Summer Series: Classroom Transformation Freebie

Are you ready to take your year to the next level by getting started with classroom transformations? Then you are in the right place. I have a special freebie just for you to help you get started. Get my 11 page Classroom Transformation Guide that will give you all the tips for getting this rolling in your own class this year. I will give you 50 ideas to inspire you and get those creative juices going, AND you will receive a sample activity that could be used in a classroom transformation. 

Summer Series Classroom Transformations Bonus: 5 Books to Inspire

Just popping onto the blog today to share some of my favorite books for classroom transformations. If you are looking for more inspiration, check these out. 

The Wild Card by Hope and Wade King

So much inspiration. I will always think back fondly to seeing Hope King at work in her classroom in the middle of a Toy Story classroom transformation. LOVED it then. LOVE it now. This book gives lots of ideas for bringing that magic to your own classroom. 

Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess

In his book, Dave shares a lot of innovative ideas for engaging your class. 

    Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire by Rafe Esquith

Another book filled with innovative ideas for the classroom. 

The End of Molasses Classes by Ron Clark

Ron Clark is one of my biggest heroes in teaching when it comes to classroom engagement. He has so many ideas that can be immediately put into practice. He sparked something with his magical school, The Ron Clark Academy.

Crash Course by Kim Bearden

Kim Bearden, the cofounder of the Ron Clark Academy, is another gem among teachers. Her innovative ideas and transformations bring engagement to every classroom. I have tried, and LOVE her ideas. Some have become a staple in my classroom. 

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) 

Author's Celebration

Writing...the kids either hate it or they love it. Making it fun with an author's celebration helps students find the joy in writing...or at least celebrating their hard writing work. I LOVE doing class transformations, and author's celebrations are the perfect time to make a huge impact. Trust me when I say, it does not have to take a lot of work to make it great! Here are some things I have done previously to bring some joy into the writing classroom.

I was inspired when seeing what the teachers at the Ron Clark Academy where doing. they were creating AMAZING lessons that got the students excited, but still kept them learning. One lesson that I saw was something called Camp Share-a-Story. I loved it so much that I have been doing it ever since. You can go all out or keep it simple. If you want to go all out, create a camp sign out of construction paper to hang on your door. Inside, pop up a tent or two. Bring in a fake fire (one of those flame lights could work). A long time ago, I had a camping themed classroom for the year and so I use my felt fire from that. I also make pillows that look like logs for the students to sit on, so those also come out during Camp Share-a-Story. If you have a Christmas tree, you could even put that up to simulate a wooded area. Bring a camp chair for the students to take turns sitting in as they share their stories. Bring lanterns or a flashlight in for the reader to use. Set your smartboard to display an outdoor theme and play outdoor sounds for an added touch. 

This year, I could not find all of my things, so we went super simple. I brought a lantern and a little sign that welcomed the class to the campfire. We sat in a circle on the floor and that. was. it. Easy, right? Even though this year was simplified, the students were just as excited!

Every year, I bring a little treat for my class to enjoy once we have read all of our stories. With a camping theme, what could be better than s'mores? Since we cannot have a real fire, I make s'mores pops, which are super simple. Start with one of those oversized marshmallows. Poke a lollipop stick in the middle. Dip in melted chocolate flavored almond bark. Dip in crushed graham cracker crumbs. If you use almond bark, this will dry relatively quickly, probably in an half hour or so. Stick into a clear treat bag and tie the back with a piece of twine or a twist tie. 

One year, we did essays about different animals. To end the unit and share our writing at our author's celebration, I created an animal circus theme. Students got to share their writing from under the big top. Reflection sheets were filled out about each essay that listed positive things and how the student could improve next time. Once all the essays were read, students got to get some cotton candy that we made on our machine. 

To say that this circus theme built excitement would be an understatement. It was the perfect way to celebrate these young learners and one I hope they have never forgotten. 

For me, the circus transformation ways super easy because it was created around mostly items I had already from previous years. One year my classroom theme was the circus and I sewed this fun circus tent. I had other circus decor that I used that year that I brought back for my circus transformation. It was so fun!

 With a little creativity, you can make writing amazing and celebrate it in big ways! 

If you want to find out more about how to spice up your writing block in the classroom, be sure to also check out these other blog posts below.

Nature Journaling

Poetry Slam

Classroom Transformation Angry Birds

I am obsessed with my latest mini classroom transformation! This Angry Birds transformation was an absolute show-stopper. My kids were beyond thrilled....while doing math!!! It's so fun to see them excited to do geometry and highly engaged. Here's a quick peek at how I pulled it all together for a day of learning fun.

The Back Story

I teach at a private school, always have...for 20+ years. We have a ton of 1/2 days. Students and parents have been known to blow these days off as if they aren't "real" school days. I mean, I am always shocked to get a phone call from a parent asking if we are doing anything on the 1/2 day. Ummm....yeah, we are doing school. Anyone else have these conversations? Anyway, so I started thinking about ways I could make students WANT to come to class on these short days. The most logical thing to me was to throw in active learning, a lot of fun paired with rigor, and TRANSFORMATIONS!! Transformations can really pack a punch and leave kids talking about the experience for years to come...."Remember when we had a Toy Story transformation? A Mario one? They are just so much fun, no matter the content you pair them with. Kids continue to talk about them for years to come because the magic of those days does not ever wear off. 

Last summer at the Get Your Teach On Conference, I was in a room that was decorated in an Angry Birds theme....it was awesome! I was thinking about how I could bring this theme into my own classroom and of course I had to rein myself in...I wanted all the things...the plushies, the slingshots, you name it, I wanted it if it was going to bring more Angry Birds vibes to my class. In the end, I decided to go the budget friendly route and I do not think my students could have been any more excited, even if I had spent a fortune. 

 DIYing the Transformation

I collected a bunch of different sized boxes...thanks to all my Amazon purchases the past few months...and also found some other boxes that I had at home or school. I went to Dollar Tree and found a few rolls of kraft wrapping paper (it looks like what a brown bag is made from). I also picked out some different colors of poster board and some white as well. At Walmart, I found some pompoms of a decent size in bright colors that matched the poster boards and I grabbed a new pack of Black Sharpies (which was the most expensive item I purchased for this transformation). 

At home, I wrapped the different boxes with the wrapping paper and used a Sharpie to give the boxes the look of being made from real wood. I used pieces of the brightly colored poster boards to write a letter on each box and also a point value. The smaller boxes were worth more points, like 5000 while most of the bigger boxes were lower values, maybe even in the hundreds. 

At first I thought about creating several items and purchasing some clipart to create with, but in the end I was running low on time, so I decided to just free-hand draw some of the characters to scatter around on the boxes and honestly, it turned out perfectly. 

My son had a slingshot that he got from his grandparents a few years ago so I did not need to buy one. At school, I had a red plastic tablecloth that I used to cover a table. I set the boxes on it and scattered the characters around them. Then I placed the pompoms and sling shot on the table, ready for the activities. I placed a line a few feet away from the boxes to mark where the students would have to stand while using the slingshot. 

Bringing the Rigor

Some people, mistakenly, believe that a room transformation is all about the fun and just full of fluff. Done correctly, nothing could be further from the truth. It is the perfect way to bring even more rigor that normal and can easily be done because when the stage is set to capture the attention of students, they will give 110%. You have them basically eating out of your hand, willing to listen more closely, dig deeper, and go farther to learn the content because they want to. 

I teach in a multi-grade situation with students from grades 3-5, so I always have to prep more than more level of an activity. I wanted to stick to math standards for this transformation and since it was only a 1/2 day, it was perfect to pair it down to include just one subject area. 

In math, third grade was learning the basics of area and perimeter. Fourth grade was also studying area and perimeter, but they were learning the formulas p=(2xl)+(2xw) and a=bxh. Fifth grade was not studying either area or perimeter, but were building on that same idea with finding volume, so they were not that far apart. 

I decided to create some rectangles from the poster board and used that to teach all the skills for both third grade and fourth grade, including finding unknown numbers. For the 5th grade, I gave them strips of paper that included details about the boxes that were wrapped up for our transformation. They had to use that information to find the volume of the boxes and also some had unknowns that they had to solve for. 

I created little booklets for students to record their answers in. I just quickly grabbed some free clipart off the web and added some boxes for their answers. There was space to show their work...super simple. 

Bringing the Fun

Students had between 10 and 13 questions to solve. I gave each group the activities that they could choose to do (individually) in any order. However, they did have to write the answer to the question in the corresponding box on their booklet. Students were given instructions to do just one problem at a time and then check in to see if they were correct. If they were correct, they were allowed to shoot the slingshot one time. They shot at the boxes, trying to get the highest amount of points possible. Whichever box they hit first with their pompom, represented the number of points they received. If they missed the boxes, they received zero points for that round. They wrote the points they earned in their booklets each time. The students were so excited to use the slingshot, they were highly engaged in finding the correct answer. Students who sometimes choose to not work carefully, were working carefully to make sure their answers were correct. If someone did miss an answer, they were given instructions to fix it before coming back to check again. 

To add an edge of competition, I told the students that anyone who finished their challenge would receive a Jolly Rancher, and the person in each grade level who got the most points would each receive two Jolly Ranchers. 

Final Thoughts on the Transformation

Overall, I thought this new transformation was a smashing success. The students were engaged. They had fun learning. There was rigor, and the environment was perfect. I would most definitely repeat this transformation. It was magic. 

Next time, I would begin working on the creating part several days before instead of just the afternoon and evening before. It was a lot of work to create everything by hand, but it was definitely worth it. 

What the Students said about It

It was fun!

A few days later, one of my students said to me, "I figured something out about you...." When I asked what they had figured out the student said, "I figured out that you just want us to have fun!" That was a huge compliment and one of my missions in teaching. I want students to realize that learning is fun! If they see how fun it is, they will be life-long learners as I am, and that is a win!

Toy-Story-Classroom-Transformation

A Toy Story classroom transformation is the most fun you will have all year! Seriously, there is just so much engagement in something like this that it makes the work in preparing it all worth while! 

For my Toy Story classroom transformation, I started with some ideas from none other than the amazing Hope King (I just happened to visit The Ron Clark Academy last year while she was doing her Toy Story classroom transformation and you can read all about my experience here and here). I was also fortunate enough to go to the Get Your Teach On Conference and hear all about the activities Hope did for her transformation (you can catch up on that over here). I also scoured the internet for other ideas for decorating my classroom. Hope's decor was amazing, but I needed something a little bit more budget friendly. I landed on Amy Lemon's page here and found that she also had a video explaining all about the transformation and how some other teachers all got together and created this experience in each of their rooms...a bit differently according to their personalities. You can find a Facebook live for that right at the bottom of her blog post. She really focused on creating the Toy Story classroom transformation on a budget, which I LOVE!

So here is a peek at what I did to set this Toy Story classroom transformation up. It was not that hard and did not take me more than a few hours of time, but the results and the reactions from the students make it all worth while.

First, I purchased some white poster board, colored poster board, foam board, 4 square boxes, some tablecloths. These supplies are all very cheap and can be purchased from Walmart for not much more than $10. I created some kid-like drawings to represent the drawings in Andy's room from the movie Toy Story. I covered the boxes in brown paper that I already had and cut out some strips from my classroom stash of construction paper and added around the border on the front of each box. I cut out a letter for each box to spell the word Andy. 

For the claw machine, I took a box I already had, cut out a window and covered it in a garbage bag. I used plastic wrap for the window. I cut out shapes from red poster board to make a rocket ship and glued it onto foam board for durability. I threw in some Easter grass that I already had and purchased a few green Easter eggs. I added three wiggly eyes to each egg to make little aliens and put some math problems inside. We used a pair of kitchen tongs as the "claw" to grab out space aliens for this activity. I borrowed Toy Story characters from my son and also purchased two inflatable crayons from Amazon for super cheap. 

I added blue tablecloths to the wall and created clouds from white poster board . I created an Etch-a-Sketch by adding a red frame around my smart TV from red poster board and added some white lids for the dials. I also cued up the Toy Story theme song and playlist to start us off.  

At each table, I placed a different color of tablecloth. I put a small strip of a cow-themed tablecloth on top and added boxes with supplies for the activities as well as a sprinkling of aliens toys, army guys, and small Lego boxes that I found at Dollar Tree. I placed a cowboy hat and bandana at each spot for the students to use during the transformation. I have had both of these for a while and keep them to reuse. 

I did not decorate the entire room, but just a piece at the front, as you can see here. I also cut out letters to spell Toy Story from red and yellow poster board to add to the backdrop.  

Outside of the room, I placed a poster that said Andy's room. I hung black tablecloths over the sliding doors in my room, so no one could see inside.

When my class came up to my room that morning, they saw the poster and the black tablecloths....well, to say they were excited would be an understatement! They were jumping up and down and asking a thousand questions....engagement from the beginning. I LOVE that so much! They had experienced other transformations throughout the year, so they knew they were going to have an amazing time. You can check out some of my other transformations here, here, here, and here. 

The focus of most of the activities was STEM and teambuilding. I used this during the last week of school when students had a hard time staying focused on work. This transformation helped to change things around for them. The challenges I used were mostly ones from Hope King that I experienced myself at Get Your Teach On. 

One of the activities that I threw in on this transformation was an unlock challenge. I had never done one in my classroom before, but it was super easy to set up and I had experienced one at Get Your Teach On when I went to the conference. I found this one that was called Save the Toys on TPT, printed the tasks, purchased 4 tool boxes from Dollar Tree and also some locks on Amazon (as described by the Save the Toys activity). Overall, I really loved this activity. I found out, though that some groups will have a hard time sticking with the task. Some were not able to solve the codes on the first try and for some, they had several tries. Next time, I will prep them with some strategies for failure and getting up and trying again.

Next year, I am moving schools and also going from second grade to 3rd/4th. I am planning to use this transformation again. I saved everything and plan to use it at the beginning of the school year instead of the end. I think it will be a perfect way to build community at the beginning of the year and review some content that students have already learned in years past. 

Transformations can be a lot of work, but they don't have to be. You can put into it whatever you want. I have done very simple ones and ones way more elaborate than this one. 

Transformations can be expensive, but they don't have to be. You can spend whatever you want on it. For a budget-friendly transformation, use items you have, check out things your own kids have, ask friends, and also don't forget Dollar Tree. You will be surprised what you can find there.

This year I have three new transformations I want to add it. I have been dying to do a glow transformation. I also want to do a candyland one and a cupcake shop for math. Is it a lot? Maybe, but I am determined to continue to grow and use engaging methods that do not sacrifice rigor, but stimulate it, and I have found no better way to reach those goals.