How to Create a Positive Classroom Climate for Elementary Learners

Offer your students a vibrant and uplifting educational experience.

The elementary school years are important formative times for children. For students, these early years can make a major impression for the years to come, from determining their approaches and attitudes toward education to helping them decide what they want to do with their careers. As a teacher, it is essential to provide a classroom environment that is supportive and positive. Make your room an inviting, nurturing place where children feel comfortable and ready to learn.

Instructions

1. Work on the decor of your classroom. To motivate your elementary school students, establish a classroom atmosphere that is stimulating and lively. Place posters with encouraging messages on the walls. Think about the lighting. Ask your students to make displays that reflect how they feel about the school and put them on the walls. Make your students feel like they belong in your classroom and like you care about them, both as a group and individually.

2. Consider how you speak to your students. No matter how tired you may feel that day, your role as a teacher comes with significant responsibilities. Make a point to educate and talk to your elementary students in a voice that is enthusiastic and energetic. Doing this can instill in your students the concept that learning is something to be excited about. Look your students directly in the eyes when speaking to them. Always go out of your way to call your students by their first names to personalize the learning connection.

3. Develop relationships with your students. Remember your students are all individuals with separate interests, goals, hobbies and backgrounds. Motivate your students to be interested in learning by learning about them. Give them assignments that focus on writing about their favorite hobbies or family vacations. If a student arrives back to the classroom a little early after recess, ask him how his weekend was and what he likes to do when he is not at school.

4. Relate concepts to your students. Elementary school students sometimes get bored when it comes to learning because they may feel that the subjects have absolutely nothing to do with their real lives. To effectively get points across to your students, establish connections that help them see the relationship between "faraway" educational subjects and reality. If you're teaching them about American history and George Washington, discuss the similar leadership characteristics the first president shares with the current president, for example.

5. Praise your students. For young students, a little bit of encouragement can go a long way. Reinforce your students' strong learning behaviors by acknowledgment. If a student does something well, let her know you noticed it. The acknowledgment may motivate her to continue partaking in the same positive behaviors.

6. Indicate consistent expectations. Make sure your students know you expect great things of them. Avoid allowing students to get lazy because they think you do not care. From the beginning of the school year, inform your students of your expectations for them, both behaviorally and educationally. Keep a firm stance on your expectations so your students are never uncertain.

Tips & Warnings

• Aim for a classroom environment that is centered around healthy teamwork amongst students rather than fierce competition.

References

• Camosun College: Creating a Positive Learning Environment
• Penn State University; Creating a Positive Classroom Climate; June 18, 2009
• Oxford University Press; Project X; Create a Positive Learning Environment; Maureen Lewis