How to Design an Elementary Classroom

Design your elementary classroom to faciliate learning.

The way that you design your elementary classroom can be as unique as you are. Some classroom designs carefully place the focus on the students, for example, while others place the focus on the teacher. You may want to focus on group or individual work or give students the chance to move among different learning centers. Think about your learning objectives for the year and try to come up with the classroom design that best fits your needs. Remember that you are free to change the design throughout the year--you are not stuck with your initial plan.

Instructions

1. Assess the items that you have to work with and your budget for new items. Few teachers come into a classroom with the option to buy whatever items they want. You have to make do with the things that you do have. For example, you may have individual desks for each student, or you may have small tables. You may also have file cabinets, bookshelves or hands-on learning materials. Take these into consideration when planning the design.

2. Place the desks in your room. The desks--both student desks and yours--will probably take up the most space in your classroom, so it's smart to fit them in first, then place other items around the desks. Small groups of four to five students make it easy to do group activities, but some students may have a hard time seeing the teacher. A U- or V-shape arrangement allows students to interact with others and with the teacher. Traditional rows keep the focus on the teacher.

3. Set up learning centers. You can create different spaces in the room to allow students to work on different subject areas. For example, you can have math, science, reading and art areas, with different activities in each one.

4. Decorate your classroom. Your classroom should be lively and welcoming. Use your creativity to brighten up the place. For example, you can create a bulletin board design to teach a concept and decorate at the same time. Some teachers like to leave the walls blank and hang student artwork on the walls as the year progresses.

5. Make special arrangements for students with disabilities. For example, if a student in your class requires a wheelchair, you may need to have extra open space. If you have an autistic child in the class, you may need to hang dark curtains on the windows to block out the outside view during certain periods of the day so that the child has fewer distractions.

Tips & Warnings

• If possible, use natural light to light the classroom. This can help boost students' mood.

References

• Whole Building Design Guide: Elementary Schools
• Reading Rockets: Classroom Design