Why a Theme?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Themed classrooms have been the exciting change and idea for the past few years and I really think that it’s a great idea and method of keeping children motivated and excited for each day.

Using Pinterest and Social Media is a wonderful way to collect ideas and see how other teachers make their classrooms cute AND functional.

Make your own classroom theme board and add ideas as you see them.

Consider focusing on the ways you want your classroom to run.

For effective classroom management, think about some of the following questions when searching for ideas:

• Will you use flexible seating, tables, or individual desks? (This generally depends on your Madrasah management but if you have a flexible administration/head teacher, you might be able to incorporate other seating arrangements)

• How will you arrange your classroom seating arrangement for smooth transitions? (Eg: entry, if learners leave the classroom for certain lessons, for Salaah time, Sabaq lesson, dismissal etc)

• Will you have a teacher desk or work station? (I honestly prefer not to sit at a teacher desk and use a desk/table only for storage of important papers etc)

• How will you store supplies/common use stationery?

Make It Meaningful

When choosing your classroom theme, be sure and pick something you and the learners will LOVE seeing EVERY SINGLE DAY! Learners spend a majority of their time in the classroom, so making it beautiful takes a little extra effort but it goes a LONG way! If you’re worried about choosing a theme and liking it for the long haul/rest of the year, consider sticking with a colour palette instead. Think about your learners ages, interests and even the subject matters for the year.

Check out my FAVOURITE classroom theme and decor at the bottom of this post! More inanimate, Islamic resources for classroom themes coming soon… watch this space!

Students with disabilities or special needs might struggle with a chaotic and overwhelming classroom theme. My advice is to choose a simple, calm colour palette and avoid the need to fill the walls with tons of posters and random items.

Keep it simple and clutter free.

Everything should have a purpose and provide meaning or structure to your classroom routine.

Less is MORE!

By leaving some of the walls bare at the beginning of a year, you can incorporate lots of student work instead of filling it up with printed or created resources.

• Posters / Quotes can be structured according to topic or subject also. Examples: 1 wall for Fiqh, 1 wall for motivation, another for Ahadeeth, Islamic History, Akhlaaq etc

I’m not advocating for you to keep the walls bare. I’m simply advocating for purposeful choices that the students will use and working with your students to make the space functional.

Function OVER Fun!

This is SO IMPORTANT!! If you learn anything from this blog post, remember this: Spend the majority of your time on FUNCTION over FUN. And by fun I mean cutesy decor and fancy, Instagram worthy classroom photos. You can have the cutest classroom and hate your job every day because you struggle with effective classroom management due to a cluttered environment.

The KEY to effective theme planning:

Plan your space to make it conducive for teaching and student learning and ADJUST as needed!

I hope this has been of benefit in some way. Please like, comment and share with your teacher buddies and friends.

Happy PLANNING! May Allah Ta’ala make it easy for us to plan and allow us to be more organised in order to fulfill this responsibility of conveying this knowledge of Deen. Aameen

Watch this spaace for lots of updates..

-madrasah teacher