A Peek into Our "Super" Classroom!

I certainly can't take all the credit (nor would I want to) for our ultra-fabulous classroom!  My previous co-teacher had the idea of a superhero themed class and classroom.  Superheroes are close to my heart... who doesn't love the idea of a powerful, protective leader who exhibits the utmost of integrity?  Isn't that a wonderful connection to what God has done for us?  And first and second graders definitely know their superheroes, so it provides an excellent opportunity to launch discussions and develop interest.

When our rosters changed this past fall and students moved into their new classrooms, my current co-teacher (Ms. Toni) and I decided to do a complete room revamp.  With the help of our wonderful elders, we took the superhero theme to the next level.  Creating an engaging and aesthetically-pleasing environment is important for young learners.  It's the first opportunity you have to "grab" them...and thus, their attention.  Our new students were captivated, and our returning students were so excited!  Take a look at some of the things we did.

We invite our students into our room with colorful super shields and a beautiful tulle wreath that Ms. Toni made.

We hung pennants, stars, and paper lanterns to decorate our windows and ceiling.

We push our semi-circle table all the way to the far side of the room so we have lots of floor space to spread out our hands-on games and activities.  The blue, red, and black superhero colors give our room a consistent, colorful theme.

This bulletin board is my favorite!  We used alternating red/blue tissue paper squares to make the border colorful and three-dimensional.  The clouds and letters make the board "pop".  These shelves are also where each of our students has his/her own cubby with a notebook & supplies.

We also used this opportunity to get super-organized.  As you'll see in future posts, I really enjoy interactive notebooks.  Students get engaged with hands-on activities and manipulatives.  They should also have material over which they can take personal ownership in the classroom, so we took this chance to organize cubbies for each student.  Check out how we organized our spaces in the photo above.  (I will explain more about interactive notebooks in a future post...don't worry!)

Thanks for peeking into our "super" classroom.  Now you can envision all our lessons in our very creative space.