Decorating a Classroom with a Theme

This is the time of year most teachers are busy creating their classroom environment.  Many of us are making daily trips to Target, Walmart, and the Dollar Store.  We are on the lookout for cute fabric to cover bulletin boards, chairs, and windows.  We are looking for storage containers in coordinating colors and anything else we think we can use for math and language arts centers.  Once we gain access to our rooms, the race is on.  Our mission and goals are to create that kid-friendly, eye-popping room.

After two years of a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Room, I decided it was time for a change.  I'll admit it, black is my go-to color.  I know it isn't very kindergardenish, but I like black, especially when it is paired with white and red.  I also love polka dots. So you guessed it, the theme this year is red, white and black polka dots.

Pulling the Theme Together:  

My first stop was the fabric store.  I found the fabric at Joann's and Wal-Mart. I went for black with white polka dots.  Measure your space before you go, Don't eyeball it.  I did this and I know better.  I got to school and I was about 8 inches short.  I went back and they were out of the fabric I needed so I had to buy more which cost more.

Next, I bought borders in black with white polka dots and Red with white polka dots.  Most of it came from Teacher Created Resources, but Michael's carried it too, which was great because I decided to add one more board and needed more borders.  They also had polka dot homework and birthday charts to match.

Shopping Out and About Town: 

I found containers at Target along with cute notepads, and a great box at Marshall's.  I didn't want to go overboard, but It could happen easily, especially if your themes are something super trendy right now, like Zebra stripes.  They are everywhere.

Can't Find it- Create it:

I have created a lot of my own resources to use this year.

Calendar and Weather Cards

TpT

 All containers on each table are numbered.  I still need to fill these.

 (OOPS- just noticed the book bucket is turned so you can't see the number)

Visual Directions for following directions

TpT 

Homework Container Sign and Lunch Count Signs are part of my Everyday Classroom Signs pack

TpT 

 

 Lunch Count.  Students take their clothespin off the top and pin it to hot lunch or cold lunch.

This also helps with attendance.

 Here you can see I have started decorating bulletin boards with my color theme.  I have even created jumbo sight words with the black and white polka dot frames.  Notice the word I has a different frame around it.  This frame will move each week to the new sight word we are focussing on. You can get yours here for FREE

Keep checking back for more ideas on creating that cute, organized and kid-friendly classroom