Classroom DIY A Practical Step-by-Step Guide to Setting up a Creative Learning Environment

Setting up the classroom is a fundamental part of a teacher?s job, as a well-planned, aesthetically pleasing environment encourages children to learn and helps with classroom management. However, knowing how to create this environment is not instinctive and teachers are given little guidance, yet are expected to create a stimulating environment that is conducive to learning. The task can often be daunting and time-consuming, and teachers don?t know where to begin.

Classroom DIY provides teachers with the answer to these problems. A practical, step-by-step guide, written from firsthand experience, Classroom DIY will enable any primary teacher to make a spectacular job of setting up their room using any materials they have available. Guiding teachers through the process of setting up their space from planning to practice, this book includes advice on:

• laying out the room: what furniture to use and where best to position it
• organising areas for specific subjects, including maths, literacy, science and humanities
• how to create an inspiring classroom on a budget: recycling items for use in the classroom and the homemade approach
• how the learning environment can inspire and motivate pupils to learn, taking into account multiple intelligences and routines
• meeting the expectations of senior management teams.

With ?teachers? tales? from a range of individuals in different schools and case studies illustrating solutions to teachers? specific problems with their classrooms, this book is must have for all newly qualified and practising teachers looking to inspire their pupils to learn through their classroom environment.

Part 1: Getting Started Introduction: A rude awakening 1. The big picture 2. Creating a vision Part 2: Setting Up Introduction: The nitty-gritty – setting up learning areas 3. Putting together the literacy learning area 4. Constructing the maths learning area 5. Building the science learning area 6. Piecing together learning areas for history, geography and R.E. Part 3: Finishing the Job 7. Fostering multiple intelligences 8. Making it all work – the link between a creative classroom and effective learning 9. The Wow factor

Maija Leimanis-Wyatt taught in a large, ethnically diverse north London primary school for six years and was appointed to the senior management team in her final two years. She is now living in New York City where she has taught at an international school.