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| Cupcake Reward Chart - Children earn a cupcake if they succeed being the "mystery student" for the day |
I am about to embark upon my 3rd year of teaching and my 3rd year of setting up my classroom ready for September. I love this time of year when I can go into school, put my music on loud and start making the classroom space my own. I always start with thinking about the routines I want in place ready to start straight away in September and how I can visually communicate my expectations with the children. The whole process of setting up a new classroom took me just over a week and I thought I would share with you my journey and the end result...
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| Homeworkopoly |
I used
Homeworkopoly last year to engage student in completing homework tasks. It was so successful I wanted to repeat it again this year. It is always a good idea to re-use something that has worked in the past - but always keep in mind that it may not be as successful with your new bunch, every cohort is different!
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| Reading Area - Information Station |
The class I am inheriting in September has a large percentage of boys and to promote reading I have ensured that there is a high profile non-fiction book section that will appeal to their interests. Always carefully consider the children in front of you and exploit their interests and hobbies to engage them with learning.
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| Literacy Displays |
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| Literacy tree |
My aim is to add more branches to the tree and adapt the leaves as the year progresses. The owl will have speech bubbles including "wow" words that the children generate and use in their writing.
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| Monster Maths Display |
This display is unfinished. In the transition mornings with my new class, they absolutely loved using
Class Dojo and having their own Dojo "monster" (if you haven't heard of it... look it up! It's a great behaviour management strategy). They also collect Moshi Monsters, so I've given my maths board a monster theme!
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| Numbered chairs |
One of the topics this year will be space so I have numbered my chairs with a space theme from 1-30. I have used these numbered chairs to bring children gradually back to carpet - it's a great way of embedding number recognition and maths into regular routines.
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| Superhero Phonics Display - engaging the boys! |
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| Reading Area |
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| Reminders on the Whiteboard |
It is so important when setting up a class for September to give the children lots of visual clues to show them your expectations and remind them of positive behaviour. These little reminders are great to use during whole-class inputs to ensure that learning is not disrupted, a quick eye-contact-and-point works well!
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| "Spicy" Challenge Trays |
I introduced "spicy" challenges with my year 3 class last year and they absolutely loved it, so it's definitely something that I will continue in my move down to year 1. It was a brilliant method of self-differentiation and I found that children rarely decided to choose an activity from a "less spicy" tray than they are capable of tackling. It created real motivation to aim higher!
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| Target Squares - visual reminders of targets |
Another strategy I introduced halfway through last year and found it to be incredibly effective. The children use whiteboard pens to quickly draw a symbol to represent a target they are working on. It is then always in their minds and a visual clue throughout lessons. If children move tables for different lessons, they can be wiped clean in seconds and re-drawn. I have always found target-setting a challenge to keep manageable for me and high-profile for the children and because the children are in charge of drawing the symbol, changing targets is as simple as a quick conversation with the teacher.
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| Tell a Good Tale |
This contraption came about after I started "Tell a Good Tale" last year. The children told good tales immediately after coming in from break and lunch times. It allowed them to come away with something good to say about a peer - avoiding the "backlash" of break times and turning it into something positive. Each good tale equated to one marble in a jar, the marble run was the next logical step from there... the children walk in from break time immaculately in a bid to be the person that puts the marbles into the jar!
Things to think about when setting up your classroom for the first time
- Use resources or strategies that have worked in the past - but be prepared to adapt or change them!
- Show some of your personality
- Appeal to the children's interests and hobbies
- Show your expectations through the displays whether it is for behaviour or attainment
- Use routines that you will embed from day one so children come into your class and settle quickly
- Allow more time than you expect - jobs always take twice as long as you think they will!
What are your top tips for setting up a classroom for September?
Written by Little Dot
There are so many good ideas here - thank you. You have really made me think about how I can set things up in my classroom. Love how you have made everything fun to look at but that it all helps the learning along.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great blog! I particularly like the ideas about numbering the chairs and homeworkopoly... something I'm very tempted to use in my classroom next year! :)
ReplyDeleteI love this post especially the homeworkopoly! What kind of challenge activities would you give Year 1s?
ReplyDeleteThank you! I would have things like, identifying the missing initial sound in a word, rolling dice and determining whether its odd or even, or thinking of number bonds to ten from a given number. I would also have "brain binder" questions related to the topic we are doing, so they might have to explain new vocabulary for example.
ReplyDelete