New Classroom: Happy Decorating Challenge!

 I recently had the joy of changing classrooms. I enjoy getting the chance to redecorate and organize. This new room allowed me to come up with new, fun ideas for my students. However, the new room had a different layout that was somewhat of a challenge. There was no "front of the classroom." Two walls had double doors, another wall held a window and a door, and the fourth wall had cubbies screwed into it. Thankfully, maintenance came to the rescue and removed the cubbies from the wall. This wall was painted yellow so when the cubbies were removed, I was left with a rectangle of white wall. I quickly mixed up whatever paint I had on hand and did my best to color match the wall before I hung up a white board and a calendar. I also created an area to hang up my students' art work.

The "Before" Wall.

                          The "After" Wall.

I painted the front of the cubbies yellow before placing it vertically in an awkward corner. 

I like the idea of having a tree in my classroom. I had one in my room at a previous school and the kids really seemed to like it. This whole classroom has weird angles which allowed for a perfect spot for a tree. I like using lights in my decor, so I strung somes lights on the tree.

Now to tackle the window that leads to a hallway. What can I say, it's an old building. I really didn't want to hang curtains so I used a table cloth left over from my neices birthday. It had a solid back and a shimmery front. I pulled the pieces apart and hung up the solid back, then I placed fish and various other aquarium decor on it. I laid the shimmery piece over the front to give it the illusion of being in water. I added a string of lights. 

Since I like to use lights, I decided to make two tabletop lamps out of souvenir cups that my boys got from a zoo several years ago. All I did was put a battery operated string light inside. I wanted to use white lights but I realized I only had multi lights left in my supply cabinet.

My student are really enjoying our new space. Especially when it is a rainy or cloudy day and we have all the string lights on. Sometimes, they will just stand under the tree and gaze up at the lights in wonder.