Decorating a Home School Classroom

You will want the room or teaching area to look as much like a public school classroom as possible. This is just in case a time might come that they would need or want to go to the public school; they will not be lost when walking in. They will be a little more familiar with what they see.

Now, this is how you would decorate your classroom for kindergarten (K) through fifth (5th) grade. But you also could use it with some changes all the way through high school.

First you will need to choose the place that you will use as a classroom. It will need to be depending on how many children there will be, a space about 12' by 10' this will be room for two (2) students with their space to work, but also for kindergarteners, there will be times you may want to have them on the floor for activities. It is best to have a table or desk and chair to fit the child or children with room to grow. Next you need a writing board approximately 24" x 36" to 42" long. This board can either be chalk or erasable pen, which is a white board. I recommend the erasable board and pens; the caulk dust gets all over everything. Now you need at least two bulletin boards, three would be better, approximately 24"x 36". You can purchase these from Wal-Mart, Staples or about any place that sell office supplies. But Wal-Mart is more affordable. You will also need a few items from a school supply store. These items are a pack of Aa, Bb, Cc sheets and a pack to do your calendar. You also need a piece of poster board. These items are important teaching tools.

Now that you have all these items you are ready to start decorating the classroom or teaching area.

Place your writing board length ways on the width of the wall since this will be the one you will use more often throughout the day. Attach a bulletin with the 24" at top on the wall beside the writing board. This will be used for the calendar. Now you can place the other boards on the other wall or walls, one of the other boards will be used to demonstrate the seasons and holidays. A third board is optional, but could be used to show their progress, as a praise of good work.

Now, with the Aa, Bb, Cc pack, you will want to put them up along the top of the wall over the writing board. Place these in order so that they are in view to be seen at all times. The best way to attach them to the wall is with staples. It will only take one to hold and you will not mess up the wall doing this. These are teaching tools. With the calendar pack you will put the calendar up on the calendar board. Use two staples to hang each month near the top and center of the board. Now you are ready to prepare and hang the numbers or dates. Take the poster board and a yard stick with a black marker to draw out lines to make thirty one (31) squares about a quarter inch larger than the numbers. But sure you leave enough room at the top of the squares for each day of the week.

About an inch will be good. So you will only do seven (7) squares across. Now, leaving the top space cut your poster board down about an inch around the other three (3) sides of the closed in squares. Ok, now its time to decorate the calendar with the numbers. Do this by placing small hooks in the board where the numbers will go for the date, at the top center of each square then punch a hole in the center top of each number 1-31 so you can hang them. Within the pack you will also have pieces that are used to teach the four seasons, the weather and also there are birthday and weather cards to decorate on certain days.

Here is another option; you can use a writing strip to write numbers on for every day of school. For example; the first day you would put up the number 1 (one), 2nd day 2 (two) and so on. You can use a black and red marker to write the odd numbers in black and even numbers in red, not only can be used to teach counting along with odd and even but adds a colorful touch of décor to the area. It is best to use a small book shelf to put books on that they will be reading and a small table for art. Of course the books will need to be grade level.

Now with a black and red marker you will want to write their first name and last name on a short piece of writing strip and place on their desk, which you also can purchase at the school supply store. You will need to write words on the strip, using the size letters that are appropriate for the grade ( K-1 or 2) such as reading, calendar, door, art, season and holiday and if you choose to use a third board best work, these you will put over the different sections. For example; the word calendar over the calendar, reading over the book shelve, door on the door, and so on, do this with a stapler. These packs will last you for several years of teaching. You also can use the same ABC pack and calendar pack for the K- 5 grades, or even longer if you choose.

When you are finished you will have a small decorated replica of a pubic school classroom. Now your room or space is ready for you to teach.