A recipe for a calm classroom

Colour

A simple colour scheme often gives a sense of flow as our eyes look around a classroom environment. A mishmash of different coloured backing papers and borders can take the attention away from the children’s work or information that is being displayed. Natural-coloured backing paper or hessian works beautifully with metallic, black or pastel-coloured borders. For an extra-special display, especially in the darker days of autumn and winter, the addition of fairy lights can not only showcase the display beautifully but add a warm and calming glow to the classroom.

Light

Often, teachers pull the blinds down when snowflakes start to fall outside and this can cause a simmering hubbub of excitement (and sometimes frustration) amongst the class. However, teachers who give their class the opportunity to quietly stand at the window and gaze for a few minutes at one of nature’s wonders will find that their children can calmly return to their learning activities, basking in their awareness of the beautiful winter’s scene forming outside. It is important that blinds are only pulled down for the reasons they were intended for, that is, when bright sunlight is hindering children’s learning and to reduce heat on hot summer days. Natural light is so important for the wellbeing of everyone, so it is good to be mindful of this, for example, just because the blinds needed to be pulled down during the morning doesn’t necessarily mean they need to be down for the rest of the school day or even forgotten about for some days to follow.