Back to School: Classroom Design Inspiration

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

The summer is almost gone. That means long range plans have to be done, curriculum mapping is coming soon, and thinking about how to design the classroom for the upcoming school year also looms in the horizon (among other things). 

Some of the things involved in back to school planning are fun, others require patience and persistence, but all are essential and have to be done. Alhamdulillaah, classroom design ranks high on the list of fun things that have to be done when preparations for back to school begin. Here is one reason why...

For the upcoming school year in shaa' Allaah, I will be adopting a different literacy instruction model, and it's one that I am really looking forward to implementing. For years, guided reading has been the main way of delivering literacy instruction and there are so many benefits to this method that I never really considered using any other model (I will be combining the two models, actually). However, this new literacy instruction model encourages, and makes it easy, for children to do copious amounts of reading alhamdulillaah (which gives them the opportunities they need to become competent, life-long readers). That woke my little grey cells up. Why? Because lots of reading means re-designing the classroom to accommodate and encourage all of that reading, and that immediately brought to mind reading nooks!

I searched the web and discovered many beautiful reading nooks that could inspire a classroom (or homeschool classroom) reading nook and I want to share them with you. 

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All of these reading nooks have one thing in common: they allow children to be immersed in reading and when/if they want to grab another book, the books are right at their finger tips. And even though the new literacy instruction model that I hope to use next year has children reading with their book boxes next to them, being surrounded by books helps children sink into the book and disappear into the story. It makes them feel like readers.

Also, having a reading nook in the classroom (or home) invites children to read, and that is what we want: we want to extend an invitation that is so inciting children cannot resist, because current research indicates that the more children read, the better readers they become in shaa' Allaah. 

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And do you know what is lovely about reading nooks? They can be fairly easy to set up. Just find a window that has space underneath it for an ottoman bench or child-sized sofa, two book shelves (one to place at each end of the ottoman), and lots and lots of Islaamically appropriate books. Ensure the lighting is sufficient and maybe even add a few beautiful houseplants and then let your imagination loose. The possibilities are many and varied.

Here, I'll leave you with one last reading nook to inspire you in shaa' Allaah.

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 How will you inspire your young reader(s) next school year?