Tips for Setting Up Your Math Classroom
- 4 the Love of Math
- Jul 21, 2018
- 5 min read
Many teachers get really excited to set their classrooms up when back to school time hits. Confession: I am not one of those. I have never had an eye for design and setting up my classroom to be a fun, welcoming, decorative place for students has always been a struggle for me. In fact, my husband usually ends up in the classroom with me that final night before the first day students return *fixing* things for me while I sit in the corner and bawl my eyes out because I "just know" it is never going to look right.
Over the years I have found a few things that make the process easier for me though and today I am going to share those.
Tip 1: Choose a color scheme
Pinterest is a great place to go for color scheme ideas. I type "color schemes" into the search bar and explore until I find something I like. This year I knew I wanted to incorporate Navy so I added "navy" to my search to get more specific color scheme ideas. {Picture of my actual Pinterest search results shown below}
I try to stick with 2 or 3 colors for my color scheme. I use those colors on my bulletin board, word wall, classroom posters, etc. If you have a theme you want to focus specifically on for the year (such as zen) use that theme in your search (IE "zen color scheme") to make it easier to find exactly what you need. Once I have my color scheme picked out I use that scheme for my bulletin board, as borders for classroom posters, syllabus border, number line, etc. Picking the colors makes actually decorating a whole lot easier!
Tip 2: Decide classroom layout
I always appreciate getting class lists a little early. That allows me to go through the lists and talk with teachers of lower grades to get a feel for how my classes will be. I like to have a heads up on rather or not I have a class or two loaded with talkers, rather a class is full of students who are more mellow, or if I have a mix of students. Often I find that my 1st and 2nd periods are loaded with students who are serious about school, my 3rd and 4th periods are a mix, and my end of the day students are more rowdy. I like to use that insight to determine how I arrange desks. I prefer students work in groups of 2-4 students so I always have my desks grouped together in at least groups of 2. Classes where I can trust students to participate more I usually place in groups of 4. My middle and end of the day classes separate into groups of 2 depending on what I have planned for the day. I like to have the layout for each type of grouping in writing so that I can use that to determine where important information is posted in the classroom. This is especially important to know for tip 3 - word wall placement!
Tip 3: Designate a space for a word wall (or walls)
My very first year in the classroom I was required to have a word wall. I learned a lot that year and have been addicted to word walls every since! If you have not yet read my post on word walls, check it out here: Secondary Math Word Walls. Once I have decided how my desks will be situated I sit in various desks and determine where in the room students will be looking the most. I pick a spot that is visible from all seats in the room, and that spot is where my word wall goes. I start off my word wall with a few words students should already be familiar with. Words like "fraction" with the denominator and numerator marked. Or "term", "coefficient", "variable", etc. I incorporate those words throughout the first week of school to help students get into the habit of checking out the word wall throughout class.
Tip 4: Quote for the Year
I LOVE motivational quotes. I always have a quote wall in my classroom that has a different quote every day of the year. Picking quotes is one of my favorite parts of planning for my week. I like to choose one quote that I display in huge letters on a bulletin board for my "quote of the year." Lately I have been fixated on growth mindset. I created a growth mindset bulletin board last year and will use it again this year. Along the top of the board I will have my quote of the year - in large letters - and it will be a growth mindset quote.
Side note: Have you read "Mathematical Mindset" by Jo Boaler yet? If not stop everything, get the book, and gobble up all of the fantastic information she shares! It is truly phenomenal! Truly changed the way I teach, the way I approach various topics, and the way I view my students as a whole.
My quote for this year is: "Smart is Something You Become, Not Something You Are." I have a t-shirt I designed that I plan to wear often with the quote on it and it will be displayed on my bulletin board, and anywhere else I can place it - along the bottom of quizzes, handouts, treats I give students, etc. It is a quote I want them to have embedded in their minds by the end of the school year.
Tip 5: Create an organizational system:
Before school starts I make sure I have some type of organizational system together. I designate a place for students to pick up missed work. I designate a place for student notebooks to be placed at the end of class. I have a place for classroom supplies, extra paper, extra pencils, anything I can possibly thing of, I try to organize ahead of time. I am an over-labeler because it is the only way I have found to prevent total chaos.
I pick a spot by the entrance of the classroom as a spot to leave papers I need students to pick up (like bell ringers) and to pick up work they miss if they are absent. Once the spot is picked I place a hard to miss label there to ensure students notice it right away.
The first day of school after going through the syllabus I take time to direct student attention to my organizational system so from day 1 they are familiar with how things will be. Seriously, label, label, label! Things are more likely to be put in the proper spot if you have spots labeled for students.
The five tips above really make back to school season run smoother for me. These are things I spend a lot of time thinking about ahead of time and it pays off in the end when I get ready to prepare my classroom for the upcoming school year. For more tips for back to school and a chance to win some awesome prizes click the picture below and check out these other STEM blogs
Click the picture below to be entered to win a $50 TpT gift card! I will also be picking a winner from the comments below to win my Growth Mindset bulletin board from TpT so make sure to comment on what tips you have for setting up your classroom, or share what you struggle with!
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