Lots of you like to see classroom photos, so here goes. Last year, I decorated my classroom in beach decor with turquoise, and I’m keeping the same decor this year. Before this, I actually haven’t really done a theme for my entire classroom. I had maybe frogs on name tags and folders, but did not decorate the whole room. I decided I wanted a beach theme last summer while I was vacationing on St. Simon’s Island. I love all the natural things from the beach that can be used for decoration.
So, here’s a photo tour of my beach decor classroom.
This is one of my bulletin boards. I used a twin size black bed sheet to cover the board. When I went to buy blue border, the teacher store was sold out completely. So I made this border with glitter scrapbook paper. I just traced an old piece of border onto the scrapbook paper and cut it out. I put seashell accents at the top (those are Susan Winget seashell accents by Teacher Created Materials). That’s a picture schedule at the bottom.
This is my picture schedule for the children’s reference. This is the one I made this year; the photo above this one shows last year’s schedule.
I put a grass skirts along the top of the white board and trimmed it shorter with scissors. I think I used 2 or 3 adult size grass skirts. Then I hung a seashell and starfish garland over it. The garland came from a village shop on St. Simon’s Island. The turquoise cube seat is where I sit to read stories, but the children can (and do) sit there at other times of the day.
I hung up this little fish net that I bought at Michaels along with a metal crab made by a St. Simon’s Island local artist. (Just ignore how bad the wall looks.)
I made these crab labels on the computer to label the pockets for my lunch envelope and sub folder.
This is my other bulletin board. I also covered this one with twin size bed sheets in turquoise. (The green in the middle is the fabric that was already there from the previous year.) My Dad drew these ocean animals for me. They’re drawn on poster board and colored with PrismaColor markers.
More of my Dad’s ocean animals.
I decorated the window with a child size grass skirt (Hobby Lobby) and this seashell decoration (Big Lots). For about a week, I had a stained glass sea turtle hand made by a St. Simon’s Island local artist on the window. It was well out of the children’s reach, but a young “window washer” knocked it down with a mop, and it broke. Some things you just don’t foresee. What you see on the left, is the classroom window next door to me, which also has an ocean classroom theme.
Metal fish that my Mom bought for me hang beside the window.
I hung this seashell decoration from the ceiling (Big Lots).
This decoration was all white, but I painted the background blue (from Big Lots).
My wooden crab door sign.
Storage boxes on my shelves. These have sheets of turquoise and tangerine scrapbook paper on the front with a label.
More storage boxes with scrapbook paper on the front. All of my scrapbook paper came from Hobby Lobby. The boxes on the top are dramatic play boxes.
All of my storage boxes. Those two big starfish on the shelves are real starfish that I bought at a shell shop at the beach.
Our daily folders. I made the covers on the computer.
My dismissal chart was made with small bulletin boards (Hobby Lobby) painted with acrylic craft paint. Mini starfish were superglued to thumbtacks.
Table signs hang above each table with a different number and different ocean animal on each.
These are my name tags on the tubs above our cubbies. These are used for the children’s extra change of clothing.
This turquoise shower curtain matches well with my room and keeps the children from getting paint on the wall. You can read more about the art easel here.