Looking for great ways to celebrate the amazing parents of your students? Father’s Day may be during summer vacation but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate it in your classroom!
You can either celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day separately (check out this amazing Mother’s Day celebration idea here!) or you can combine them both into a super fun Parent’s Day. Not only do you get to bundle it all together, but this is a little more inclusive for kids who don’t have a mom, dad, or traditional caregivers at home. Parent’s Day parties can be for anyone who cares for them!
Here are some fun ways to celebrate Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, OR Parent’s Day.
Invite parents to the school! Doing this in the late afternoon or just the second half of the day will make it easier for parents to leave work if necessary and make it in.
Have a picnic. A simple picnic with chips, sandwiches, and juice is fun for everyone. At the end of the year the weather is usually nice so take it outside and get some sunshine. Just make sure to have a backup plan if it gets rainy! You can request food and supplies from parents ahead of time to save yourself from spending too much on food.
Play some games! Get some frisbees (you can usually find some in the Target Dollar Spot or the Dollar Store this time of year) and let students play with their parents. You can also get some footballs-which would be a hit for Father’s Day!
Take a tour of the decorated classroom. After the picnic and games, invite parents to tour the classroom. You can decorate with students’ artwork or crafts they made for their parents!
This Bulletin Board Decoration set is perfect for classroom decoration during Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or a Parent’s Day party. It also makes a great gift that they can take home and give to their parents.
This download includes different pull waffle books, a pocket to hold coupons, and blank waffle books to create your own story! Just add a bow and a folded lunch bag to create a keepsake for students to give to others or use on the bulletin board.
What is your favorite way to celebrate parents? Let me know in the comments!
One of the best parts of getting ready for a brand new school year is choosing your classroom decor! It is so fun to plan out how things will be laid out, what colors you will use, and what you want your students to feel when they come into your room.
Using your classroom decor to make your classroom a warm and welcome environment is especially important if you have younger students. Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade kiddos are likely to be feeling extra nervous because school is so new. Many kindergarten students are experiencing school and being away from their parents for the first time. We want to make them feel welcome, excited, and comfortable with our classroom.
Here are some tips for decorating your classroom
Plan it out early. Start thinking about what you want to do with your classroom in the summer. This gives you time to lay it out and find the supplies you need and have them ready when it is time to decorate.
Pick a fun theme. Themed classroom decor is a fun way to make your class memorable and stand out to your students! You can do themes that are more specific like Under The Sea, Zoo Animals, and Rainbows. Or you can do a more simple theme like bright colors!
Make it welcoming. A warm and inviting classroom can help ease those first day jitters. Your students will love coming to a room where they feel happy and comfortable all year long.
Add to it as you go. It is great to use your wall space for fun decorations, but keep some spots bare. You can add to your classroom decor as the year goes on.
Let your students help! This is a fun way to make the students feel more relaxed and like they had a part in their classroom decorations. Come up with some fun crafts that they can do that go along with the theme. When they are done, display it on your walls!
I created this fun Hawaiian Beach Themed Classroom Decor Bundle to help make your decor planning easier!
This editable decor bundle will bring a relaxing and calm feel to your class. This includes 6 resources using Hawaiian pictures and watercolors.
Included you’ll get:
Welcome banners
Tropical word wall
Growth mindset posters
Labels
Table numbers
Center posters
Hawaiian photo alphabet lines (in cursive and print)
Pick a theme or color scheme that you will love all year!
Themed Classroom Decor
Nicole Woody’s Camping Reading Area
Picking a theme that not only you love, but inspires your students to learn is one of the most important decisions for a teacher! Your classroom decor sets the tone for your students all year. Teacher’s want it to be warm, inviting, and materials to be easily accessible to the students. Keep your theme calm, yet fun. Nicole Woody’s camping reading area is warm and inviting! What student wouldn’t want to curl up with a good book in a tent next to a camp fire?
If you love a particular subject, make sure you incorporate your favorite subjects in a way to make you feel happy and inspired. Not only will you walk in to your classroom with an instant feeling of happiness, your students will see your passion and follow suit! Check out Lisa Taylor’s STEM area for ideas in your classroom. She also creates amazing STEM products in her TpT store! It is bright, happy and screams “MAKE SOMETHING GREAT” with the way she organizes using accessible bins with various items. This also makes clean up a snap for students to easily put materials away.
Check out The Fairy Tale Teacher’s classroom where imagination meets blooms of color to engage her students and set a happy tone to the school day! Using your imagination to design your room is a great way to model for your students how they should use their imagination. Not sure what theme to pick? Consider leaving the room a blank canvas and let the students choose a theme and maybe even a class name. You can invite the students help create the decorations or help write a grant to obtain materials they want for their room.
Classroom schedules can help spruce up your classroom and be a helpful tool to help students with transitions during the day. Check out this editable schedule for primary or intermediate classrooms!
Bulletin Boards are the best way to spruce up a classroom! Rikki Heyman has utilized hers to make a “Smart Spot” and another to place her learning objectives, so students can clearly see the targets they should be aiming for during lessons. She said, “Creating a learning environment is a lot of work, but well worth the community I get to share it with…” Do you have a spot in your classroom for placing learning objectives? Her “Smart Spot” board is used for students to be able to locate flexible seating choices. What child wouldn’t want to be in this class?
Add Some Color
Michael Behrens
Michael Behrens
Sometimes all you need is some great colors to brighten up the walls of a dull classroom! I love the way this room utilizes colorful pompoms, blue hanging paper lanterns, various forms of lighting, and the cute chalkboard table stands. Adding pennants and lanterns are fantastic ways to transform a classroom into a positive environment for learning.
Don’t forget about your doors. They are the first thing your students will look at in the morning! Either decorate your door, or for younger students, have a choice for them to pick for a MORNING GREETING (Grab the freebie!) or GOOD BYE. If you don’t have time to greet the students in the morning, let that be a student’s job. It can change the mood of a student who had a rough start at home.
Want to bring Hawaii with you into the classroom for the year? Use this tropical themed classroom decor set that includes watercolors and real photos of Hawaii. Decorate some palm trees for holidays. Create a warm environment by using bamboo, beach colors and tropical decor in your classroom. Students can relax in beach chairs in the reading nook.
Colors make a Difference
Paint Cans as Table Markers and Pencil Holders
Paint Cans as Pencil Holders
Find you local home improvement store to find paint color sample strips. This will help you pick some colors that really go together, if you want to transform you classroom without having a particular themed room. You can find empty new paint cans there also. Use the paint cans as pencil holders, flower pots, spray on some chalk paint to easily use chalk to write table numbers, and use the lids for students to practice tracing circles. You can spray the lids with the same black chalk paint, add a magnet to the back and write your class schedule on the lids. So many possibilities! Whatever you decide, make it feel like your second home, because that is really what your classroom is to you and your students.
I haven’t posted lately because I was on my dream vacation in Hawaii! It was everything I imagined and more. The pictures don’t do it justice at all. Although Waikiki and Honolulu were a bit more commercialized than I expected, I found one island just amazing! My favorite island was Maui. If you love tropical vacations, like I do, it is an experience of a life time. I live in Florida, so I’m use to the beach life. The Road to Hana, hidden waterfalls, legends, Poke Bowls, caves, rain forest, volcano, spectacular snorkel spots, and friendly locals made a magical trip for my family. The trip hit the wallet a little harder than I expected even with all the research I did prior to the trip, but it was well worth it. Now, I have so many ideas for a new classroom decor!
Every corner I found inspiration for new #TpT products. I took a lot of pictures to create a tropical classroom decor pack that I can’t wait to see come to life. So far I have made a Hawaiian themed Color Word Posters and a Word Wall Banner Set. These will become part of a Hawaiian Theme Classroom Decor BUNDLE… COMING SOON. Go check them out though, if you are thinking about a beach classroom theme for your classroom. One of our favorite hidden lunch places that we just happened to stumble upon is called The Garden Terrace at Kula Lodge! Eat outside while enjoying the spectacular entire west side of Maui view. They have an outdoor wood-burning pizza oven that my kids still talk about today! Mama’s Fish House Restaurant was our favorite place on the island for catching a view of Maui’s amazing sunsets. The food is absolute terrific! You can find some of the sunset pictures in the new calendar pack I’m in the process of making that will be part of the set. I rarely post pictures of my family on my blog, but here is one showing the beautiful sunset.
Check back in the future for blogs on the new Hawaii Themed Decor Sets that I will have up in my Teacher’s Brain store soon. As they say in Hawaii… Mahalo!!!!
I realize some of you are not on summer vacation yet. You may want to check out the blog post about End of the School Year Activities.
Check back in the future for blogs on the new Hawaii Themed Decor Sets that I will have up in my