As teachers, we constantly think about how our classroom is set up. We may move furniture every year or even mid-year to change things around and try something new. But, have you ever tried to ask your students how THEY would like to have their classroom set up? What would their perfect classroom look like? What type of environment would they learn best in? What types of seating would they love to have? I decided to create a Project Based Learning project centered around this idea.
What is Project Based Learning?
Project Based Learning (PBL) is a way of teaching that allows students to work together to investigate, create, and solve problems in a deeper and more meaningful way. PBL addresses learning standards in a more complex way because students are actively involved in the learning process.
Every PBL activity has a question or problem to solve. Then, students work collaboratively together to brainstorm, research, and create a solution to the question or problem.
Just handing instructions to your students to complete a project is NOT Project Based Learning. In PBL, students will use critical thinking skills to brainstorm, research, plan, and execute their project. Then, students will reflect on their project and the entire process of completing the project.
Design Your Perfect Classroom – The Project
You will begin by presenting the students with the Essential Question. You can decide if you would like to do this project with “realistic” or “fantasy” type classrooms. They could even be separate PBL activities.
Students will have individual brainstorming and group brainstorming time built into this project. All of the steps to the project are laid out for you.
I have also included “Think About It” Question cards to really get their minds thinking critically about what would truly make the perfect classroom.
With this Project Based Learning Activity, I really wanted to put a huge focus on cooperative learning. This includes teaching the students to be active listeners. Each student should have the opportunity to be heard throughout the project.
An important stage in the PBL process is research. I have included some resource sheets to help students think about their research when designing their classrooms.
Every step of this project is broken down into manageable portions for your primary students. For the materials, you can provide the materials for your class or you can have them decide as a group which materials to bring from home.
I have provided a variety of recording sheets to fit the diverse needs of your students. Kindergarten students and early 1st grade students will be successful with the drawing reflection sheets and brainstorming pages, where 2nd graders and some 1st graders can use the writing reflection sheets and brainstorming pages.
What are teachers saying about this project?
“This is such a fantastic resource! This will be a perfect way to introduce working in groups right at the beginning of the year while also receiving insight on what students would like to see in our classroom! It will make for a great back to school activity! I really appreciate the step-by-step implementation directions, as well as the resources to even help with expectations. Thanks for a great resource!”
You can check out this Project Based Learning Project by clicking HERE or on any of the pictures.
As of right now, I have two units completed and available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. 
Each unit includes 10 lessons for instruction along with many supplemental activities.
These Add and Clip cards make a great independent center activity for your students. Print them on colored cardstock or laminate for durability. I used 
Be sure to follow my 
I hung these from the ceiling. This was a great way to work on writing, while making a colorful craft for March.
I decorated my classroom the night before with some items that I picked up at Dollar Tree and Deans Party Mania, which is basically our version of Party City.
I covered each of the desks and tables with white tablecloths and then spread plastic, from the paint section, on the floor to represent ice floes. I also picked up some snowflake confetti and sparkly plastic confetti to sprinkle on the tables.
I attached snowflake décor to my lanterns that I have hanging from my ceiling.
For my door, I taped on a light blue table cloth and decorated it with snowflakes from the party store. I also found this sparkly door decoration at Dollar Tree.
I hung up a light blue table cloth on our dry erase board and attached this felt icicle decoration along the top.
I gave each student a bottle of “melted snow” to have for the day. You can download the water bottle cover 
I purchased the larger marshmallows for this activity. The students could work together or on their own to create igloos with the marshmallows.
While the students were working at their stations, I had one student at a time come to me to complete the Blubber Experiment. I placed vegetable shortening in a large bag. The student put on a latex glove and placed their hand in the shortening. Then, they placed their hand in ice water to demonstrate how blubber keeps arctic animals warm.
Later on in the day, we had a snowball throwing contest. I gave each students a cotton ball. They each took turns throwing the ball and then measuring how far they threw it.
Since we have been learning about place value and how to use Base-10 blocks, I incorporated that into our day. I gave students straws and marshmallows. These became icicles and snowballs. The students had to make numbers with their icicles and snowballs just like they would with Base-10 blocks.
We practiced spelling words and math facts with shaving cream (snow) on our desks.
We also used passages from my new 
I remembered at the last minute that I had this 
We will be performing our 
To gear the lesson towards 1st graders, I have them actually measure their strips and cut them appropriately. I cut out 8×1 inch strips from a packet of scrapbook paper. Then, the students each picked 5 strips. They glued the first 8 inch strip on the bottom, cut the second strip into a 7 inch and a 1 inch piece, the third strip into a 6 inch and a 2 inch piece, and so on until they created their tree. Then, we used white paint and Q-tips to make snow. They make a really easy bulletin board display.
The students absolutely LOVED this activity. The first set of students delivered the candy canes to the office staff. When they came back, two of the boys immediately told me how good it made them feel to give something to someone else. Too cute! You can download this editable note 
This past week, we discussed ways that we could spread kindness to others.
