How to Set Up Your Kindergarten Classroom
Many elements go into making a preschool classroom efficient and entertaining. Despite multiple aspects to contemplate, you can simply put together a class that your students will appreciate with some forethought and preparation. Continue reading for some pointers on how to set up your kindergarten class in the shortest amount of time.
What Characterizes a Successful Kindergarten Classroom?
Let’s take the time to explore what makes for an ideal kindergarten classroom setting before we get into the classroom setup ideas.
While a well-designed kindergarten class may appear to be a never-ending party castle for your children, each component should serve an instructional purpose.
TheResponsiveClassroom.org recommends that kindergarten classrooms be pleasant, straightforward, and functional in a thorough kindergarten classroom setup guide. The handbook suggests that the room be well organized so students can find what they need quickly and peacefully.
Essentially, you would like to establish an educational atmosphere that you and your pupils like returning to tomorrow.
Now let’s look at how you may plan and set up your classroom swiftly.
Get Ideas
Get a concept of how you want the space to look in terms of decorations and furnishings before you start putting materials and furniture in the classroom.
The National Education Association has ideas for designing kid-friendly settings and using classroom themes, and Pinterest has a lot of ideas for kindergarten classroom decorating.
At this point, creativity is encouraged, so consider what decorations and themes you might use to liven up your classroom.
Plan Your Classroom Layout
Preparing your classroom layout before putting in all of your furniture, decorations, supplies, and other items to rapidly set up your classroom is critical.
You might draw out your classroom arrangement on paper or use an online classroom set-up tool like the one available at scholastic.com.
To keep pupils focused and orderly, an ideal kindergarten classroom should contain separate locations for different academics and activities. Depending on a teacher’s curriculum, and classroom size, these learning areas may differ.
Laura Turner, Bright Hub Education, the Responsive Classroom, and the NEA have some suggestions for distinct lecture hall regions:
- Workspaces for huge and compact groups
- a reading place or a bookshelf in the class
- Art/music/theater area
- Technology/computer area
- Cubbies/storage space
- Teacher private storage area
- A large circle area
- Active play area
It’s a good idea to design seating arrangements and see if there’s anything you can do to conserve space and outline the different parts of your classroom. A teacher’s desk and filing cabinets, according to TheResponsiveClassroom.org, take up a lot of space and should be eliminated.
Acquire Materials
The following stage is to acquire all of the required resources and equipment. Keep your budget, curriculum, and classroom size in mind when choosing materials.
Several materials are recommended by BrightHubEducation.com and TheResponsiveClassroom.org for use in your classroom. These are some of them:
- Bookshelves
- A large area rug
- Tables or desks
- A teacher chair
- Age-appropriate games, puzzles, hand instruments, and blocks
- Pencils, crayons, colored pencils
- Paper
- Erasers
- Notebooks
You should also ensure that you have a strategy in effect for arranging these materials, as they can quickly amass and create a distracting and cluttered environment in the classroom. Consider buying a large number of storage containers to house these items.
Setting Up
It’s now time to get your classroom ready.
All of your preparation will pay off, making the task of setting up the class pretty simple.
Teacher Genia Connell discusses how she set up her classroom in less than three hours in a recent post for scholastic.com. To accomplish so, she suggests setting up your class when the school isn’t in session. You’ll be less likely to get distracted, which will add time to your workload.
She advises staying focused and allocating specific time to each task, such as furniture layout and decorating. To stay on track, set a timer for each task.
After you’ve placed your furniture, you’ll want to add some decorations to the walls. Decorations can help to create an enjoyable learning atmosphere, but too many can become distracting. Keep your decorations to a minimum and ensure that your wall displays serve a clear educational objective.
According to SharingKindergarten.com, it’s also crucial to think about safety and make sure there are no hiding places for kids.
Adapt as You Go
It’s fine to change your classroom once your pupils come and the first few school days have passed. To make extra space in your head, reorganize some furnishings or remove distracting things.
According to Genia Connell, the kindergarten classroom arrangement should be a work in progress, and you should do what best suits your needs.
Consider these suggestions as you organize and set up your kindergarten classroom so that you may quickly be ready for the new school year and create a welcoming learning environment for you and your kids.