Wondering which areas to set up in your classroom? Whether you're a seasoned educator looking to revamp your space or a new teacher getting ready to embark on your journey, the question remains: What areas should you set up to minimize distractions and ensure a smoothly run classroom? In this video, we dive into how to set up your classroom for success.
Wondering which areas to set up in your classroom? Whether you're a seasoned educator looking to revamp your space or a new teacher getting ready to embark on your journey, the question remains: What areas should you set up to minimize distractions and ensure a smoothly run classroom? In this video, we dive into how to set up your classroom for success.
So you might be getting ready to set up your classroom or you want to revamp your classroom to run smoothly and you're not sure what areas you should have set up.
Speaker 1:Well, today I'm going to show you three areas to set in your classroom to minimize distractions and have a smoothly ran classroom. So stick around to the end for a bonus area at the end and let's go ahead and dive in. Hey, teacher Bestie, my name is Helena and I'm the creator of the Present Teacher Podcast. I'm a first year teacher coach and in this podcast you are going to learn everything from simple actual classroom management, social learning and teacher wellness strategies. You know that impact you want to make in the classroom, or we're going to make it happen here. So the first area you're going to want to set up in your classroom is a whole group area. This is a place where you will do whole group instruction and present the lesson before you release students to work in groups or independently. I highly recommend you keep this separate from the other areas to limit distractions. I like to position my whole group area closer to the board so my students can see, and I like doing it at the elementary level at a carpet, because then my students aren't playing in their desks or with the materials at their desks and it also keeps those students separate from the students being pulled at their desk or in the small group area for small group instruction to either reteach or provide modifications to the lesson. Now, I personally, like I said, use a carpet in front of the classroom for this, so my students can sit close to the board and it's more of like a discussion than it is for my students to be way in the back trying to contribute to the discussion. It's just easier all around.
Speaker 1:The second area you're going to want to set up in your classroom is a small group area. Now, this area is where you pull students to work on a specific skill, to pre-teach or reteach a lesson. I like to keep this away from the whole group area, so if students are being pulled by an assistant or self or a special education teacher, they aren't being distracted and or distracting the other group of students. Now, I personally have used a kidney table for this, or you can just use a general table that sits a couple of students at a time. I personally put mine in the back of the classroom because I like to put shelves next to this area so I can use manipulatives when I pull my students back for small group instruction.
Speaker 1:Now, this third area you're going to want to set up in your classroom is an independent work area. So this is where students will work independently or in a group setting. After I teach a lesson whole group I use the release model, which is the I do, we do. You do so. After I have taught the lesson and modeled it to my students, I will then release them to either work in a group, with a partner, or by themselves. So this is an area that allows them the freedom to work with themselves, with a partner or with a group, and I like to keep this separate from the whole group area because it's able they're better able to access the materials they may need for the lessons, like math, manipulatives, different drawing or cutting utensils and so forth, and I also think this is great to keep away from the small group area so that way it's not distracting students who are being pulled for a small group lesson.
Speaker 1:All right, so we went through the top three areas that you should set up in your classroom. The first one was the whole group area, the second area was the small group area and the third was independent work area. Now let's move on to number four, which is the resource area. This is a bonus area, but I highly recommend every teacher has a resource area in their classroom. This is an area where students can access any materials and resources they may need in the room.
Speaker 1:Here's the problem that I used to have is I used to put my resources spread out throughout the room. I'd have my pencil sharpener by the door, I'd have the extra glue over by my teacher's desk, I would have the extra crayons and somewhere else and I would have the turn in basket somewhere else across the room. The problem was, when students need to grab a resource or a material, they would get up and start talking to other other students in line or they would bump one another trying to move around the classroom getting the materials they needed, having one main spot for students to grab materials streamlined, where students were to grab materials throughout the day. Now I personally use a bookshelf for this and I have everything, and I highly recommend that you have a variety of materials which could include a pencil sharpener, sharpened pencils, extra glue, crayons, colored pencils, markers, highlighter, sharpies, paper, the turnip and basket any materials they might need for centers or stations, extra books that you don't want them to keep at their desk because they're not using it very often.
Speaker 1:Graphics, hundreds, chart. You get the idea. The reason that this made my life so much easier is it was easier to show the procedure to grab extra materials once, instead of having to teach multiple procedures for walking across to different areas of the classroom to grab different resources. That and I get shown my students that we are not at the resource area when another student is and we had to wait till a student got back to their seat before we could get up and go grab the materials we might need. That wraps up the three areas, plus a bonus area on what you want to set up in your classroom to have a smoothly ran classroom. What areas do you have in your classroom? Let us know in the comments.
Speaker 1:If you want to learn more about setting up your classroom, I have some resources for you to help get you started. The first one is the classroom setup guide, which walks you through everything you need to know about setting up your classroom to run smoothly and have setting a strong foundation for the upcoming year. The second resource I have for you is a classroom setup challenge. It is a free three day challenge that walks you through everything you need to know about saving time on setting up your classroom, as well as how to save money setting up your classroom. And third and finally, if you want to take it a step further and you're ready for me to walk you through everything from not only setting up your classroom to what to also what procedures and lessons you should be teaching during those first couple of weeks, I want to invite you to join us inside of classroom kickstart program.
Speaker 1:Inside this program, like I said, I walk you through not just how to set up your classroom, but also how to set your first couple weeks up for success. As always, remember we are stronger together and I will talk to you soon. Teacher bestie Bye. Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode. I hope that you were able to take away some value that will help you thrive inside and out of the classroom. It would mean the world to me if you could take five seconds right now and leave a review on this podcast, and if you found this podcast especially helpful, make sure to take a screenshot of this episode right now and tag me on your socials to let me know you're listening as always. Remember that we are stronger together. With all the love in the world. Melana, aka the president teacher, see you next time, bestie.