Do you need classroom layout ideas to completely nail your primary classroom plans before the first day at school? Creating your ideal space can be one of the most exciting tasks at the beginning of the school year. Then again, it can also be one of the most confounding if you’re a new teacher or you’re just not feeling like you’re quite up to the task.
The best classroom layout will inspire your students to love learning. A functional, well-configured classroom will truly buzz with excitement for learning.
No pressure, right? Don’t worry. The teachers on the Teach Starter team have some classroom layout ideas to help you set up a modern classroom that will make your pupils feel welcomed and inspire them to dive right into the year. Find out how to set up a primary classroom that will set you — and your pupils — up for success this school year.
How to Create a Classroom Layout
We’ve got three words that will help you create your classroom layout: Beg, borrow, and steal.
Beg:
You may have been allocated funds to purchase equipment. Chat with your headteacher or your deputy head to see if they will release some money for you to purchase needed items.
Borrow:
Visit the library or other classrooms — anywhere in the school that you can borrow resources from for your classroom setup. Physically going to these places will give you ideas on what you need and what you can save money on by borrowing. It’s also a great opportunity to get to know your new colleagues.
Steal:
Of course, we are not suggesting you actually steal items from anyone! Make sure you visit some other teachers in your school, particularly those with rooms similar in shape and size to yours, to steal amazing classroom setup ideas. Where has the teacher put the desk? What does the entryway look like? How are resources stored? How are items hung on the walls?
Make it Feel Warm
How often have you heard house-hunters on a TV programme describe the feeling of finding the right place by saying ‘It just feels like home’?
We want our pupils to have that warm and fuzzy feeling of belonging when they walk into their classroom. That feeling doesn’t come from a perfectly curated influencer-worthy space; it comes from a familiar and welcoming purpose-built space made with them in mind. A truly outstanding classroom layout will set the tone for the year you’ll share there together.
Having the pupils’ names visible in the room is a great way to make them feel at home. Regardless of their age, they’ll love seeing a little piece of their identity already incorporated into your classroom.
Create a Strategic Classroom Layout
The best classroom layouts take the flow of the room into consideration. Will the pupils be walking through this spot to exit on their way to the canteen or school hall? You’ll want to keep the path clear. Will all the seated pupils be able to see the whiteboard easily with your intended classroom layout?
Some things about your new classroom will inevitably be inflexible, like the location of the whiteboard. Use their locations to determine how the last teacher configured their room.
If you have a neighboring classroom with adjoining doors, look to see where the teacher has placed their desk, pupil desks or tables and technology. If it’s working for someone else, why not try it yourself? You can always tweak things to suit your needs throughout the year.
Don’t clutter up your desk with a ton of decor. It will become very full very quickly. At a minimum, you’ll need a pen holder, a paper tray, stationery storage and space for a laptop and planner.
It’s OK if Your Classroom is a Little Bare
Do you feel like you’re cutting out thousands of letters and trying to get them ALL up on displays, moving chairs up from storage, trying to paint bookshelves … and it just isn’t all happening? Here’s the best advice a member of our Teach Starter team got when she was in the classroom. It came from a veteran teacher who saw she was struggling:
The kids and parents don’t expect to see a fully functioning classroom on the first day. You’ll collect lots of student work to display within a couple of weeks. Leave yourself space to go with the flow once your kids are in the room.
Take off all that pressure you’re putting on yourself to have a perfect, Pinterest-worthy classroom! And forget that feeling that you need to create every single thing from scratch. What your students need most is you and your passion for teaching … not something you spent hours outside the classroom creating.
It’s not cheating to simplify or buy a Teach Starter subscription that allows you to download all of your resources in one place whenever you need them instead of spending hours making them. It’s a matter of saving important time for your students.
Setting Up Classroom Seating
We’d be remiss to cover classroom setup without mentioning seating arrangements. The most important thing about creating seating arrangements is taking into account the students who have EHCPs.
Some will have preferred seating close to the teachers, some will have preferred seating close to instruction and others will have seating away from distractions. Arrange their seats first — it’s not only required, but it will prevent you from having to redo your entire arrangement!
Need more ideas? We have more than half a dozen classroom seating arrangement ideas for different groups.
Get back-to-school ready with our favourite teacher-created back-to-school resources.
Banner image via shutterstock/Gorodenkoff
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