I’ve been the first one to school a lot lately, and I’m spending a lot of quiet moments in my classroom, thinking about what’s working well, what I can tweak, and how I can best use the spaces I’ve set up. Rounding the bend into week three feels very different than the summer what-if energy, so I’m in a position now to tell you what’s working, what’s a work-in-progress, and what I still need to work out. I wish I could swing by and see your classroom too – wouldn’t it be fun if there was some way we could run a vast Youtube channel with just 90 second videos of classrooms all over the world? Of course, then we’d never get anything else done in August but writing a giant list of inspiration. Or maybe that’s just me. I love thinking about classroom spaces, and I’ve done a lot of research on this, so here we go. Let me share what I’m trying, so you can see if you want to try it too.
Hello, Classroom Library
Building a classroom library was my number one priority for my new classroom space. I was on Thriftbooks filling my cart the same day I took this job, and I’ve got no regrets. I quickly filled the book case in my classroom, so I found a smaller shelf at Goodwill and several bins to help me contain the spread while still keeping covers out. I’m starting the year with a graphic novels display and a heavy focus on fantasy over in the corner on my overflow shelf. We’re organizing books by genre, keeping check out simple with a sign-out sheet on the bulletin board, and hyping a new book every day with a short book talk including a bit of a read aloud (generally connected to something to do with what we’re working on with our writing too).
Overall, I think the classroom library has been a tone-setter. On our first day scavenger hunt, when I asked kids to make inferences about what the year would be like, lots of them talked about all the books in the room and how they thought this would be a room for reading. That’s just what I’m going for, and just what it will be!
Experiments in Flexible Seating
Next up, seating. I love working in different positions throughout the day, sometimes sitting, sometimes standing, sometimes laying back to read. I wanted kids to be able to work in way that feel comfortable for them, and I tried to build in a fair amount of variety around the room. I was lucky to inherit a couch, as that has been the most popular spot with kids. The counter by the window is the most popular spot for me!
So far, we mainly sit in desks for the start of class, and then I invite kids to go flex when we are reading or working on writing. They do seem to get settled in the desks a lot of the time. One thing I like about the flexible seating is that I can use it to help kids who are getting distracted or being distracted, inviting them to go find a more comfortable place to work when it’s obvious they’re getting nothing done at their desk. It feels nicer to say “Want to try working at the counter? I really like to write standing up sometimes for a little variety,” than “SHHHHHHHH.”
Flexible Displays
I’ve already started popping work into my flexible display areas, and it’s as fun and easy as I was hoping to be able to clip and pin things up in a few seconds after class.
I put up a roll of black chalkboard peel-and-stick paper over our “Fridge” display (thanks for the fun idea, Pernille Ripp!) and students submitted ideas for fun quotes we could put there. We voted on our top choice as an exit ticket last week and I am going to ask a student to letter it onto the paper using my chalkboard markers. My suggestion did not get many votes, but I am taking it really well.
Interactive Moments
This category encompasses a lot of bits and pieces in the space – places where students can contribute an idea, suggestion or takeaway. Or browse for inspiration, fidget away some stress, or participate in a bit of community building.
Inspiration for the literary quotation part of the reader’s graffiti wall comes from Penny Kittle’s wonderful Book Love. My voting station, a riff on attendance questions, was inspired by the fabulous book-themed question puff ball station at the @fhclibrary (shared on Insta).
Idea Holders
I ordered 6 big black foamboards and six huge clips for the classroom somewhat experimentally, and I am really happy with how they are working out. I wanted a place to hold ideas for class – prompts for silent discussions, places to put up hexagonal thinking webs, spaces where kids could experiment with writing makerspace materials, like post-its for the big ideas in their writing, or collages related to the setting of stories, etc.
I was able to stick my giant clips to the walls around the room, and when I need these idea holders, I just clip them up temporarily. I really appreciate this option, as I don’t want to give up this huge amount of wall space to the boards all the time.
So far I’ve used them as we went around and annotated what we liked about mentor texts for the New York Times tiny memoir contest, and to hold images for a sensory details-based narrative writing workshop. But I can easily imagine using them dozens of times throughout the year, in so many different ways.
We’ll See What’s Next
I imagine this room is going to change a lot throughout the year as we see what serves us best. But so far I’m really appreciating the flexibility of the space. If you’d like to dig deeper into classroom design, I’d be glad to share my free classroom spaces toolkit with you! You can have me send it to you by signing up right over here.
