My Teacher Sleeps in School: Tales of a 3rd & 4th Grade Teachaholic: 3 Classroom Decor Ideas for the New School Year

What type of teacher are you? Do you love a classic classroom look in muted colors? Do you prefer bold and bright colors? Do you want a uniform classroom look? Do you decorate at all? Whatever you do, this blog series of ideas will hopefully inspire you to add a little color to your classroom and give it a look that will excite your students. Let's look at the first option for classroom decor as you set up your classroom for the new year.

Bright Emoji Classroom Decor

I have had so many fun designs for my classroom through the years. I like to change things up and keep things fresh. Most years I will go with a completely different theme. For several years, I wanted to do a fun emoji theme. I mean, how can I lose out? Students love emojis...it is a part of pop culture right now, so it would be perfect. However, it took me a while to figure out just how I wanted to do it. I didn't really know how to get the vibe I wanted onto the walls of my classroom. So, the idea just stayed there for a few years while I contemplated it. Finally, it all came together for me this past school year. I had a lot of fun combining black and white stripes, neon, and emojis into a place that my students were excited to learn in.

Start with these super fun name tags for your desk. You could also laminate these and give them out for students to use as bookmarks.

My students went crazy for these classroom coupons. I also have a set of emoji classroom money as well (not pictured here). Use these to reward students for whatever you choose. Some coupons include getting a snack, being line leader, moving their desk for the day, doing show-n-tell or demonstrating a talent, picking their own partner, and many more.

We had a store once a month and students used the money they earned to purchase little prizes like stickers and shoe charms and they could also choose these coupons.

Number lines are so helpful, especially in the early grades. This neon numberline ties in nicely to the bright emoji line by bringing out the neon colors used throughout the entire set.

This was how I prepped my student work display before the first day of school. There was one poster for each student and later, the posters came down and their actual work went up.

Each student in my class receives a book box. Several years back I chose to go with a neutral black color and add in name pockets that could easily be changed out from year to year, but since black goes with pretty much anything, I have been able to make these boxes unique to my theme each year. This one really popped against the black book boxes. I loved it...and so did the students!

Against my large bulletin board, I printed out some of the letters from this set to write the words: choose kind. I added growth mindset posters underneath to inspire the students throughout the year. We went through some of the sayings on the posters and I broke them down to make sure the kids understood the meaning. Then under the board I added large numbers that show the multiples. This was an invaluable chart that students referred to throughout the year to scaffold their learning of the multiplication and division facts.

I found some super cute lanterns on amazon to hang around from the ceiling and they matched the theme perfectly!

I even redid my teacher drawers to match my emoji theme.

Of course you need a matching birthday chart too!

I reprinted labels for my library so they could match the emoji theme. These are the same labels I used for the student reading boxes. I just changed the words and put a number on each label. If you are interested in learning more about how to set your class library up in a way that self-maintains and is super easy, check out this blog post here about my classroom library.

I have classroom bathrooms, so I hung up a coordinating affirmation station on the bathroom mirror. Students can read positive things about themselves as they wash their hands.

Have you ever used a voice level chart? These are game changers! I love how I can train my students to work at a certain level. In my class, we make the general level number 2, spy talk. That means the students can whisper if they need help or need to ask a quick question. They are NOT suppose to abuse the privilege by talking on and on. If the level needs to be lower or higher, I will let students know. Students can also cause the level to go lower by talking too loudly or too much. When that happens, I will drop the level down. If the level goes to number 1 (Ninja Mode) the students must work silently. I also found this little neon light. I light it up when we go to ninja mode as a visual reminder to my students that they need to stay quiet.

One of the other things I train my students to do is to work without interrupting me when I am in a small group. Instead of interrupting, they may use the waiting space board. They will simply take the first available number and sit back down, doing what they can. When I get a chance, I will call the numbers one at a time and as they come to see me, they place their number back on the board for someone else to use.

I probably get the most use out of this piece in my classroom. I will not go without this ever again. These large numbers have smaller numbers inside showing the multiples. These have been a game-changer in math class. As students are learning and working with the times tables they have used these as a scaffold. They use them less and less throughout the year as they commit the tables to memory.

Here is an up-close look at some of the growth mindset posters.

This banner is not just kept on the wall at the beginning of the year. It is posted throughout the year to remind students that they are always welcome and that they belong.

Your attitude determines your success has been the mantra of our class throughout the year. I kept this bulletin board up from day one until the end of the year. Students really do have power over their success. A good attitude and willingness to work had definitely determined how they do in class and in life.

Do you notice the HUGE deficit of students not being able to tell time well using an analog clock? Yeah, me too! I want my students to be able to tell time well, so I remove all digital clocks inside our room and only have analog. These clock numbers are so helpful as students learn to tell time. The words showing quarter after, quarter to, etc. are also very helpful in scaffolding students to be successful while learning to master this skills.

You can check out the Bright Neon Emoji Decor here. This decor set comes with much more than you see here, including over 700 pages.

Bulletin Board Letters
Affirmation Station
Binder Covers
Birthday Chart
Book Bin Labels
Bulletin Board Set
Calendar
Class Reward Coupons
Clock Labels
Decorative Banner
Desk Name Tags
Growth Mindset Posters
Waiting Space
Student Work Posters
Table Numbers
Voice Level Chart
Communication Binders
Cursive Alphabet
Manuscript Alphabet
Word Wall

If you are looking for some of the other decor featured you can click links below to see the items or similar ones if the original is no longer available.