Summer Series Classroom Transformations Part 1: What are They?

Welcome to my summer series on classroom transformations. In this first part of the series, we will be looking at what classroom transformations are. For some of you, this may be a completely novel concept and you are wondering just what a classroom transformation is. By the end of this post, you will know, hopefully be inspired to stick around for the rest of the series, and even attempt one of your own this school year. 

What are Classroom Transformations?

Classroom Transformations are a way of teaching that fully engages your students in the content through environment and experience. Think about it this way, if I am learning about Paris, for example, how can I put my students in that environment without booking a red-eye to France? What are the sites, sounds, smells, tastes, and feels of that beautiful city? I will enhance my curriculum to bring in as many of those as possible. I want my students to feel as if they are in France for that day, from greeting them with a "bonjour" at the door in the morning and having French music playing (sounds), to having a photo, background, or even 3D model of the Eiffel Tower as they come into the classroom (sight), I want them to feel as if they have stepped into France. Maybe I have some French pastries to help encourage and reward them during their content learning (taste & smells). Hopefully you get the idea. 

Is there a Purpose to doing this?

Of course there is! It is all about engagement. You want students to learn and to be excited to learn. It makes it easier when they have the desire to learn, and it eliminates behavior problems when they are fully engaged. Transformations are one of the best ways I know to get students to buy-in to the learning they would have to do anyway. Sometimes I hear students beg to go in from recess because what we are doing in class is more fun and exciting than recess itself! That is a win, friends!

Do Classroom Transformations have to be Elaborate?

The simple answer is no. A transformation can be super elaborate, or simple. It can incorporate many of the senses, or just a few. A transformation can take over your entire classroom and day, or be a simple set up in one area or for part of the day. You decide how much you want to put into it. 

Are Classroom Transformations Expensive?

It depends. You can go all out and spend an endless amount of money, if you want to, but that doesn't have to be the case (and for most teachers it shouldn't be). You can easily spend little to no money on them as well. To save money, think about who you could borrow items from. Could you have parents sign up to bring consumable items, such as food? Other teachers, your family, even student families are a great resource for borrowing decor items. You can use cardboard and paint, a cheaper option, to design elements for a classroom transformation. But remember, you can keep it small and not have to put in much work at all. It is amazing what a few one dollar table cloths can do to help you change your tables or desks into a mini transformation. 

Classroom Transformation Examples

Let's look at a few examples right now. You will see that some transformations take little or minimal effort and others can take a lot more time. The great thing is, you decide how much to do or not do. You decide how much to spend or if you are going to spend even one dime. It is totally up to your preference. 

Indiana Jones Archeology Transformation:

When I taught 6th Grade, social studies for the year was all about ancient civilizations. How do we know so much about those civilizations? Through artifacts. How do we find artifacts? Through archeology. So, it was a natural conclusion that we needed to have some hands-on experience with archeology and who better to bring it than Indiana Jones.

This transformation was super simple, but the students were no less excited than if I had gone all out. I put some Indiana Jones music on, borrowed a coat from a friend, used some clay pots and shells and other pieces I already had, and purchased some sand (less than $10), and  a few magazines (Cannot remember the cost, but minimal). I used a container that I already had and filled it with sand. I created a grid like archeologists use and buried one artifact in each section. We used brushes and other art tools to uncover the artifacts. I prepped students to think like archaeologists by telling them things like how artifacts can be fragile. We talked about how artifacts can be hundreds or thousands of years old and could crumble or break easily and discussed ways to keep artifacts from being damaged. Then students took turns becoming archeologists and unearthing artifacts. They were super careful as they uncovered pots and shells and other items from the "past". We looked at all the artifacts and, just like real archeologists, figured out what we could understand about the people that left these things behind. Students were 100% engaged from start to finish with this simple transformation. 

Glow Day Transformation

For Glow day, it was a little more work. First, I purchased some black lights. I got a set of three for probably around $65, but I kept in mind that I would use these repeatedly, and I have used them for probably five years already. This is a transformation I do every year, so I wasn't too worried about the investment. Plus I could use these for other transformations such as space or caving (study on rocks). I also got black plastic to cover the windows to make the classroom pitch black. I purchased a set of class neon spy hats at Dollar Tree and have had them for years as well. We also use glow sticks for games and highlighters to write with.

Usually, I use this transformation to kick off our multiplication unit. Students jump into a full morning of times tables games and activities that all glow and engage them. This is not too hard to set up, but does take more time than the archeology activity. 

Space Transformation

My space transformation was a lot of work to set up and used a lot of supplies. Thankfully, I have a friend who loaned me about 90% of the decor and supplies I needed. I just added in a few space themed activities and the supplies for those, which were minimal. I had to purchase or have on hand things such as yarn, straws, etc. 

This one involved decorating the front of the room, covering the windows to create a dark room, like space, and also putting the black lights up again. This one was of course a hit. I used this near the end of the year to continue learning and bring engagement in a time when engagement is hard to come by. 

Classroom Transformation Wrap up:

This gives you an idea of what classroom transformations are with some pictures to help you visualize how it all comes together. We are going to continue to explore through this summer series on classroom transformations. My hope is that you will find inspiration and ideas to help you set the stage in your own classrooms!

What's next? Here's a quick look at what we will be learning during this series:

Part 2: Inspiration (Where do you get ideas?)

Part 3: Linking the Standards (This is not just for fun)

Part 4: Set Up (The hows of transforming your classroom into something magical)

Part 5: Transformation Day (What does this look like...think a day in the life of a classroom transformation) 

Back to School Activities

Do you have back to school activities that you reuse year after year? I am that kind of teacher for sure. But I am also the teacher who is constantly trying out new things and tweaking things to make them better. Sure I still have my go-to list of ideas, but I also like to spice up the back to school activities to make them even better. Today I want to share with you five things I like to do with my students during back to school time.

1. Name Tags
I love setting out huge name tags for my students on the first day. When they arrive, it doubles as an activity that they can do while waiting for class to start. First I print out every child's name as large as I can on legal sized paper. I use a hollow font so that the name is outlined with a blank area inside. I make the lines thick in Photoshop so that all the letters touch. I do this so that later the name can be cut out as one piece instead of as individual letters. I make sure to double check the spelling of each name, cause it would be awful to arrive on day one to see that your teacher had written your name wrong. As students arrive, I usher them to their seats and ask them to decorate their name. If they finish early, I have them also cut it out. After school, I put them up  on a bulletin board that also has space to display a piece of work beside their name. It is an instant display. After all these years of teaching, I have found one thing to be true, kids everywhere LOVE to see their own work on display. 

2. Get to Know you Activities
If students have been in the same school for a while, they will probably already know a lot of their classmates. But as things usually go, there are new students that have come in over the summer. It is so important for me to get the class started by introducing ourselves and getting to know about things we have in common. This can be done in a simple sharing style, like going around and saying your name and also something about you such as your favorite color, or even better, turn it into a game...who doesn't like a game? With nerves so high on day one, playing a game can be a non-threatening way to calm those nerves and help students get to know one another. 

A simple game to get you started is just to have the students stand in a circle. Start with a ball. A student will throw the ball to another classmate and say their own name like, I'm April and you are ______. If they do not know the student's name, the other student will say his/her name and play will continue until all students have had the ball. Throw the ball around the entire circle several times (in the same order) to help students start to learn each other's name. 

Another back to school game I really like is called Everybody in my Family. To play this game, students will be in a circle, with each student standing on a paper plate. One player, usually the teacher, will start out. He/she will be inside the circle. The player in the circle will say, "Everybody in my family...." and then will name one thing about them such as, "Everybody in my family is good at gymnastics." Or "Everybody in my family loves pizza." Or Everybody in my family has a sister." Then all the other students that have that in common with the player in the middle, will come off his/her plate and run to another plate. The student who does not get a plate goes to the middle and says something about their own family. You can continue to play for as long as you like, but usually 5 minutes or so is just right for a quick and easy way to get to know a bit about one another. 

One other activity I love is to give each student a pair of Lego glasses (these can be purchased on Amazon) and a box of Legos to share. Students then use the Legos to build onto their glasses. They build something they like or you could have them build something to represent their favorite thing about school. Be sure to take pictures of each student as they finish their designs.

A new get to know you activity I tried last year was by the fabulous >>>>> She is the most amazing art teacher. 

3. Team Building
If your classroom is like my classroom, students work in teams a lot. To help them learn to work together, I give them several team or class challenges that they work on during the back to school week. There are so many different types of challenges out there. I like to shake it up sometimes and try different ones that I have found. 

A great activity from the book, Making Learning Magical, is to have students write down three of their favorite things.  After they have written all three, take a little break to share with students some of your own favorite things. You can do this in a powerpoint (for older students) or as a show-n-tell (for younger students). 

After sharing, pass out Play-doh to all the students. Tell them to use the Play-doh to sculpt one of their favorite things. As students work, be sure to walk around the class, engaging them in conversations about what they are making. Have them share with their groups what they have made. 

During the next day of class, a fun way to bring it all together is to have them work in teams to find one thing they all have in common. The teams can create a poster, make an art project or another sculpture to share with the class what they have in common. 

Another fun activity that I have done before is a spin off the show Chopped. This, however is an art challenge. Students get a bag of mystery supplies and they have to use what is in the bag to create something with their team. Teams will share their creations with the class. Teams are scored on how well they work as a team and also creativity and presentation.

These are just two activities that I will use this year, but there are so many amazing ways to get your teams working together. 
  
4. S.T.E.M.
S.T.E.M. challenges are all the rage right now. These are great for helping students learn to work together and persist through an activity. There are really so many S.T.E.M. challenges that you can find for free by doing a search or that you can purchase from Teachers Pay Teachers.

5.  Books
Books are a great way to calm nerves and also help set expectations for kindness from the first day. Some of my favorite books are:

First Day Jitters

Enemy Pie

Mean Jean Recess Queen

Each Kindness

Be Kind

There are just so many books to love and share. 


In case you are looking for some back to school activities, you can check out some that I have available by clicking the labels below.

Art Team Building Activity

Bulletin Board Activity

Twas the Night Before School Starts

T'was the night before school starts and all through my class...

*18 desks have been carefully placed in groups
*Numerous copies have been made
*Four bulletin boards have been decorated
*Supplies have been organized
*Posters have been hung
*Lessons have been planned
*Hours and hours have been spent
*Dreams have come to fruition
*Money has been spent
*Summer has ended
*Thoughts for the school year have begun
*The jitters have set in

Back to School Book Picks

It's the season that many students dread and many parents celebrate! Back-to-School time is officially here! I've already seen teachers on social media starting their first days (super early). I have my first day in about a week and a half, so I am eating, sleeping, and thinking about school 24/7! One of the things that is on my mind is getting that first day and week going in a positive and fun way. One of my go-to's in helping me get started is carefully selected picture books. What kid doesn't like a story? (O.K, maybe you have met one or two in your lifetime, but maybe you can bring them around with one of these picks for back to school.)

I'm going to share with you my favorite back to school reads for the upcoming year. 
I'm going to count down to my all-time favorite title 'a la Casey Kasem style. 

10. Stick and Stone

We all know that sticks and stones hurt, but what happens when sticks and stones become friends? They can form a friendship that truly rocks. This books is  a great book that has an anti-bullying theme. It would be a great for anytime, but especially teaching what friends do for each other at the beginning of the year. 

9. The Worst Best Friend

I love this book for so many reasons, but mostly because I can totally relate to this one. I had this hard experience in ninth grade. This book touches on the subject of how friends can sometimes let someone come between them. But in the end of this book, true friendship wins. It is a great book to teach how to be friends, especially with someone who has stuck with you through thick and thin. I think it would also be a great time to talk about being friends with more than one person and how you can do that without hurt feelings. A great, great read!

8. Chrysanthemum

I have loved this book for many years, but when I moved to my new school, I kinda let it go. The teacher in the grade before me read it to the students every year. It was, by all intents and purposes, "her book." I just could not bring myself to read it to the students when I got them the very next year. But with that said, under different circumstances, I would definitely put this one back in my rotation. I love that this one celebrates being different, standing up for others, and being proud of who you are. 

Chrysanthemum doesn't know anything is wrong with her name. She has always loved it, but as soon as the students in her  class (her first year of school) tell her different, she starts to doubt that her name is great at all. She doesn't like it anymore. Thankfully in the end, she finds value in her name and begins to celebrate it once again with the help of her teacher.

I like how it shows that just one unkind word can really hurt someone deeply. I experienced something just like this when my own precious boy went to school. One boy told him his socks were baby socks. He was hurt deeply by that and wanted nothing to do with those socks after that. I think it is important for kids to realize that words do have power and that the old saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,"  is absurd. Also I would touch on not letting what someone else says, change your thoughts. Be your own person.

7. Nobody's Mother is in Second Grade

This book is just plain fun! It celebrates how I feel about school. This second grader's mother just loves hearing about all the wonderful thing her daughter gets to do in school so she decides she wants to be a part of all the learning and fun too. She decides to spend a day in the class disguised as a plant so she can get a feel for everything she thinks she is missing out on. The day goes well and since the class is studying plants, the mother fits right in. But all the children begin to become suspicious because the plant is seeming more and more like what she is, someone's mother under cover. I love that this celebrates the thrill of school. I want all my students to find school as exciting as this mother did to go to such drastic measures to be a part of it.

6. Don't Eat the Teacher

I think I discovered this one randomly in a Scholastic book order when I was teaching Kindergarten and it has been a crowd favorite ever since. A little shark is so excited about everything his first day of school, that his instinct sets in and he just about destroys the entire room in the process. It's a great book to read when discussing class rules and it's a fun one that will be sure to have your students jumping in with the line, "Don't eat the....!" at the end of each page.

5. Hooway for Wodney Wat

I think I first heard of this book at a teacher's convention. I. LOVE. IT. This book is great! This poor little rat cannot say his /r/ sound at all. Instead everything sounds like a w. So instead of introducing himself as Rodney Rat, he introduces himself as Wodney Wat. That is the beginning of being taunted and laughed at and made fun of. One day though, a new kid arrives at school and bullies her way through the playground making everyone's life miserable. Until one day, Wodney has the pleasure of being it in a game of Simon Says. The new kid becomes so confused that the playground bully disappears and never comes back, all thanks to Wodney who, of course, becomes an instant hero! 
So many lessons on bullying and being kind despite differences can be brought out by this book. It is one you'll definitely want to add to your collection. 

4. The Teacher From the Black Lagoon

It's the very first day of school and the main character is just finding out that his teacher is Mrs. Green. Instantly, his imagination runs wild, turning her into a monster that hates kids. Thankfully, his opinion of her changes the instant he snaps out of his daydreams and really gets a chance to see for himself what Mrs. Green is really like. 
This one is a must read if discussing nerves on the first day of school or jumping to a conclusion when you don't really know anyone and judging them based on something that may or may not be true. Love it!

3. First Day Jitters

Everyone knows that students are jittery on the first day of school. But in this book they will learn, in a surprising ending, that teachers are a bundle of nerves too. 

If you read this with your class, be sure to make some Jitter Juice to go with it. 

2. The Recess Queen

In this book, I just love the spunky Katie Sue. Everyone underestimates the power in someone so small. A playground bully, "The Recess Queen" takes over recess each day until a new girl, Katie Sue steps in and unexpectedly changes everything, turning the playground into a peaceful place. I love this book for teaching about how to make friends and why people bully for the simple fact that they just want a friend and don't know how to make one. This special book will help students learn how to become a friend. 

1. Enemy Pie

My number one favorite back to school book is ....Enemy Pie. This book has been near and dear to my heart. In fact, I introduced my boss to this book, and she shares it with others, including her sharing it with me again. Love that!
Jeremy is ready to have the best summer ever. His best friend lives close by and he's planning on just having a great time. Until....a new kid moves in to the neighborhood, stealing Jeremy's best friend and leaving him lonely, hurt, and desperate for revenge. Thankfully his dad is up for a plan of revenge. His dad tells Jeremy about an old secret recipe called Enemy Pie that is sure to get rid of his enemy once and for all. I love the twists and turns of it. I love that the family baker is the dad. 
Again, so many lessons about friendship to teach from this one great read. 

These books are great ones that you will want to add to your collection. I've included links, so you can click on them and be taken to the link on Amazon.

What back to school books are your favorites? Check out my video where I talk all about these books....

The Beginning of the End

 The first week of school is closer than I'd like to admit. In fact, next week is my last week of vacation. And so with reality staring me in the face, I am getting motivated to get more stuff done around here to make my transition back to school even easier. This book, is the book I have used for several years to help me plan a successful first few weeks. Our school uses the Responsive Classroom model and this book has been a sanity-saving resource in setting up my classroom each fall. For those of you that may not have heard of Responsive Classroom, it is a management tool that uses lots of procedure building, explicit teaching and modeling, and logical consequences. It helps students learn to make good choices and monitor their behavior. I'm going to walk you through a small portion so you can see why I love this book so much.

 The first six weeks are literally mapped out for you. It gives a week-by-week, day-by-day, and even minute-by-minute schedule of what you can do in your classroom. This view gives examples for the very first week in a K-2 classroom. The book also has sections for grades 3-4 and 5-6, so it really covers a wide range of age groups. 

 This next section is called Flow of the Day and it is definitely my go-to. It goes step by step and has different sections that tell you about the different parts of the day and specifically what to do. You start day one with the morning meeting, which you will continue throughout the school year. The purpose of morning meeting is to build community within the classroom and each morning meeting begins with a greeting, sharing time, a group activity, and a morning message. Kids seriously look forward to this and when I skip (gasp) a day, I do hear about it! 

 Another important aspect of responsive classroom is changing your language. You want your language to be reinforcing. We should use our language to reinforce positive things we see within the classroom. Focusing more on the positives will help to change negative behaviors because let's face it, those students are dying for attention and when they see that they earn it from positive interactions, they are much more likely to display behavior that gets them noticed and puts a smile on your face too. I call that a win-win!

 There are even examples of morning messages. A lot of times it will include the question that you choose for sharing time to help get the students thinking about the question as they come to circle.

 A section about which routines to teach is particularly helpful to me. There are so many routines that students must learn from classroom to classroom. we cannot assume that because they have been in school for one year or three years or even six years that they already know exactly what we expect of them. So with this model, you use interactive modeling. We also teach students to use their school supplies appropriately by having moments of guided discovery.

We all know that there are students that will bring the crazy in pretty early...or at least try. ::
Well, there are ways to set up our year to help students learn quickly that that behavior is going to be a thing of the past. We can learn to use language that redirects quickly. 

Needless to say, there is a ton more within the nearly 300 pages of this book, but you'll have to check it out for yourself to see what a gem it is for every teacher. 

Off to New Adventures

If you're anything like me, the new school year signals a new adventure. I'm lucky enough to keep my students for two years. Last year's third graders become this years fourth graders, and the second graders from across campus become my new third graders. Sprinkled in here and there will always be some new faces. This year, five new faces greet me during the first week of school. 

A new year has limitless possibilities. I always consider what worked well last year and what I want to change for this year. Our school is focusing on Responsive Classroom strategies across the campus. Some of our procedures will be the same and some will be different. 

We're embarking on a new adventure into student-led classrooms and project based learning. Lots of studying engagement strategies and hands-on learning. Lots of questions. Lots of what I have read over the summer is swirling in my head creating even more questions. I'm slowly dipping my toes in as our school year begins. Trying to figure it all out. Having fun with it. Tweaking it. Running with it. Enjoying it. 

Looking forward to a great school year with my 20 third and fourth graders. Praying for a successful year. 

Off to New Adventures

If you're anything like me, the new school year signals a new adventure. I'm lucky enough to keep my students for two years. Last year's third graders become this years fourth graders, and the second graders from across campus become my new third graders. Sprinkled in here and there will always be some new faces. This year, five new faces greet me during the first week of school. 

A new year has limitless possibilities. I always consider what worked well last year and what I want to change for this year. Our school is focusing on Responsive Classroom strategies across the campus. Some of our procedures will be the same and some will be different. 

We're embarking on a new adventure into student-led classrooms and project based learning. Lots of studying engagement strategies and hands-on learning. Lots of questions. Lots of what I have read over the summer is swirling in my head creating even more questions. I'm slowly dipping my toes in as our school year begins. Trying to figure it all out. Having fun with it. Tweaking it. Running with it. Enjoying it. 

Looking forward to a great school year with my 20 third and fourth graders. Praying for a successful year. 

Creating a Year-Long Theme: How-To

This is how I get started on looking for a year-long theme. I try to look for ideas that are fairly broad and can incorporate a wide range of subject areas. Some of the ideas I have done or looked at in the past are: jungle, brainstorm, circus, camping, travel, castles and robots. I use Pinterest as I gather ideas. Pinterest is a great tool. I enter the key words for the topic I am looking for such as circus decor or circus theme or circus classroom. I pin things that I think I can use to my classroom theme board. After that, I start working on any of the ideas that I want to incoroprate into my class.

When I have a strong idea, I start in on the curriculum. I try to find ways to tie things together are much as possible. For instance, this year, my theme is travel. We are also studying the regions of the U.S. in social studies....perfect! We're going to pretend to travel around the U.S. using different forms of transportation. Check out Beth Newigham's social studies. I incorporate hats, and try to build simular experiences such as making an airplane when we fly away or a boat to sail on, anything to make it seem more realistic. Since social studies is a perfect tie in, I start there. Then I move on to other classes and see how I can incorporate them. 

Reading is easy to tie in. Since I teach third and 4th grades, I can use chapter books. I look for books that can support my travel theme. I look for books that go along with the different regions we'll be studying. For instance when we study the Southeast, I have some books picked out that will feature an ocean theme. Or I could use my Who was Neil Armstrong biographies to incorporate our study of NASA. Another great option is Because of Winn Dixie, which is set in a small town in Florida. When we move into the midwest, a perfect book would be Little House on the Prairie or Sara Plain and Tall or Charlotte's Web. During our study of the midwest, it would be great to use some books about the Iditorod. We could even track the race since I'll be scheduling this unit during the Iditirod race. Our Southeastern theme could incorporate books about the wild west. The Northeastern theme could incorporate biographies about our founding fathers. Or historical fiction set in the Northeast such as one the the books from the American Girls collection.

Writing is an easy to match up with my theme. I can use Flat Stanley as one of my reading books and since he is mailed across country, I can use the book to teach letter writing and have each student mail out their own Flat Stanley paper dolls to our friends or family and have them mail them back with information about the state or town Flat Stanley visited. We could write personal narratives about our own travels, even if our travels did not take us outside of the U.S. For information writing, we could write about famous Americans from differnt regions we are currently studying. 

For science, I try to look at the different topic we need to cover for the year and have match them up with one of the social studies themes. When we are studying the Midwest (America's bread basket) I will also teach a unit on plants. During our Southeastern unit, we will be studying about animals, focusing specifically on ocean animals to tie in our reading study of ocean books. The northeastern tour would be a perfect time to tie in a study on states of matter and simple machines (since the inductrial revolution happend there). For the West, we could study human bodies, the west hosts the only blue zone in America, where the people are the healthiest and live the longest. We will also study health and drugs during this unit.

Creating a Year-Long Theme: Top Ten Reasons

A year-long theme is one of my favorite things to set up when getting ready for the new school year. Here are my top ten reasons why I use a theme for my classroom.

10.  It's fun. It creates a spark of fun in the classroom and I like starting with a fresh idea and decor each year.

9. It creates memories for the students. They remember the different themes as they have passed through the classroom. They continue to talk about it. I hear previous students, when checking out the current year's theme, talk about last year's theme..."Oh remember when we had a circus theme? I loved the circus tent. It was so fun!"

8. It inspires others. Teaching with a theme inspires others to push the limits and create a spark in their spaces too.

7. It's a creativity spark. Just like when teaching writing, I tell my students to start with a tiny seed idea and not a watermelon idea, a theme helps to narrow the scope of my curriculum. It gives me direction and a jumping off point. Then I start to get all my creative juices flowing. And I find the perfect ideas to bring my theme to life.

6. Old students will spread the word that your classroom is the place to be. Word of mouth is the best testimony of what is going on in your classroom. I've found students, current, previous, and future ones to be excited when they step into the classroom and find out the theme for the year. Also previous students like to peek into our class to catch a glimpse of what our theme is for the year. 

5. It promotes a sense of community within the class. Students are enjoying a common experience that is unique to our classroom. They are proud of the way it looks and the excitement it envokes. I hear them talking about it. 

4. You can spend more time in class on one topic because you can cover many standards on the curriculum with integrated learning, which leaves more time to go in depth. Win!

3. It makes planning for the year more effiecent. Lessons from various subjects can go together.

2. Integrating curriculum is best practice. And teaching with a theme makes it very easy to tie things together. Students have a chance to go more in-depth into the topics you are teaching because they are learning about them. not just once, but several times throughout the day. Otherwise, they are learning seven or so different subjects throughtout the day and each one is related only to itself. 

1. The students get seriously excited about it. And afterall, isn't that what it's all about? If I can have my students walk into my classroom, take one look and be excited about the learning that will happen here, I have just won a huge battle. Then I work hard to keep them excited throughout the year, but that's another story for another time.

To me, these are all very good reasons why I continue to push myself to create themes that will add excitement into my classroom. There is nothing better than students excited to learn and for me, this is the first step toward that goal.