As teachers, we are typically responsible for preparing and decorating our classrooms at the beginning of each school year. Blank walls and empty shelves are no warm welcome for any student, so here are 18 easy and fun ways to spruce up your classroom and bring smiles to your 1st graders’ faces.
1. Paint Palette Table
Look online or in your local supermarket for these colorful and convenient dry-erase dots. You can stick them to any table or hard/flat surface for your students to write on. They are a great way to brighten up the classroom, save paper, and clean up!
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2. Career Wall
Print out and place some classroom posters of different occupations your students aspire to become on the wall. Make them stand out with images and descriptions of each job, along with encouraging words and phrases to express that anything is achievable for your students. You can also make an activity where students draw themselves in the profession of their choosing.
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3. World Changers
There are so many inspiring people in the world today that your kids can learn from. Prompt them to think about individuals that they view as role models and then task them with filling in these role model worksheets where they’ll jot down ideas on how they think they should act if they’d like to be viewed as a role model themselves.
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4. Zones of Learning
Designate different activities to different parts of the classroom. Give each section a color or theme like animals, sports, or flowers. You can use this creative idea as a way to get kids moving and rotate around the room to complete different tasks.
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5. Hygiene Corner
We all know kids are messy, especially at the 1st grade level! Create the ultimate checklist for hygiene by having a small hygiene corner where kids can wash/sanitize their hands with posters displaying the correct way to get rid of germs.
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6. Classroom Mailboxes
This is an adorable craft your 1st graders can help you create using recycled packing or cereal boxes. Have them bring a box to school and decorate it with their name and anything else they love (animals, superheroes, princesses). You can use these boxes as a classroom file organizer for students’ assignment folders and books.
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7. A Book About Emotions
1st graders are going through a lot of new emotions and experiences every day so it helps when they understand how and why they may feel the way they do. Make this an art project with each student choosing an emotion and drawing a picture to demonstrate it. You can put them together to make a book or post their pictures on the bulletin board.
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8. Birthdays by Month
All kids love birthdays, especially their own! Your classroom decor should always include the months of the year, so you can add students’ names under their birth month to get them excited about learning each month’s name and see what other students have birthdays close to theirs.
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9. Book Covers
Rather safe than sorry when it comes to school books. Kids can be clumsy so a book cover is a great solution to any spills, rips, or doodles that might happen during class. There are many materials you can choose from to create your DIY book covers with your students including paper bags, chart paper, or even a coloring page.
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10. Daily Writing Prompts
This cute lesson idea is an easy way to get your students to pick up their pencils and write creatively each day. Write a basic question as a writing prompt on the dry erase board and ask students to answer as best they can in their notebooks under today’s date.
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11. Classroom Library
What’s a first grade classroom without plenty of fun books to read? Depending on how much space your class has and the number of books, you can create a book box organizer so students can see and pick their favorite book to work on increasing their reading level.
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12. Time Tables
If your classroom has circle shape tables, make them into a big analog classroom clock for your students to learn how to tell time. You can use chalk art supplies or card stock to draw your clock and change the hands of time each day for a quick little clock reading lesson.
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13. Plant Party
Plants are always a pleasant addition to any classroom’s decor. Have your students bring in one plant to class and make a plant corner. You can assign one student per day to be responsible for taking care of and watering the class plants.
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14. Absent Folders
Every student needs an absent folder for materials and content they miss when they are absent. You can save space by hanging two-pocket folders on the door or wall with one slot for the missed work and the other slot for their completed work.
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15. Coloring Fun
Make coloring time super fun and organized with this collection of crafts bins and tubs. Make sure to label each and make them big and colorful so students know where to get all the supplies they need to create their masterpieces.
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16. Word Wall
1st graders are learning new words every day. Create a word wall where students can write new words they learn down and pin them to the bulletin board so each day they can look at it, refresh their memory, and expand their vocabulary.
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17. Class Memory Book
Classrooms are where many memories are made. Each month have your students create a piece of art depicting a memory about something they learned or did in school. Collect each student’s work and organize them into a memory book for the class to look back on and reminisce.
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18. Math is Fun!
In 1st grade students are learning the basics of counting numbers and seeing how to use them in life. Make a math poster with the numbers and cute graphics to engage your students in the fun and essential math tools that get us through life.
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