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If you are a regular visitor to my blogs and website, you will know that I live and work in NZ. We are lucky enough to be teaching in person, despite the troubling events that grip the rest of our world. Here in the Antipodes, we are enjoying a beautiful Summer and about to return to schools across the country to start our first term of the new year. That means it’s a good time for me to write a blog series about some back to school basics I have found beneficial in my over 20 years teaching career. Before students return, we teachers spends many days clearing out the old year and freshening up our classrooms for the new cohort. I have written in detail about my research into classroom environments for my post-grad so feel free to read more about this HERE if you are interested. Currently, I am focusing on the following elements. Colour/ decor schemes, calm and muted. While this may not suit my personality, I am not the only one using the space. Brightly coloured, jazzy and cluttered environments can be distracting for many learners. Neutral or natural themes tend to help the eye rest easily and the brain to process learning information rather than be distracted by sensory overload due to visual environmental stimuli. Organisation: Declutter the residue of the previous year and aim to start with a fairly empty room. Have lots of open storage space ready to receive the copious amounts of student generated work product that manifests exponentially. Carefully consider display options and purpose for anchor charts and for student work product (more about this later). Labels can be helpful for storage bins and drawers. Consider how I use my teacher space/s like the desk, filing system, and small/large group teaching areas. Layout: Who is responsible for the layout of the furniture and resulting negative spaces in your room? Could your students be more involved in planning and organising the spaces? When I involve my students, they develop a positive sense of ownership and are more inclined to maintain the space on a daily basis. This spacial planning can be built into a Math or Social Studies unit (or any number of Trans Themes in the IB PYP, e.g. How the world works - systems, or Who we are - how we learn best).
Distance Learning adaptations for the classroom environment. When we meet with our class/es on-line, we develop an on-line learning hub for them, and the above elements matter even more. Colour/decor schemes, calm and muted. Using a harmonious colour scheme helps to link all teaching materials and content together. Background slides, daily notices, etc can all be created in this way. Even better if this scheme can link back to how your physical environment will be decorated when you all return to onsite teaching. Organisation: This is super important in the on-line space. Aim to structure online learning hubs logically and systematically. I use clickable image tiles for easy navigation where possible, rather than lists of links. I am even thinking about the benefits of creating a digital, clickable calendar as my entry point and set the learning for each day within the clickable dates. I found it best to limit the amount of support material in each day’s schedule, to prevent overload/burnout for my students and their families. They are incredibly vulnerable at this time, as are we teachers. Layout: This would apply to your online learning hub and will look different for each teacher based on the levels and subjects that they teach. My school uses Canvas as our LMS (learning management system). I plan my content out in layers. The top layer is the welcome landing page for my class (or course). The next layer down are the subjects e.g. Reading, writing etc (or classes for specialists - like Year 3 or grade 4). Then within each of those you drill down into content. My aim is to keep the layout consistent, easy to follow and age appropriate. Join me next week for some ideas about planning your first day / week. In the meantime, if you are interested in the teacher timesaver Classroom Decor sets like the Hydrangea one featured above, click on the images below to view the resources in my Botanicals series. These feature photographs of real plants, a sure way to bring the calming effects of nature, into your classroom on digital hub. Kia Kaha (stay strong) With love Mea Classroom Decor BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - Hydrangea
$15.00
Decorate your classroom using this BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - HYDRANGEA Classroom Decor Pack and be the best dressed classroom in your new school year. Both print-and-use materials and material for you to personalise. Fantastic for the start of the year, term or any unit based in nature. This product contains over 140 pages of materials, templates, instructions and use ideas, including:
View a few samples in the photos or try out for free by downloading the welcome bunting HERE Use BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - HYDRANGEA Classroom Decor Pack to create a cohesive theme for your room, make beautiful teaching materials for your students and personalise your slides in Powerpoint, Keynote, Google or Boom. Some ideas for uses are given in the photos. —————————————————————————————————————————— TEACHERS SUPPORTING TEACHERS ❤️Connect with Help MeLearn by following this store on Instagram and Facebook. Be the first to learn about new products added to the store Please preview the photos before you buy. If you have any questions, please contact me BEFORE you purchase. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you value this resource, please leave a strong rating to encourage other teachers. Every care is taken with editing this resource and at times, errors can still sneak through. Rather than leaving a negative rating, contact me directly and be specific in your feedback so that I can make those improvement and give you, and others the best quality resource. ———————————————————————————————————————- RELATED Classroom Decor sets: FREE Welcome Banners BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - Hydrangea
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A FREE GIFT FOR HELP ME LEARN CUSTOMERS BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - FREE WELCOME BANNERs for the Hydrangea Classroom Decor Pack Enjoy using these free Welcome Banners to decorate your classroom when you return in the new year and bring the outdoors, inside. When you fall in love with your Hydrangea banners, the full classroom decor set is also available in my store. Click below to view the full set . More about the BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - Hydrangea Full Classroom Decor Pack This is a decor product with both print and use materials and material for you to personalise. Fantastic for the start of the year, term or any unit based in nature. This product contains over 170 pages of material, templates, instructions and use ideas, including:
Use BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - Hydrangea Classroom Decor Pack to create a cohesive theme for your room, beautiful teaching materials for your students and slides in Powerpoint, Keynote, Google or Boom. Visit the full product to view —————————————————————————————————————————-- TEACHERS SUPPORTING TEACHERS ❤️ Connect with Help MeLearn by following this store on Instagram and Facebook. Be the first to learn about new products added to the store Please preview the photos before you buy. If you have any questions, please contact me BEFORE you purchase. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you value this resource, please leave a strong rating to encourage other teachers. Every care is taken with editing this resource and at times, errors can still sneak through. Rather than leaving a negative rating, contact me directly and be specific in your feedback so that I can make those improvement and give you, and others the best quality resource. ———————————————————————————————————————- RELATED Classroom Decor set: Classroom Decor BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - Fern
$15.00
Decorate your classroom using this BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - FERN Classroom Decor Pack and be the best dressed classroom in your new school year. Both print-and-use materials and material for you to personalise. Fantastic for the start of the year, term or any unit based in nature. This product contains over 140 pages of materials, templates, instructions and use ideas, including:
View a few samples in the photos or try out for free by downloading the welcome bunting HERE Use BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - FERN Classroom Decor Pack to create a cohesive theme for your room, make beautiful teaching materials for your students and personalise your slides in Powerpoint, Keynote, Google or Boom. Some ideas for uses are given in the photos. —————————————————————————————————————————— TEACHERS SUPPORTING TEACHERS ❤️Connect with Help MeLearn by following this store on Instagram and Facebook. Be the first to learn about new products added to the store Please preview the photos before you buy. If you have any questions, please contact me BEFORE you purchase. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you value this resource, please leave a strong rating to encourage other teachers. Every care is taken with editing this resource and at times, errors can still sneak through. Rather than leaving a negative rating, contact me directly and be specific in your feedback so that I can make those improvement and give you, and others the best quality resource. ———————————————————————————————————————- RELATED Classroom Decor set: FREE Welcome Banners BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - Fern
$0.00
A FREE GIFT FOR HELP ME LEARN CUSTOMERS BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - FREE WELCOME BANNERs for the Fern Classroom Decor Pack Enjoy using these free Welcome Banners to decorate your classroom when you return in the new year and bring the outdoors, inside. When you fall in love with your Fern banners, the full classroom decor set is also available in my store. Click below to view the full set . More about the BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - Fern FullClassroom Decor Pack This is a decor product with both print and use materials and material for you to personalise. Fantastic for the start of the year, term or any unit based in nature. This product contains over 170 pages of material, templates, instructions and use ideas, including:
Use BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - FERN Classroom Decor Pack to create a cohesive theme for your room, beautiful teaching materials for your students and slides in Powerpoint, Keynote, Google or Boom. Visit the full product to view —————————————————————————————————————————-- TEACHERS SUPPORTING TEACHERS ❤️ Connect with Help MeLearn by following this store on Instagram and Facebook. Be the first to learn about new products added to the store Please preview the photos before you buy. If you have any questions, please contact me BEFORE you purchase. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you value this resource, please leave a strong rating to encourage other teachers. Every care is taken with editing this resource and at times, errors can still sneak through. Rather than leaving a negative rating, contact me directly and be specific in your feedback so that I can make those improvement and give you, and others the best quality resource. ———————————————————————————————————————- RELATED Classroom Decor set: Classroom Decor BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - Lily
$15.00
Decorate your classroom using this BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - LILY Classroom Decor Pack and be the envy of your colleagues. This is a decor product with both print and use materials and material for you to personalise. Fantastic for the start of the year, term or any unit based in nature. This product contains over 170 pages of materials, templates, instructions and use ideas, including:
View a few samples in the photos or try out for free by downloading the welcome bunting HERE Use BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - LILY Classroom Decor Pack to create a cohesive theme for your room, make beautiful teaching materials for your students and personalise your slides in Powerpoint, Keynote, Google or Boom. Some ideas for uses are given in the photos. —————————————————————————————————————————— TEACHERS SUPPORTING TEACHERS ❤️Connect with Help MeLearn by following this store on Instagram and Facebook. Be the first to learn about new products added to the store Please preview the photos before you buy. If you have any questions, please contact me BEFORE you purchase. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you value this resource, please leave a strong rating to encourage other teachers. Every care is taken with editing this resource and at times, errors can still sneak through. Rather than leaving a negative rating, contact me directly and be specific in your feedback so that I can make those improvement and give you, and others the best quality resource. ———————————————————————————————————————- RELATED Classroom Decor set: FREE Welcome Banners BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - Lily
$0.00
A FREE GIFT FOR HELP ME LEARN CUSTOMERS BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - FREE WELCOME BANNERs suits the LILY Classroom Decor Pack Enjoy using these free Welcome Banners to decorate your classroom when you return in the new year and bring the outdoors, inside. When you fall in love with your Lily banners, the full classroom decor set is also available in my store. Click below to view the full set . More about the BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - LILY FullClassroom Decor Pack This is a decor product with both print and use materials and material for you to personalise. Fantastic for the start of the year, term or any unit based in nature. This product contains over 170 pages of material, templates, instructions and use ideas, including:
Use BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - LILY Classroom Decor Pack to create a cohesive theme for your room, beautiful teaching materials for your students and slides in Powerpoint, Keynote, Google or Boom. Visit the full product to view —————————————————————————————————————————-- TEACHERS SUPPORTING TEACHERS ❤️ Connect with Help MeLearn by following this store on Instagram and Facebook. Be the first to learn about new products added to the store Please preview the photos before you buy. If you have any questions, please contact me BEFORE you purchase. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ If you value this resource, please leave a strong rating to encourage other teachers. Every care is taken with editing this resource and at times, errors can still sneak through. Rather than leaving a negative rating, contact me directly and be specific in your feedback so that I can make those improvement and give you, and others the best quality resource. ———————————————————————————————————————- RELATED Classroom Decor set: Classroom Decor BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - Fern Classroom Decor BEAUTIFUL BOTANICALS - Hydrangea
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