Themed classrooms are something that I have done from the very beginning of my career. I believe that the environment that you spend a good deal of your time in, should be inviting, creative, and somewhere you want to be. My goal has always been for kids to want to be in my classroom, want to spend time in there; and then the rest would be up to me to get them to want to learn.

 

My themes have always been more than just decorations, and paint. I have utilized calls and responses that were theme specific and have given out class jobs that were in keeping with the themes. In my Hogwart's classroom, we read Book 1 of the series.  I also kept my students in "houses", and they earned points for behavior. At the end of the year, the house with the most points earned the distinction of "winning", and their house was placed on a plaque - interestingly, it's always "HUFFLEPUFF"! 

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I think that one of my best memories, was that in one particular "tough" year, my class and I bonded, and I remember telling the students that we were "forged by fire", and a student asked, "Were the flames blue?"