Design–The Third Teacher
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There are three teachers of children: adults, other children, and their physical environment.
—Loris Malaguzzi
The classroom environment becomes the third teacher through functional, comfortable, purposeful, and beautiful design. The way the materials and spaces are arranged sends a message about appropriate behaviors and offers support for students to be successful. The overarching purpose of classroom design is to provide an optimal learning environment for each of our students.
The Classroom Design section of the website is the place I come to when I want to see how other teachers have set up and arranged their classrooms, or to peek into school and classroom libraries. I love watching the videos of classroom makeovers, especially the ones that are on fast speed and walk me through the thinking that went behind moving a table here, placing a plant there, or anchoring a table with a rug. The resources in this section make designing a physical environment doable, so that the third teacher in my room can be a beautiful one.
Hover over the Classroom Design tab to see what sorts of goodies are available in this section of our website.