QUICK and EASY Classroom Decor

 Are you making plans to set up your classroom?  Are you dreaming of an endless summer?  Either way, at some point, we are all going to have to think about what we want our learning space to look like.  

           Since we don’t have unlimited funds, I tried to pick something that I will be happy sticking with for a while.  I wanted crisp and clean base colors, so that I can change out decor if I get sick of it! 

      For my classroom, I have been keeping it clean and simple. Years ago I decided to cover all of my bulletin boards with black fabric I bought at JoAnn’s with a 40% off coupon.  If you have a Walmart with fabric, you could probably even get this look for a little cheaper.   Once I added the black background, I chose some solid NEON borders that I could leave up all year round!  Not changing out the borders for each season was such a GAME CHANGER!  I love saving time and keeping my bulletin boards looking fresh and clean. 

The best part of BLACK and BRIGHT is that I can find matching things everywhere!  I also buy a block of Astrobright paper and use this to make my letters, my signs, and everything else!  A little money goes a long way! Here is a little tour of what I have going on in my classroom right now.

I put this bulletin board up about 8 or 9 years ago…and it is still my FAVORITE! It looks BEAUTIFUL and VIBRANT with nothing on it to start off the year, and it is super quick to pop up student work! I always hang up something the kids do on the first day of school…and it is READY for OPEN HOUSE!

Having a GROWTH MINDSET BOARD is perfect for the start of the year and the BRIGHT colors look great for the MEET AND GREET and OPEN HOUSE.

For this MATH bulletin board, I like to put up the Title before school starts. The first or second day of school, we take pictures of MATH things that we find on the playground. This can be numbers, arrays, shapes, math equations, etc. The families LOVE to see photos of their kids at OPEN HOUSE and it makes the room feel like everyone belongs right away.

The lighting isn’t great because this is the hallway outside my door, but using the ASTROBRIGHT paper allows me the have bright and matching pieces everywhere. These are from a few years back.

This bulletin board is in the HALLWAY and is a COMMUNITY 3rd grade board. I just popped up some BRIGHT decor to freshen it up at the start of the year.

This is a new Bulletin Board I did last fall and was a great opportunity to snap and post a bunch of pictures of kids in the classroom the first week of school and then put them inside the little “Polaroid” frames.

Quick Tip

One way to savor as much of summer as possible with my family AT HOME is to set up my bulletin boards before I leave for summer vacation in JUNE. I use most of the same bulletin boards to start off my year most years. When I take them down, I just put all the pieces in a baggie or folder and stick them in my file cabinet. Then on June 1st, I start putting my bulletin boards back up for the fall. Super quick and super easy!

Hopefully these ideas help save you at least a little bit of time and make your classroom a more visually appealing place to be! You can check out more classroom decor options here…and snag an editable decor FREEBIE!

~Heather