Why I Never Choose A Theme For My Classroom

Why I Never Choose A Theme For My Classroom

Each year as I began decorating my classroom, preparing for a new group of children, I've held a special tradition. I never chose the theme-I let them. I believe this created a greater classroom community and sense of pride and ownership among myself and my students. Those four walls were by no means only mine. I shared them with 20+ people for 180 days. 
So how do you have your students choose a theme? Here's how I've done it.
1. In my welcome back letter, I asked each child to think of an animal that would make a great classroom name for our class. Thinking of the qualities of that animal and bringing any research in on the first day is encouraged.
2. Within the first few days, during classroom meetings I listed every animal child's suggestion. We took it VERY seriously. No one was allowed to shut down anyone else's suggestion.
3. We voted! This took several rounds of semi-finalists and finalists. The excitement and anticipation builds and a final decision was made!
4. Once the animal is decided, that became our entity for the whole year. They proudly wore that name, and no future class could use it again until they graduated from high school!
(Some of the names we've had were: koalas, tigers, pandas, gorillas, chinchillas, penguins, flying squirrels ) I kept a small poster with all the semi-retired animal names.
5. Once we had a animal theme established we found books, articles, and pictures to hang or display in the classroom library. Every notice I sent home had the animal image on it. The class newsletter and website had that image and a special name. I found small rewards or make printable ones with that animal on it. (I'm NOT a huge extrinsic reward giver, but a few small things like a teacher-made coupon, bookmark, or pencil is fine with me from time to time.)
My classes have LOVED this tradition and I hope yours will too! I would love to hear your feedback!
-Emily :))
TRT/OG