Since I will be needing to replenish my “I forgot my supplies” corner, I know I will need adequate space to keep all the extras that will eventually make their way to that corner…and I need storage for my own supplies.
Even though I teach middle school, I am going to have a word wall in my room. It’s a non-negotiable. This year my word wall will consist of social studies vocabulary because there is a LOT of content-specific words in the curriculum. I created my own word cards, and I put a visual representation on each card to help students make connections as well as the definition. *You can check out this word wall by clicking {HERE}*
When I taught ELA, I had a Greek and Latin roots/affixes word wall. There are SO many students are responsible for learning, and I found that they were forgetting already learned ones. I created a word wall specifically for students to refer to all year long. I put this word wall on a bulletin board. During the year, students would write words that contained a specific root/affix on a notecard and then tack onto the board under the word wall card. Students were on the lookout for roots/affixes without me having to ask! You can also use this word wall during science because several vocabulary terms have these roots/affixes. My students were referring to my word wall to remember key science terms! You can see this word wall by clicking {HERE}.
I will be using an interactive notebook this year. There is SO much content I will be teaching, I have to make the material engaging for my students. I will do this through INB and projects. I need a place where I can display our INB table of contents so if students are absent or get behind, they can see what they missed and what they need to make up. This won’t take up much space at all either…thank goodness!
I love trivia. And I love to know what happened today in history. This will be another interactive display my students will be responsible for updating. It won’t need much room, but I do want a space where students can easily switch out events that happened in history, and I hope they find really obscure or interesting, little known facts! I just want them to become fascinated by history because I did NOT like social studies when I was in school. AT ALL. I am trying to think of things that would have helped pique my interest in hopes that it carries over to my students. I wrote a blog post dedicated to this project, and you can read about it {HERE}. Oh, and you can download (for free!) everything you need to do this project in your own classroom 🙂
Once I knew what all needed to be in my room, I could begin moving furniture and decorating! Did I mention I love how I teach just one subject? I don’t remember how in the world I fit everything 5 needed for multiple subjects in one room! I am going to eventually need storage space for social studies games and centers that I will be making this year, and I made sure to leave some blank space in my room for my new creations and, more importantly, for student creations. Oh, and keep in mind how you might rearrange if you are going to do any class transformations! In the photo below you can see how I had to “cram” our Aztec temple in front of our wall of maps, and the temple was around for about 2 months (I actually left it up past our Aztec unit because it took FOREVER to make and I had to have other teachers help me so I finished it in time).
Lighting
You can join my email list by using the form below. I will send you an exclusive freebie for joining, and you will stay updated with the latest happenings at Brainy Apples :)***THE PICS BELOW ARE FROM TWO YEARS AGO*** I decided to leave them because you can see how my classroom has evolved. Some parts are the same, some I have really changed. After living in my room for a year, I realized what did and did not work for me, but I did want to give you as many visuals and possibilities as I could!
Hi Heather, love your classroom ideas! I will be starting as a MS social studies teacher next year and I can't wait!! One of my favorite teachers in HS (World History) also had holiday lights and lamps like yours, and I LOVED her classroom. It was so soothing and comfortable. I have chronic migraine, so I totally related when you mentioned your headaches from the overheads.
Congrats! Middle school SS has been my FAVORITE thing to teach in my 17 years! You will really enjoy it 🙂