dream room

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Home : 2002 : October : 29

dream room
By sj

1. at least one (preferably all walls) of uninterrupted wall of floor to ceiling tack board. I had this at one school, and that wall was painted a different color from the others. I loved the floor to ceiling because it
did not define or confine the space I needed for various displays.
2. storage "cubbies" about 1'square for books--so that they can be stored without bookends and still not fall over. I've never had a classroom (and we're talking decades here) that had enough room for all the books
3. shelves with doors--about 10" deep.
4. a built-in credenza with a knee-space and built-in file

cabinets (at least 4 drawers)
5. drawers--7"x30x20 or about..not too deep, I don't want to have to dig in a drawer to find what I want. At least a dozen drawers this size and then 20 or so drawers just a bit bigger than a shoebox w/the little windows on front so a label can be inserted
6. windows up high, where they don't interfere with usable wall space. Walls need to be free from at least adult shoulder-height so that portable shelves, displays, etc. can be arranged in a variety of ways
7. no lockers--cubbies above coathooks are more versatile, preferably arranged so that the hanging coats &etc. aren't directly visible to the class but are also easily monitored--perhaps behind a dividing wall with exit and entrance on each end & the teacher's work area situated so that the teacher can see both the classroom and the coatroom from her credenza/desk area. The upper portion of this dividing wall on the side with the coathooks could have deep 12-15" shelving for storage of large items such as those lovely kits that come with different text adoptions, the 10' cardboard teepee, the Christmas tree, and the wonderful collection of 25 or 30 3-ring binders that most teachers have. By putting the storage space for all of this "ugly stuff" behind a wall and above the coatracks, you could hide both simultaneously.
8. A non-carpeted area around a sink/drinking fountain/painting area, but carpet over the remainder of the floor
9. No changes in floor height. I also experienced this, with step-down circular "pits" in the classroom for circle times, etc. It sounded like a great idea, and if the room had had enough floor space otherwise and the pits had been big enough to fit the 25 students in the class rather than the 17 it was designed for it may have been great, but the pit area was subtracted from the normal floor space--which created a very restricted arrangement of furniture in the room. The pit didn't allow for use of a table in the center of the group, which sometimes I want and sometimes not. So, all-in-all the pit dictated how I had to use that area--which didn't always fit the needs of the classroom.
10. Restrooms for every class, even if two classes share the restrooms between them. Much class time is lost with having to take the group to the restroom down the hall or children taking long, relaxing strolls to and from a far-away restroom.
11. A teacher's coat closet, complete with a rod for a hanger and a place for a purse and big old overstuffed teacher bag full of papers and teacher's manuals, a lunchbox, a drawer for personal items, and a full-length mirror on the back of the closet door. Oh, and lockable.
12. A place with divided shelves (much like a puzzle rack) that will fit 8x12" construction paper and 12x18" construction paper--about 1" stack of each color (at least 10 color spaces)
13. A place for storing large bulletin board items, posters, etc--preferably drawers that slide out (like many libraries have) and that are about 3" deep.
14. Magnetic whiteboard from floor to ceiling that will double as a projector screen, preferably mounted from the ceiling and secured at the base in such a manner that the choice of wall placement for the board can be changed easily.
15. Plenty of wall and floor plug outlets, all grounded, with any that are near the computer drop having 5 or six outlets to accomodate a computer's many components. A built-in shelf, retractable keyboard tray, space for printer & cpu in the teacher work area
16. One of those push-the-paper-up-into-it-to-hold-it strips on the walls just below the ceiling so that abc strips and number lines, etc that are usually semi-permanent and can be hung high can be inserted and hung without adhesives or holes from stapes or tacks
17. ceiling fan
18. Everything as versatile as possible--classrooms may change from PK to 6th from year to year, so no one arrangement should be demanded by the room. It needs as much uninterrupted wall space as possible, plenty of varied storage spaces (shelves, drawers, cubbies, etc), The color scheme needs to be pleasant but not restrictive--shades of blues and wood-tone browns work well together, and while the blue adds color it also performs as a neutral if it is not too bright. The browns help you to pretend surfaces and floors are clean longer than they really are.
19. Space to store the school supplies that we're saving until we need them--like kleenex boxes, reims of notebook/handwriting paper, folders, etc.
20. Mounted TV(for large-group viewing, so fairly large screen) up high in corner
21. Call-button/intercom to reach office in case of emergency
I love this!--can you tell?
21. telephone in teacher work area