A fellow teacher and I worked to keep the momentum going, and I realized how amazing it is to plant and grow vegetables. This realization led me to take a look at my own very neglected yard, and I started the journey of learning how to plant and maintain a garden. This past summer as I wandered around my yard, thinking about where things should go, planting vegetables and flowers, and digging out goutweed and other invasive species, it felt akin to setting up a classroom.
My inexperience often means it takes me time to make gardening decisions: I have to really think about what I am doing and where things should go. As a seasoned teacher, my classroom setup is faster: I have years of experience knowing what works, how I might tweak things, and an understanding that the classroom will evolve over time. The school year is long, and how the space is used by students and teachers is dynamic.
I remember my first year with a classroom: I spent two weeks setting up. I put fadeproof paper with borders on every bulletin board, purchased lots of supplies at the teacher’s store that I never really used, and spent a great deal of time arranging posters and areas on bulletin boards. A few weeks into the school year, a school reorganization happened—I was moved into a different classroom and all of that work was lost. I should have spent that time hanging out in my backyard, enjoying the last gasps of summer!
Looking back, I’ve realized that whether you teach 6-year-olds or 13-year-olds, setting up a room isn’t about filling empty wall space—it’s about deliberately preparing the ground for your students to take ownership.
Here is the essential setup to focus on before day one:
Desk Layout and Learning Zones: Set up desks as well as areas of the classroom where different types of learning can occur (e.g., reading area and books, building area, games, math manipulatives). A break spot for emotional self regulation can also be very helpful.
Material Management: Label student materials (e.g., lockers, duotangs/notebooks). Determine a plan and space for students to access school supplies such as pencils, rulers, scissors, glue sticks, and markers.
Anchor Walls (Not Decor): Keep bulletin boards mostly bare. Leave room to co-create class agreements, anchor charts, and display student work as the year unfolds. Organize a space for Jobs, and determine what those jobs are.
Visual Routines: Draft a daily schedule and calendar. Using green painter’s tape directly on a board creates clean grids that keep both you and students grounded. Make daily, weekly, and monthly routines visible and editable.
First-Week Foundations: Plan the initial community-building routines and draft your day-one home communication. If you have time, set up a parent/guardian communication binder and an Occasional Teacher binder.
Think deliberately about the spaces you want, and remember that the classroom environment should be developed collaboratively with the students. A conversation about classroom agreements and learning starts on the first day and continues throughout the year, and so the walls and spaces of the classroom should reflect the students’ work and ideas. Like a garden, the students will change and grow, and the classroom space should reflect that transformation over time.
