Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Bee Themed Classroom

My Bee-Themed Classroom

From the year 2000-2011, I was a self-contained second grade teacher at Joe Hall Elementary. During those years, my second grade classroom was decorated in a Bee Theme. I was the Queen Bee and my second graders were my worker bees. In 2011, I started teaching fourth grade gifted. That year I knew I had to change my theme into something more age appropriate; a little bit more mature. That year I retired my bee theme and switched over to a Hollywood Theme. You can see pictures of my Hollywood Theme here.

Why do I decorate my room in theme? Well, it's simple. By creating a year long theme in my classroom, I am creating a sense of unity as soon as my students walk-in through the door. The main goal for me as a teacher is to build a community in my classroom. Making my diverse students feel like a united group of individuals. I also work hard to make my classroom a place where where my students can feel safe, excited, and motivated to learn. Implementing a class theme each year is the perfect way for me to achieve my goal.

Having a classroom theme also makes my work easier. It determines how I decorate my room, name tags, letterheads, emails, weekly newsletter, group names, etc... It saves me times so that way I can focus on the important things like instruction and lesson planning. My classroom theme does not determine what I teach academically, it just creates a fun learning environment that allows my students to come alive and feel excited to be a part of a shared experience during the school year.

My Bee Themed Classroom (2000-2011)


My Beehive
The Beehive was my favorite feature in my bee-themed classroom. 
My husband made it using PVC pipes that I bought at Home Depot. I then spray painted the pipes yellow and had my mother in law sew the fabric together to create the beehive. I used it in my classroom library as a reading nook. My students loved to sit inside the beehive and read a book. 


Bee-Themed Library
My classroom library had a large green area rug, and the tags on my book bins were yellow. I decorated my bulletin boards in yellow and black to stay true to the theme. 

More Pictures
Below are more pictures of my bee-themed classroom.









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