Before and after: New school, new job, new classroom!

This year I have the pleasure of moving to a new school! I have been promoted to Year 5 and 6 Phase Leader as well as Literacy Leader for the whole school. I am now teaching Year 5 again, an age group I love!

Someone recently asked me on my blog how my classroom looked at the beginning of the year. I was asked if I put up displays or left them blank.

Here are some photos of my classroom when I arrived!

BEFORE:

Well here is my answer!

AFTER:

I back all of my display boards and designate them to particular subjects. I fill the display boards with a variety of things - key information, key vocabulary and expectations of the children's work. I also have a couple of display boards filled with the children's work that they completed with me on 'going up day.' This is nice for the children to see their work on the wall in their new year group in September. Some display boards are deliberately left blank for working walls and usually Art displays which will be filled with the children's work early on in the term.

I think it is really important for the learning environment to be stimulating and inviting at the beginning of term to welcome the children back to school. It also needs to be organised! Here is a photo of how I organise the children's resources on their tables. I show them this picture at the beginning of the term to show them my expectations of keeping their table pots tidy and organised!

A tribute to Van Gogh!

We were very lucky this term to have an artist in residence working with our phase. One day when she was working with my class she decided to create a large scale 2D piece of art work which every child in the class contributed to. 

We talked about introducing a style of art to the children which was different to what they were used to and which could be built up in different layers over time.

Throughout the day the artist worked with small groups of children to create this wonderful recreation of Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. The children thoroughly enjoyed the experience and love having the finished piece up in the classroom. It has wowed many other teachers in school! 

Don't be afraid to create large whole class pieces of work as the final product is amazing!