Designing a classroom

As I was reading and listening to the content this week I was thinking more about my preschool classroom that I had a couple of years ago, than my 4^th grade classroom of today.  It is so important for children who come to preschool to feel welcome and safe.  For many it is their first experience in a school and part of our goal was to make it a positive one.  Many of the concepts that I read about this week were innately incorporated, or maybe not so much innate and trial and error of what the kids like.  For example, the reading corner started out with bookshelf and a couple of chairs.  Over the course of the two years I taught preschool it became a corner first of all with a “lowered ceiling” we eventually put up material to make it more like a tent, after we found the kids were liked it better.  The physical room set up was one key part of our evaluation as a program in the county.  We had to have clearly defined areas using furniture and rugs and anything we could think of to define one area from the next.

            As a 4^th grade teacher I still want to create a safe and inviting area.  If a student is turned off by an area or distracted by it, (sometimes it is the window, like the first snow of the season) it makes for a hard environment to teach in.  The design of the classroom as a space then in very important in the overall environment that is created physically and mentally, which in turn affects learning.