Classroom Themes
I’ve always thought having a classroom theme was a fun way to get the creative muscles moving and help each school year stand out from the others.
During my university years, I wanted my first year of teaching to be a play on my last name: Park.
I brainstormed many ideas over the years, but for my first year, I chose Jurassic Park.
Come on… Dinosaurs are cool. They even named a dictionary of synonyms after one. *smirk*
School is something kids have to do, and their experience can be mixed—sometimes it’s great, sometimes not so much. It’s up to teachers to make sure their students have a good time in school.
A group of researchers at the University of Salford in the UK investigated how classroom design affects learning. You can read their findings [HERE].
To start off, I’d really advise teachers against cramming their rooms with bright, overly busy decorations that don’t actually connect to learning, just to stick to a theme.
Even with anchor charts, research shows that it’s best to keep your walls simple and display only what’s relevant at the moment.
The studies I mentioned earlier found that a lot of visual clutter can lead to kids getting off-task more often.
Since kids can get overstimulated pretty easily, we can't afford to waste teaching time because Billy or Madison got distracted by visually swallowing rainbows all day.
Source: Association for Psychological Science
It is true. Too much of something can be a bad thing.
Knowledge is power, but we shouldn’t let kids get drunk off it.
I think this meme hits the mark for walking into one of those rooms.
In this blog post, I want to focus on decorating the classroom door and adding small thematic touches around the room.
However, let your personality show.
Or, as Charles Wright & The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band would say, “Express yourself!”
Year 1
This was how I decorated my classroom door during my first year.
“Readers, my dear audience…
Welcome to Mr. Park’s Jurassic Park!”
Underwhelming? Well, I kept up the theme by giving the students dinosaur gifts at the end of the year.
More importantly, the decor was subtle without shoving colors down the kids’ throats.
It was a way to showcase the kind of teacher I want to be—one who encourages creativity and critical thinking while providing the best education.
Year 2
The theme for my second-year classroom was “ParkeMon,” inspired by Pokémon.
I may have gotten too busy with other tasks and forgot to snap a picture of the classroom door decoration. I mean, hey, I guess you can’t catch ‘em all.
However, I did create this sweet Pokémon-themed wall filled with learning posters.
Year 3
After my second year teaching 3rd grade, I decided to move up to 4th grade.
I actually let my 3rd graders vote on the theme for the next year.
Back then, Netflix's Series of Unfortunate Events with Neil Patrick Harris was a smash hit during our lunch bunch breaks.
As you can guess, the book/television series became next year’s classroom theme.
“Look away, look awayyy…”
If I remember correctly, the eye symbol was constantly teased throughout the original series.
I recruited the students to jazz up the door by drawing their own eye symbols to make it feel more personal and eerie like the series.
FYI, Meet the Teacher Night shocked 99% of the incoming students who had Mr. Park listed as their teacher again.
I'm sure some students and parents thought it was a typo or that it was another Mr. Park.
(Yeah, right. I’m the original.)
Sure enough, it was I who moved up a grade with them to resume my reign of terror.
However, the 1% who knew I’d be taking some of them on again was this one student who got the heads-up about me moving up a grade.
Cheeky Tony.
Tony, if you’re reading this, the Star Wars reference was your mother’s.
Light and Color Theory
The aforementioned article also examined how lighting, air quality, and even having some plants in the classroom can make a difference (which I’ve mentioned in another article HERE).
Speaking of lights, I tried to test the color theory by using overhead light strips to stimulate different emotions.
I tested green lighting to stimulate creativity during writing time.
Right now, the results are inconclusive. It’ll take more time to figure out how well that works.
And there’s this…
Conclusion
You don’t have to overdo classroom themes, design, and decorations.
In fact, you really shouldn’t if you’re trying to teach effectively.
Just use it sparingly to let others see your personality and get students excited about being in your class.
In case you’re wondering, what is my next year’s classroom theme?
Here are some ideas:
Marvel (because of Peter PARKer or Tony PARK)
Harry Potter (because of Harry PARKer… Forgive me J.K. Rowling)
Monopoly (because of Park Place… swish!)
If you have any additional ideas, feel free to subscribe and reach out!
As always, thanks for reading.
