Decorating Challenge

This week's post for Sunday Fun Day is about classroom set up and goals.  Switching classrooms means a complete redo for classroom set up and decorations!  This has proven to be a decorating challenge worthy of a reality TV show!

  New Middle School teacher is given x number of days and resources to transform a former English classroom in a fifty (+) year old classroom into an exciting, inviting, and relevant learning environment! 

Bonus- Subject: Math     Double Bonus-ALL SEVENTH GRADE BOYS!

I loved setting up my classroom in the lower school, and even though it was for boys I still found it relatively easy to decorate.  Moving to the middle school stumped me at first.  Cute number fabric for seventh grade boys didn't seem like the right fit...I wanted to bring in the math, and I wanted to play into the boy piece.

I decided on sports and life.  With the Olympics fresh in their mind, the amount of sports that are played or watched by seventh grade boys, and the unbelievable amount of math found in every sport- it all added up (couldn't resist).  While still a MAJOR work in progress, the ideas began to flow with a great deal of help from a fabulous artsy friend (also my past Room Mother).  Jersey fabric on the bulletin boards, pennants for curtains, and a THINK LIKE A CHAMPION (think Play like a Champion- Notre Dame) for the boys to tag on their way out of the room.  On the bulletin board I plan to show how math is relative in everyday life (specifically life of a seventh grade boy).  In the past, I have always had student work around the room.  I need to think (and welcome ideas) of how to do this with math.

I know there are skeptics who do not believe that the decorations or set up of a classroom are important.  In case you haven't noticed, I disagree.  I take great pride in setting up a room that the students feel invigorated when they walk into, but more importantly, I want them to know that I care.  I decorate my house because I want to make it a home, where my family and friends are comfortable and in a way that represents us.  The same is true for my classroom for where we spend multiple hours a day...for those 45 minutes, it will be our classhome away from home.


I will post pictures once the room is complete!


Great article on set-up!