It all started two years ago, when my husband came to work as a geography teacher at school. He was given an office, and he decided to radically change it. The director supported us, and for 46,600 rubles we managed to create a comfortable educational space. Last summer, the Geek Teachers team and I made our second office renovation.⠀
Important! I don’t think that a teacher should do the repairs themselves. No, but you need to create a request for modern, comfortable conditions, talk about your needs and desires. Otherwise it will be like that joke about the “deaf-mute” who did not speak because he was not asked.
The main features of my office were:
⁃ a place for reading and relaxation where children can spend time comfortably and usefully. ⁃ A door you can write on (chalk sticker). ⁃ Shelves with games, magazines and books that you can take out at any time. ⁃ cans for voting with chewing gum (I have a separate post about this method, which helps to get rid of chewing gum under desks forever). ⁃ hanging containers with pencils and pens.
A full overview of the office is in the eternal stories called “Office 35”. ⠀ I read 1000 pages of the “School Design Guide”, added something from my experience and compiled a brief description of the office of a modern school and I want to share it with you, maybe you can make your own “35 office”.
Office zoning ⠀
1. Study area. 2. Storage and rest area. 3. Teacher's area. 4. Sanitary zone. Image taken from Art. Lebedev's school design guide
Study area
In the training area there are student workplaces. There are desks and chairs here, as well as information materials for lessons.
The layout of the study area of the classroom depends on the number of students in the class, the overall layout of the space, the location of the water outlet and the size of the desks (individual or double).
Student desks are arranged in accordance with regulatory documents, which indicate the minimum distances from tables to walls, cabinets, blackboards and between them.
Storage and rest area
Depending on the possibilities of the space and the wishes of the teacher, parents and students, the zone combines one or more modules: a storage area (various shelves and cabinets for educational materials), a soft zone (poufs, benches), a free creativity zone (markers, chalk or magnetic surfaces), a corner for board games and drawing (separate tables with chairs) and an exhibition area (devices for displaying children's crafts).
There are a few things to consider when planning your area.
Firstly, the furniture must be adjacent to the floor. Cabinets with legs make it difficult to clean the office.
Secondly, it is desirable that the cabinets are closed. If this is a shelving unit, then you should use opaque containers for storage so that there is no visual noise and the office looks neat.
Thirdly, the color of the furniture will depend on the color scheme of the walls. Therefore, purchase furniture after you have decided on color schemes for a particular office.
Teacher zone
The main elements are a comfortable chair and a spacious table that covers the legs. It is advisable that the equipment does not stand on the table and there is additional storage space next to the table.
Sanitary zone
It is found mainly in elementary school classrooms and has the following requirements:
- hanging cabinet
- sink with rounded edges
- liquid soap with dispenser
- towels and trash can
It is worth paying attention to the tiles. Patterned, large tiles can often ruin the whole look. Therefore, it is recommended to use small square tiles without patterns in this area.
How to decorate the ceiling
You can attach a serpentine made of white or colored paper to the ceiling in the classroom. To do this, the circle is cut in a spiral, one end is fixed to the ceiling, the other must be left free. The addition will be paper snowflakes and Christmas balls.
You can hang a paper garland of figurines under the ceiling. The silhouettes of ballerinas in openwork skirts will look unusual and elegant. Skirts are cut out like snowflakes.
Clusters of multi-colored Christmas balls attached to ribbons will look impressive. Balls can be in the same color scheme or contrasting.
You can decorate your classroom for the New Year in a universal way: multi-colored garlands of triangular pennant flags and voluminous pom-poms made of soft paper.
Color solutions
The color of walls or floors can influence the learning process: create a relaxed atmosphere or, conversely, actively stimulate mental activity. Color helps make the office visually warmer or cooler. Some shades allow you to highlight objects located against their background,” an excerpt from the Art. Lebedev Studio school design guide:
What options are there for painting classroom walls?
1. Classic: all the walls of the office are painted the same color.
2. With an accent. One of the walls stands out with a brighter shade. This helps draw attention to an object located on this wall, such as a board, and makes the interior of the office more unusual.
It is believed that the walls that serve as the background for displaying teaching aids should be color coordinated with the predominant color of the teaching aids and the color of the chalkboard. To a greater extent, this applies to coordinating the colors of the wall and the board.
The color of the chalkboard should not be particularly different in brightness from the color of the wall, otherwise fatigue will quickly set in due to the continuous adaptation of the eyes.
By default, doors, windows and ceilings are painted white.
If existing premises cannot be repainted, you need to adhere to the following rule: light spaces, decorated in one color, are filled with colored furniture; spaces decorated in different shades are filled with monochromatic furniture.
It is better to decorate non-standard rooms in light colors - this solution always looks good. If it is impossible to purchase furniture in the suggested color, it is better to choose light wood.
Decorating the classroom with balloons
Balls are one of the most popular decorations for September 1st. All children love balloons, and it makes sense to distribute all these airy “decorations” to the children after the holiday. Let them take home a piece of the holiday with them.
Helium balloons are great for decorating any room. They are made from:
- chains. “Rainbow” and chains of “flowers” are made using fishing line or thin wire on which helium balloons are attached;
- single flowers that are placed on each student’s desk;
- entire compositions and paintings decorating the chalkboard or walls;
- figures, numbers and letters, next to which you can get great photos from the Festival of Knowledge;
- “fountains” and “bouquets” that “stand” on the floor thanks to a special weight;
- Garlands;
- toys that appeal to both first-graders and older students.
School board design
In the classroom, the board is the centerpiece. This is what they focus on when decorating a room for September 1st. And this place (in front of the blackboard) is most often chosen for photographing both the teacher and the students of the entire class. Therefore, all the festive mood will revolve on this day precisely on this “patch” of knowledge.
There are many options for designing a chalkboard. If the teacher or one of the parents has artistic skills, then the board is painted and painted with ordinary colored chalks...
Or they decorate it with cut out paper figures and themed posters.
As an option, there is an inscription on the board itself and fountains or numbers made of balls next to it.
Themed garlands with inscriptions are sold in stores, but they are easy to make yourself. An excellent and original decoration for the board would be inscriptions like these with the names of the students in the class.
How to decorate the teacher's table and desks
Teachers, students and parents should be imbued with the festive atmosphere. A beautifully decorated teacher's table and desks will help create a good mood and the mood to study. Fresh flowers that children bring to their teacher on the first day of school are perhaps the greatest decoration of the teacher’s desk. But original ideas for decorating bouquets will also be an excellent gift for a teacher. For example, such bouquets of leaves, flowers and sweets.
Various flower arrangements with school stationery items are also perfect for decoration.
Desks are usually decorated with balloons or balloon toys. But for first-graders, parents can also prepare special gift sets that will be useful for children in the future for their studies.
Congratulation cards, drawings by students from the last school year, photographs from school life - all this can be perfectly used to decorate the classroom for September 1st. The main thing here is a positive attitude towards studying after the summer holiday. And it’s easy to create if you approach it with enthusiasm and a good mood.
Exhibition space
This is an important element that serves as a focal point in any office. There are the following design options for the exhibition space.
Stand
Stands can be felt or cork. Cork is preferable, as it is easy to stick buttons into it and it looks aesthetically pleasing. But if you plan to attach something with Velcro, then a felt stand is also suitable. An alternative to stands are cork coasters for hot HIT from IKEA. A set of 3 pieces costs only 129 rubles.
Reiki
The advantages of this method are that - the slats look minimalistic and in themselves already decorate the space; — there is really a lot of space where you can attach work; — you can place the sheets anywhere and any way you want, constantly changing the composition.
The works are attached to buttons.
Tablets and clipboards
The most ordinary office tablet can serve as an excellent solution for creating an unusual exhibition space.
A huge plus is that it’s very easy and quick to shoot and post new works.
The average price of one tablet is 100 rubles.
Clothespins
Another simple option is clothespins.
You need to stretch wire, rope or mesh along the wall. Use paper clothespins to hang your work.
There is another similar option, where the work is attached not to clothespins, but to dogs (curtain runners), and the dogs are attached to the railing.
Christmas tree in the classroom
The main decoration of the office is, of course, the Christmas tree! We'll tell you a few original ways to make it.
The simplest one is to make a tall cone out of cardboard and wrap it with satin ribbons, paper strips or floral packaging material. By the way, on the Christmas tree you can place photos of children from the class in frames made of New Year's tinsel.
In the library, a Christmas tree can be made from several tiers of textbooks, wrapping them in tinsel.
A large and unusual Christmas tree can be made from colored paper. Each child traces and cuts out their own palm silhouette. Then, with the help of the teacher, the palms are glued onto a large cone base. You can decorate such a New Year tree with a garland with photographs of all students.
Options for decorative design of space
Walls can contain interesting information in an equally interesting form. These could be: - height meters, where you can compare your height with the height of animals or famous literary characters; — geometric figures with layout; — molecular network; — illustration of the propagation of sound in air; - a sticker demonstrating the law of light reflection.
You can also use the cabinet floor. With its help, you can understand fractions and visually study the measurement of angles.
Image from Pinterest.
About the author: Alexandra Sergeevna Vorobyova, teacher of history and social studies, MBOU "KSOSH No. 2 named after the sailor who died on the Kursk nuclear submarine, Sergei Alexandrovich Vitchenko", Kirovsk, Leningrad region, author of the blog @wow_urok
Deciding on color and style
This is a very important point. If New Year's decorations look clumsy, too bright or, conversely, nondescript, if the colors do not match each other, it will not be a decoration, but a disgrace that will ruin the whole holiday. The same thing will happen if there are too many decorations in the room or, conversely, too little.
Therefore, before starting to decorate the classroom, students and the teacher should think carefully. How exactly to decorate the classroom, what to buy and what you can make yourself, how best to hang or stick it all, and most importantly - where exactly? And also – what colors go best with each other? It is traditionally believed that the best color combination is:
- white, green, red;
- blue, white, silver;
- red and golden.
Of course, these are not all New Year’s color combinations, but I think the principle is clear. All these points must be taken into account, and only then start decorating the classroom.
