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Throughout my time of volunteering, I have had a chance to look around the school and its classrooms. When I think of teaching I think of the learning, but a huge part of elementary school teaching is the classroom itself! Decorating and making it a fun environment is what matters. Making the kids feel welcomed and safe is so crucial! Teachers need to make things exciting, for example the teacher I was working with has five bean bags in her class and the kids take turns in them during silent reading. Something has to be done to motivate and keep the children's attention. By adding books, posters, helpful tips or rule posters around the classroom not only makes the classroom happier, but allows the kids to learn in the process. For example, the photo beside I took in the classroom I was working in. The clock here has fun, intriguing and colourful posters around it explaining time and so on.
Something I strongly stand by is having an agenda in the classroom at all times. This is something that I struggled with in elementary school; if I did not see the schedule in the morning I started freaking out. Always let your students know what you are doing so they won't be alarmed. As well, having the planner message written down ensures that the kids will write down the planners. There were several times in elementary school where I would see kids not write reminders down because it was simply not written on the board. Communication is so important. Parents need to know what the children's homework is so they can assist them at home.
My favourite thing in primary school classrooms has to be the cubbies. I love having everything organized, and in this case everything is! The coat hangers, the duo-tangs, drawers and basically anything owned by a student has their name on it. This makes everything neat and not cluttered!
These photos make me remember the amazing time I had volunteering with those grade 3/4 students. I cannot wait to decorate a classroom of my own one day!