Classroom Displays and Decorations Help Create a Motivating Learning Environment!!

Classroom displays and decorations, such as banners, seasonal items and unit exhibits, help to make your classroom a stimulating and motivating environment in which to learn! I know I've said it before but it really is important.

Suggestions For Classroom Displays

Aside from classroom bulletin boards there are other places in the room where students' work can be displayed.

Look around your classroom and try to utilize all areas, without making the room too busy, cluttered and claustrophobic.

Here are some of my classroom display ideas which really brightened up my classroom and made my students proud:

* I had a room where one side had a counter top. I used it to display projects, diaramas and student models.

* Use the side or front of students' desks to display their work.

* Hang displays (for example, planets) from the ceiling with string and paper clips. Just make sure you check your school's fire regulations before you do anything (caretakers know all that info).

* On one side of the room tie a rope or a clothes line from one end to the other. Clip up (with clothes pegs or paper clips) students' art or other work.

* Depending on your blackboard space, put up some unit information, for example on the Canadian provinces.

* You can also use the space below the chalk ledge or side walls for other display ideas that you or your students may have.

* I'm a very positive person who is always looking for posters that convey positive messages for student motivation. I place these types of posters on my classroom door - front and back and around my room.

* My classroom job chart creature (e.g. octopus displaying jobs on each tentacle) was also displayed along with my classroom rules, grammar rules, creative writing information which were all printed on chart paper or on colorful posters.

Ideas For Classroom Decorations

I used various decorations throughout the year depending upon the season. Primary grades seemed to have a lot of classroom decorating ideas - more that the junior grades - perhaps a lot more were displayed because of the age of the students.

But for me, my classroom decor really stood out during several months of the year because of the celebrations held during those months:

* October (definitely) - Halloween
* November - Remembrance Day
* December - Christmas and similar religious holidays
* February - Valentines Day
* March - St. Patrick's Day
* March/April - Easter

It is important that students play a important part in decorating the classroom. When students feel ownership of their classroom, it motivates students and creates a more positive learning environment.

Encourage students to suggest their classroom decorating ideas based on their different cultural backgrounds. You can display pictures, posters, etc., originating from the different countries and cultures.

My junior students loved putting up the decorations and we left them up all month. Always save the decorations for the following year.

I always made my classroom a fun and welcoming place for my students, their parents and other visitors. There's always a time and place to celebrate - whether to exhibit classroom displays of their work, learning information or classroom decorations.

Remember, it's your students' classroom as well as yours - make it a place where you both want to come and stay for a while.

Read about my tips on classroom bulletin boards to put your imagination in high gear and get you ready and excited to design your own classroom.