I have been teaching a long time! I am not going to say just how long but you can see an old TV/VCR combo in the image from my first classroom. Through all this time, I have been in the same school give or take a classroom one up or down the hall. I love decorating classrooms, in fact Carson-Dellosa even invited me twice for a classroom decor blogger summit. I love creating a cohesive learning environment. It calms me to be in a classroom that is well organized and visually pleasing. That does not mean that my decor picks were always the best choices for me or my students. I have learned a lot about decor over the years. Come with me on a cringe worthy journey of my classrooms through the years!
I thought my cow print classroom was so cool! Teachers weren’t really doing themed classroom besides primary colors back then. I bought and was gifted everything cow. It got to the point where “my herd was full.” I used to joke that my next decor theme should be “money” because everyone kept gifting me cow things. I still sell some cow decor, if cows are your thing. Maybe you live where you actually see cows, unlike me.
My Polka Dot Classroom decor was a lot of fun but kind of looked like a party exploded in my classroom everyday! I can’t knock the Polka Dots, this was a fun classroom theme, and the bright colors were very IN! Over 3,000 of you bought my Polka Dot word wall words! Thank you! I think polka dots would still work today but keep your background and borders simple! The carpet also should have been a solid or less busy pattern, not to mention the clashing primary colors…eek.
This is the probably the most overstimulating classroom picture you will find on the internet. I apologize. I went a bit nuts with the polka dots (read the original post here). I found wrapping paper at HomeGoods and went to town. Don’t do this. Again this would have worked much better with solid backgrounds and accents. Less is more…Less is more.
My farmhouse decor theme was a drastic change from the brights. I really liked this decor theme and got lots of compliments on it. So many teachers are still using and purchasing this theme today. You can see photos and grab all links in this post.
My current classroom theme is sunflowers on a white background with some boho dots and a tiny bit of greenery. It is a very crisp decor set with simple fonts. Each year, I have many Ukrainian students in my class and they LOVE the sunflowers. Did you know that sunflowers are the unofficial symbol of the Ukraine? The students have been so proud to tell me this and their parents, too. I hope it makes them feel welcome.
One thing I have gotten right over the years is labeling! I label everything with my Environmental Print Classroom Labels. These labels have a clean easy to read font, clear images, and they go with any classroom decor theme. They are perfect for the primary classroom, ELL/ENL classroom, and/or Dual Language classroom. Plus, you can edit the text to any language. That means they would even work well in the upper grades in foreign language classrooms.
Thanks for joining me on this memory walk through my classroom. What decor line should I use in my classroom next? Pastels or No Theme? Hop over to FB or IG to let me know.
*Update and Spoiler alert! I went with pastels. You can check out the blog post by clicking below.
