My Ideal Classroom

Maybe I'm the only one that does this... but sometimes on a prep or during the lunch hour I like to look around the classroom that I'm teaching in and plan out how I would arrange the furniture and layout of the room.

Here is what my ideal classroom would look like (of course there is a lot that I wouldn't have any control of in my classroom (like how many windows I have or where they are located, where my door is, whether my students have desks or tables, etc) but there are a few things that are important to me.

view from the front of the room (where the white board would be... hopefully!)

So I wasn't sure at all how large a classroom actually is and went with 30'x25'. Maybe they are bigger but hopefully they aren't much smaller. I made this plan on Ikea's website which wasn't exactly ideal because they don't have things that you would typically find in a classroom (like student/teacher desks or tables)... so I picked a desk that was bigger than the one that I currently have at home and we're going to pretend those lines of desks are actually long tables and so where it looks like a student is sitting at 2 desks it's actually just one long table.

1) I would arrange the desks in a horseshoe shape around the perimeter of the room. I'm not sure if I prefer desks or tables but I know that I would not be happy with circular tables. In my plan there is space for 25 students (hopefully that would be enough). IF it's tables and not desks I would also need somewhere for students to put their individual supplies (unless we had classroom supplies instead - which is actually quite common now I've just never taught in a class where this was the case)

2) Some teachers don't have a desk at school which I think is crazy. I need a space to make my own mess and lay stuff out, and, well, just know that it's my space and not for my students to get into. To go along with a desk I would also want a bookshelf and either a cupboard of some kind or a couple of filing cabinets (well, one filing cabinet for sure) and perhaps some kind of small bulletin board for me to post a calendar and other important papers on.

3) I need lots of bulletin boards! 2 smaller ones for Science/TUSC and Classroom Economy Jobs and at least 3 larger ones for Math, ELA, Art, and MOLA. If I had another one to post art on that would also be nice but I've also never found it hard to find an empty bulletin boards in a hallway to post stuff on. Ikea doesn't sell bulletin boards so I didn't actually put any in the classroom but in this set up it would be ideal if there was a small one by the door and then some running along the left and right sides of the diagram.

4) A Classroom library space is a necessity. I would love to have a couch and a couple of different/comfy chairs to put in my classroom library as well. Along with a coffee table and maybe a side table or 2 (with maybe a lamp on it) would be perfect. Oh, and of course a couple of bookshelves for all the books. Ideally, I would want my library by a window.

5) I like to have a table at the front of the room so I can put supplies out for my students to come up and grab or use it as a space for small groups.

6) This year, I have been in a bunch of classrooms that have nearly a whole wall of windows which is wonderful! If I had that I would want some kind of ledge under the windows (or a long tall table) running along the wall where I would put a bunch of stools to use as a flexible seating option (that I'll be talking about in a later post)

7) Some schools still have desktop computers in the classroom so I added a spot in my plan to put a couple of computers if needed.

Other: Plants - I would want plants in my classroom. Preferably real but maybe I would start off with one or two and decide how well we do at keeping them alive. I'm also not sure if I have preference when it comes to desks or tables. Desks students can store their own supplies and books in (but get messy and things get lost in them) and tables I would need to have a spot in the room for students to store some things in (which would still get messy and things would still go missing). I have experience with both.

As for colours I've always liked turquoise, grey, black, and white.  I think it's a fairly neutral colour pallet.

Grade 5/6 Classroom

Grades 4-6 Basic French Classroom

What does your ideal classroom look like?

Psst... in case you missed it last week I discussed 5 Things I Would Try in my Future Classroom and I think you should take a look at it.