When it comes to transforming your classroom into an adventure, mountain-filled learning zone, I love to go all out! One reason is that having a mountain-themed classroom brings a sense of calm and serenity to your room. We can all use more of that in our classrooms!
Using a mountain classroom theme can really elevate your classroom atmosphere, promoting the idea that this school year, your students can overcome any obstacle or mountain they face! Including the whole class in this adventurous theme strengthens your classroom community right from the start of the school year!
Even our "big kids" in upper elementary love the thrill of an engaging, dynamic classroom mountain-themed environment. A mountain theme creates an exciting backdrop and promotes hard work and focus. Just like real mountaineers, students will learn to tackle obstacles, persevere through tough tasks, and celebrate their achievements at the summit.
Get ready for the back-to-school season with these easy-to-implement ideas focused on mountain-themed classroom decor that will make your classroom feel like a mountaintop adventure. Try all these or any combination to make your classroom an exciting place where students are eager to climb to new heights of learning and overcome any challenge that comes their way!
1. Start with an Introduction
Keep the theme going through the year by using a ! I love using a newsletter to let parents know what learning has taken place this week, let them know about important upcoming dates, and other important classroom information! Using a simple newsletter allows parents to feel that they are connected to you, their child, and the classroom.
Keep the communication with families and caregivers and the mountain theme going all year long with a weekly class newsletter! They are easy to use and help to keep your communication and relationships with parents and families strong!
2. Coordinate Your Room
I love tying in my classroom theme to our open house night. For Meet the Teacher night, I use a mountain theme slideshow. The parents love the theme and always give compliments about how well everything ties together. When the lights are low and the mountains are on the screen, it is a nice way to bring together your Meet the Teacher letter, bulletin board displays, name tags, and banners.
💡Teacher tip: You can use the slideshow template that you create for the open house for your classroom procedure slides, too! Just make two different copies so that you can customize each slide for the different audiences.
4. Inspire with Motivational Bulletin Boards
Over the last few years, I have found that incorporating positive and motivational quotes into our morning meeting time and classroom has a positive outcome for the kids. They love to read and learn new quotes related to different themes. Oftentimes, they repeat the quotes at appropriate times, which is awesome to see!
I use different themes and leave them up for a month or so. We do spend time discussing them a bit during morning meetings. Sometimes, the kids illustrate the quotes or write a reflection about them, but I have found the biggest impact is made just through discussing them and seeing them displayed each day!
I rotate through these six themes, which last us through the year!
🌄 Growth Mindset
🌄 Class Community
🌄 Reading
🌄 Kindness
🌄 Empathy
🌄 Mindfulness
5. Send Your Students Positivity Notes
As the year progresses, I also print out cards for the kids to write positive messages to each other. I either assign who they write to or have them exchange with a partner to ensure that each student gets a note. This is especially fun to do during testing season!
6. Mountain Theme Accent Ideas
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