and thinking) and the wonderful learning that is taking place.  I took a step back and thought about how my decorating must be over-powering with its rainbow-variety of colours and patterns. 
     In June, our wonderful Principal asked that all teachers keep the "Third Teacher" idea in mind while decorating, and to try ONE bulletin board with brown craft paper, so the children's work will "shine" against it.  I am happy to report that our staff has taken this suggestion to heart and the whole school is awash in brown bulletin boards.  My bright, colourful and over-stimulating room is gone, replaced with a room that is bare, but calm and peaceful.  My Principal was right.  It is amazing how great the children's work looks against the plain background.  We began the first day of school with a tour of the room, and when I explained that the walls were bare because they were to help me decorate it with their work and learning, a few hoots of joy were heard! Who knew that would be so popular?.
     We have begun to personalize our classroom by making a student-created word wall and a "pride wall" to display student work.  We will use these spaces to help us in our daily work.  The word wall will help us remember tricky words while writing, and the pride wall will build our confidence and show our progress. Our next step is designing the trim for the bulletin board in the hallway where we will display our work to visitors and creating a new number line.  We have our learning goals for the week displayed, and we are slowly creating success criteria.

I can't wait to see how our classroom looks in June!

P.S.  I wonder if the kids could help me with changing the background on this blog...