Something that you might notice if you walk into my classroom the day before school is that there is very little on the walls.  While there might be paper on the bulletin boards and there will probably be scalloped borders, these are the same on every board.  There are no posters or signs on the wall.  I don't have any teacher store decorations.  These are deliberate choices that I make.  I want my students to work with me to create our classroom.  By the end of the first week, we'll have class-generated rules and reading workshop anchor charts on the boards.  Students' self-portraits will line the wall.  We'll have a few words up on the word wall, written on sentence strips.  We may or may not have labels, drawings and posters in various parts of the room, depending on my students' personalities.  But for now, before my new students arrive to make their mark on our classroom, the walls will be a blank canvas waiting for them.

For an interesting article about using wall space, check out this article by Patricia Tarr from the May 2004 issue of Young Children (NAEYC): Consider the Walls.  (Thanks to my teacher-friend Cherisse for leading me to this thought-provoking article!)

 

 Classroom Tour 2009-2010

Last year I was teaching fourth grade in a portable.  My room was quite bare and sterile at the beginning of the year, at least until the kids got there!  My room was actually pretty small, but the pictures make it look quite spacious.  Click on the photo for more pictures:

 

Classroom Tour 2005-2006

I was teaching a first/second combined class in a beautiful old school.  While my set-up was pretty busy, this is my all-time favourite classroom!  It was spacious with high ceilings and big windows that looked out on mature trees.  It was so peaceful to be able to watch the seasons change.  I would love to be back in that room!  Click on the photo for more pictures:

 

 
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