Classroom Design
There's been a remarkable amount of brain research demonstrating how crucial environments are for learning. Cozy, well-lit and well-organized spaces are essential for literacy learners of any age. The constraints teachers face in designing and organizing their classrooms are enormous -- from irritated fire marshals to fear of lice infestations, with limited budgets always at the forefront. You'll be inspired by these beautiful classrooms, created by teachers who manage to design spaces any reader or writer would love.
Latest Content
Starting with Why (Classroom Design Series Part 1)
Ann Marie Corgill's classroom design series takes you through her process of redesigning a classroom. In the first installment, Ann Marie explains how her designs have become less cutesy and more student-centered over time.
Getting Rid of My Teacher’s Desk
Katherine Sokolowski discovers getting rid of her teacher's desk opens her mind to many new possibilities in her fifth-grade classroom.
Curating the Classroom and School Library
As classroom budgets get tighter, teachers rely more and more on school libraries for books. Erin Ocon describes how she has changed the way she matches books and readers in her middle school classroom, depending more on school library resources and helping her middle school students navigate them.
Classroom Jobs Build Community
Keri Archer describes her process of creating a jobs list for her kindergartners, as well as how she has adapted the tasks based on the evolving class community.
What Anchor Charts Are Essential?
Katherine Sokolowski considers what anchor charts are essential in her fifth-grade classroom, and where they work best for posting.
Appealing Book Displays for Boys
Are your book displays enticing to the boys in your classroom? Tony Keefer has suggestions for making classroom libraries more appealing.
What’s Up with Those Word Walls?
Shari Frost visits classrooms early in the year and finds many have completely full word walls. In this essay, she shares research as well as practical reasons why it’s best to build the walls over time with students.
Walls, Displays, and Invitations Early in the School Year
Franki Sibberson turns to museums for inspiration as she designs wall displays for the start of the school year.
Rethinking My Nonfiction Library in Response to the Common Core
Franki Sibberson finds a new classroom, the Common Core, and tech considerations are changing the ways she organizes the nonfiction sections of her classroom library.
Making the Switch from Desks to Tables
Moving from desks to tables when redesigning a classroom is about a whole lot more than just furniture. Katherine Sokolowski explains what the change has meant to her classroom.
Grades 3&4 Room Tour
In this video tour, Franki Sibberson narrates a description of the grades 3&4 multiage classroom she shares with a colleague. The space is small, so Franki explains how storage areas are carefully arranged and seating is creatively designed to make the most of limited space.
A Seating Arrangement that Empowers: The Conversation Circle
Ann Marie Corgill explains why a circle arrangement for middle school reading and writing workshop share sessions is vital for helping students focus and respond thoughtfully to peers.
Classroom Changes and Birdhouse Gourds
Andrea Smith reworks a board that was successful in the past but is woefully empty now.
It May Be a Mess, But It’s Our Mess: Creating a Student-Organized Classroom Library
Jennifer McDonough explains why it’s important for her to share the sorting, categorizing, and labeling of texts with her students early in the year while organizing the classroom library.
Organizing a Classroom Nonfiction Library with Students
Organizing nonfiction so that kids will gobble it up is an art. Andrea Smith knows how important it is to include students in this process.
Keeping “House” in a Literacy-Rich Classroom
Ann Williams has a terrific idea for keeping materials organized in literacy workshops and building student independence at the same time.
Pencil Plans
The care and use of the lowly pencil in classrooms says a lot about what we value and our relationships with students.
Creating a Kindergarten Classroom Library
Mandy Robek finds herself overwhelmed when moving from a 3rd grade to kindergarten classroom. Her therapy? Rolling up her sleeves and designing a kindergarten classroom library.
Redesigning a Classroom: Putting Students First (and Technology in Its Place)
Mandy Robek faces the challenge of creating a warm and inviting classroom environment that still includes some cold, hard computers for student use.
You Never Know What You’re Going To Get
When students help us organize materials, we are often pleasantly surprised at the results.
Reorganizing Books in the Reading Support Classroom
Katie DiCesare helps her mom, a reading support teacher, reorganize her materials to better serve students.
Favorite Spaces (Part 1)
What's your favorite literacy spot this year in your classroom? We asked our friends and contributors at Choice Literacy to send in pictures with brief descriptions for this two-part feature. Here is a peek in the classrooms of Donalyn Miller, Julie Johnson, Mary Lee Hahn, Katie DiCesare, and Mandy Robek.
Favorite Spaces (Part 2)
We asked a few Choice Literacy contributors to share their favorite classroom spaces with readers. We hope you'll get some ideas for your own classroom design from these amazing teachers. This is the second installment in a two-part series.
Bookroom Makeover in the Midst
In this video tour, Jessica Ardela and Josie Stewart talk about the renovations in progress in bookrooms at their school in Dublin, Ohio. The goal is to make it easier for students and teachers to access the texts they need, as well as create spaces for professional conversations among teachers.
What Messages Do We Give Students with Our Classroom Library Design?
Franki Sibberson describes how the topics and arrangements of baskets in the classroom library give strong messages about reading to students.
Book Boxes – Voices from the Classroom
How do you organize and use book boxes? Every teacher has their own twist on the answer to this question. Choice Literacy contributors give examples from grades 1-5 of how they use book boxes and bags with their students.
Changing the Learning Landscape: Organizing My 6th Grade Classroom (PHOTO ESSAY)
Ann Marie Corgill switches from a 1st to 6th grade classroom, and finds herself immersed in rethinking the “learning landscape” as she unpacks boxes and sets up her classroom. While the room looks a little different, the principles for classroom design are the same. She shares her process in this photo essay.
Out of the Closet and into the Classroom: Bookroom Management Tips for Literacy Coaches
Is your system for sharing books from a school bookroom or literacy closet working well? Shari Frost provides 10 practical tips for getting the best use out of shared literacy resources.
A Workshop Model in the Library: Time for More Than Book Checkout
Franki Sibberson shares ideas for library browsing baskets, as well as ways to integrate minilessons into the school library routine.
A Tornado of Books
By upending the classroom library and asking students to sort and reorganize it, Karen Terlecky gets insight every year into the ways students categorize texts, as well as their emerging understanding of genre.
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