Teachers, prepare your classroom for success in the new school year with these helpful classroom setup ideas!

<p>
  Everyone loves a fresh start. One of the many perks of teaching is that you 
  and your students get a fresh start each new school year! This time of year 
  offers the perfect opportunity for you to consider what has worked and what 
  hasn’t in the past and tweak your classroom setup to prepare for success in 
  the upcoming months and beyond. You have likely experienced what it feels 
  like to be disorganized and running behind schedule. And you’re probably also 
  aware that when you’ve carefully considered the details, anticipated possible 
  challenges, and put a well-crafted plan in place, your days will run much more 
  smoothly. With that goal in mind, we’ve compiled a handy checklist to help you 
  prepare your classroom for an outstanding new school year.
</p>

<h2>Classroom Setup Ideas for the New School Year</h2>
<h3>Seating and Classroom Preparation</h3>
<ol style="margin-left:25px;">
  <li><strong>Set up your bulletin boards:</strong> Visually appealing and informative 
  bulletin boards can make your classroom a text-rich, intellectually stimulating, 
  welcoming environment for your learners. It can convey that learning is fun, 
  meaningful, and relevant to your students’ lives. Consider setting up boards 
  with the topics of “All About Us” for elementary school, “Our Learning Goals” 
  for middle school, or “Exploring Different Careers” for high school. 
  Here are more great ideas from 
  <a href="https://www.weareteachers.com/bulletin-board-ideas/" target="_blank">We Are Teachers</a>.
  </li>

  <li><strong>Prepare your classroom calendar:</strong> Classroom calendars 
  aren’t only for younger kids; they’re critical for older students as well. 
  They teach valuable organizational skills, help kids with attention and executive 
  functioning challenges on tasks, and help you focus on target curriculum standards. 
  Calendars help students track assignment due dates, quizzes, tests and more. 
  Check out these free and low-cost printable classroom calendars from 
  <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/browse?search=printable classroom calendars free" target="_blank">
  Teachers Pay Teachers.</a>
 </li>
 <li><strong>Make a birthday chart:</strong> You can always include birthdays on 
 your main classroom calendar, but keeping a dedicated birthday chart in your 
 classroom is an excellent idea. As educators, we tend to focus on celebrating 
 the birthdays of younger students, but preteens and teens need to be recognized 
 on their birthdays as well. Don’t forget to celebrate students who have birthdays 
 that fall during summer or other school holidays. 
 </li>
 <li><strong>Organize your classroom and label materials:</strong> Where will 
 students turn in and pick up their papers? Where will you keep handouts, notebooks, 
 textbooks, pens, pencils, highlighters, and paper? How will students know what 
 goes where? Organizing, labeling, and color-coding your materials can go a long 
 way toward streamlining your classroom and creating a calm, logical atmosphere. 
 </li>

 <li><strong>Arrange classroom furniture and storage:</strong> As you set up the 
 furniture and storage in your classroom, carefully consider the traffic paths. 
 Where will your students enter and exit, throw away their trash, pick up 
 materials, staple papers, get a tissue or hand sanitizer, and sharpen 
 their pencils? 
 </li>

 <li><strong>Use flexible seating arrangements:</strong> There are countless 
 options for arranging desks and tables. Consider the advantages of L-shaped 
 seating (<a href="https://www.edutopia.org/article/flexible-classroom-seating-design/" target="_blank">
 Edutopia</a>). Or think about the benefits of incorporating various 
 seating types, like couches, yoga balls, chairs, and stools (
<a href="https://inside.ewu.edu/managementtoolbox/flexible-seating/" target="_blank">
 Eastern Washington University</a>). Carefully planned seating can improve attention, 
 reduce fidgeting, prevent outbursts, minimize distractions, or facilitate 
 collaboration. Also, consider where kids will go to have a break from peers, 
 a time to decompress, or a quiet space to focus or read. 
Don’t forget to label desks to prevent confusion on the first day.
 </li>
</ol>


<h3>Technology and Communication Prep</h2>

<ol style="margin-left:25px;" start="7">
  <li><strong>Decide what digital tools you’ll use:</strong> Depending on the grade 
  level you are teaching and your school and district policies, there are various 
  ways to use digital tools with your students and parents. Consider whether any of 
  these will work for you: smartboard, shared calendars, audio and video recorders, 
  quizzes, polls, surveys, games, brainstorming tools, whole-class collaboration 
  tools, digital sticky notes, graphics, visuals, word clouds, presentations, 
  feedback, rubrics, or online lecture platforms. For a list of 75 digital tools 
  with links to resources, visit 
  <a href="https://www.nwea.org/blog/2024/75-digital-tools-apps-teachers-use-to-support-classroom-formative-assessment/" target="_blank"> 
  NWEA.</a>
  </li>

  <li><strong>Prepare your classroom technology:</strong> Technology can benefit a 
  smooth-running classroom, but tech issues can derail your plans if things go awry. 
  Before school starts, ensure all hardware, AV equipment, logins, and passwords work 
  correctly. Set up your digital files for your grade book, parent contacts, 
  data collection, classroom agenda, planning calendar, syllabus, newsletter, 
  etc. Create a document for students and parents with information, including 
  textbook logins, gradebook logins, school maps, locker information, digital 
  platforms, and other technological resources.
  </li>
</ol>

<h3>Preparing for Your Students</h3>
<ol style="margin-left:25px;" start="9">
  <li><strong> Write your welcome letter:</strong> A welcome letter is your opportunity 
  to introduce yourself to students and parents, set your intentions for the 
  school year, establish a warm, collaborative connection, highlight your 
  background and skills, and share your teaching philosophy. You don’t have to 
  start from scratch to write your welcome letter. <a href="https://www.weareteachers.com/teacher-introduction-letter-to-parents/" target="_blank"
  >We Are Teachers</a> has 15 templates 
  to help, whether you want to put preschoolers and their parents at ease, 
  build parent connections, focus on who you are, ask parents for an intro letter, 
  or simply share classroom logistics.
  </li>

  <li><strong>Create welcome packets:</strong> Parents and students can quickly 
  become overwhelmed by the paperwork they receive at the beginning of each 
  school year. Organize these papers into a welcome packet to ensure your parents 
  and kids feel valued and informed. Prepare a folder for each family with your 
  welcome letter, classroom expectations, school supply list, curriculum overview 
  or syllabus, contact information, tech resources and logins, key dates, 
  volunteer information, and other essential items.
  </li>

  <li><strong>Put together new student survival kits:</strong> When new students 
  join your classroom, they may feel overlooked, especially if you’re deep into 
  the curriculum and too busy to assemble information to welcome them aboard. 
  Take time in advance to create a new student survival guide. Include the 
  welcome packet your other students received on the first day of school, a warm, 
  encouraging note about tips for feeling more comfortable joining the new class, 
  an All About Me activity, All About Our Class info, and a welcome banner for 
  existing students to sign.
  </li>
</ol>


<h3>Classroom Management Prep</h3>
<ol style="margin-left:25px;" start="12">
   <li><strong>Write Your Classroom Expectations and Routines:</strong> You may 
   decide to wait until your students arrive to fine-tune your expectations and 
   routines together. But it would be wise to have some basic rules in place for 
   the first day. Here are a few to start: Raise your hand to speak. Be prepared 
   for class. Keep your hands to yourself. Be kind. Do your best. Be on time. 
   You can find more rules at <a href="https://www.splashlearn.com/blog/best-classroom-rules-how-to-make-your-own-classroom-rules/" target="_blank">
   SplashLearn</a>.  
  </li>
  <li><strong>Assemble Your Emergency Substitute Folder:</strong> Your subs will 
    thank you when they see you’ve prepared for them! Visit our 
    <a href="https://www.crosscountry.com/blog/substitute-teacher-survival-kit" target="_blank"
    >substitute survival guide</a> post with top resources for substitute teachers. 
    Here, you’ll find links to tools and lesson plans you can keep handy for unexpected 
    emergencies. Put the content in a brightly colored emergency sub folder 
    and keep it on or on your desk where it can easily be found. When you 
    contact your administration to notify them that you’ll be out, let them 
    know where you’ve put the folder.
 </li>
</ol>

<h2>Enjoy a Fresh New Start as You Set Up Your Classroom for the Upcoming Year</h2>
<p> There’s nothing quite like a new beginning. As you embark on the upcoming 
  school year, remember why you entered the field of education. Reflect on your 
  accomplishments thus far and set your goals for the future. Keep those top of 
  mind as you set up your classroom. When you remember your Why, you’ll have 
  greater success building a classroom that reflects your ideals and provides 
  a rich learning environment to help your kids grow academically, socially, 
  behaviorally, and emotionally. The classroom atmosphere you create can go a 
  long way toward helping your students thrive in school and beyond.
</p>

<h2>Ready to Start a New Teaching Adventure?</h2>
<p>Explore our exciting <a href="https://www.crosscountry.com/education" target="_blank">jobs for teachers</a> 
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The Ultimate Guide to Classroom Setup for a Successful New School Year