Using your Classroom to Inspire your Students

Three weeks have school have now gone by. And I FINALLY feel like I can breathe long enough to sit down and actually blog. WHOA.PLEASE tell me that I’m not the only one who feels like this!

Here are some pics of my new classroom. I am teaching 5th grade self-contained this year, and I love my class. They are challenging (they LOVE LOVE LOVE to talk), but I look forward to seeing them every day.

Fifth graders are at an important age…when they are trying to decide the person they want to be and the dreams they want to pursue. I wanted to use my classroom to inspire my students. I wanted to inspire them to go to college, to travel, and to not give up.

Here are some ways I used my classroom to inspire my kiddos.

I went to Texas A&M University and am all about brainwashing inspiring my students to go to my college. Even if they don’t go to Texas A&M, I still want them to start thinking about college. This is my bulletin board in the hallway outside my classroom for hanging student work.

 

These three areas are for anchor charts, vocabulary words, and student work in each of the subject areas. It’s at the back of the classroom.

This is my inspiration wall right when you walk into my classroom. As my students line up, they often look at the wall. In fact I saw one of them reading one of the posters today. These are in my TpT store if you’re interested in getting some for your own classroom. Click HERE.

Here is the front of my classroom. I found this quote on another blog and loved it so much that I made it for my own classroom.

Here is the side wall of my classroom. I LOVE all the cubbies! Now you would think that these would be perfect for my students’ textbooks and backpacks, but I didn’t want to give up the storage! So my students keep their textbooks inside their desks and their backpacks in a huge tub at the front of the classroom. And I get to keep my cubbies!

Here is a up close pic of my college area. I told you that I went to Texas A&M University and am a HUGE Aggie! I wasn’t kidding!

My reading area….I wanted to incorporate my travel photos from around the world somehow and inspire them. I think I did the trick.

This is my favorite inspiration area in my classroom….where I share about my dream. I really had always wanted to live in another country, and I got to when I taught English in Korea. BEST experience of my life! I also have my scarf I wore this past summer when I was in Poland watching the Euro Cup and photos from my past travel experiences. My students just love to look at my photos. I often get “Where’s that picture from? What is that? Where is that? and You’ve been everywhere!” I love it! I don’t remember any of my teachers sharing their travel experiences with me. Maybe if they had I wouldn’t have waited until I was 26 and my mom had just died to finally decide to just do it and travel.

 

Hope y’all have a great first couple of weeks of school!

Visit Southern Fried Teachin”s profile on Pinterest.