A: We have called many classrooms home throughout the years and we must say, none of them felt overly spacious. In fact the words, "This is the smallest classroom" have been uttered from our mouths on more than one occasion. It is no wonder we think they are small. When we arrive back to our classes in the fall, our rooms are filled with the furniture the district provides; 28-33 student desks, teacher desk; bookshelves, file cabinets, etc. Once all of the desks are arranged there is little space left for anything else to happen.

After 10 years of setting up our classrooms and being frustrated with the lack of space, we decided to do something about it. One spring we visited Nancy Paulson, a teacher in a neighboring school district, to watch her teach guided reading. We came away with a new paradigm for classroom set up. She had transformed her institutional space into a space of learning and living. She had used her furniture differently than we had. She had a mix and match of desks and tables spread throughout her room, not just in the middle as we typically had set them. The feel we got when stepping into the room was students were comfortable, highly engaged and using every corner of the space.

Our minds were opened wide. It was like taking a lid off a box that had been closed for too long. We had seen how it could be and began to question every piece of furniture and the placement of every piece of furniture as to its purpose for supporting student learning and supporting teaching.

We have reflected on that visit often.

Here are 5 essentials to transform our rooms:

Question each piece of furniture, as to the purpose and function. Does this help a student or students in their learning?

Get rid of as much "stuff" as possible. Stuff takes up important space in the small rooms, instead of hording for someday…we pass it on.

Consider students learning styles. Some students like to sit at desks, some sit on the floor, some lay. Provide a few alternative spots to begin with and watch your students. If they gravitate to certain spots, move some large desks out and replace them with "nothing", leaving open space.

Teach students how to "live and learn" in the environment you set up. When you see Joan's classroom, she has chairs for 14 out of 26 of her students. Many people wonder how students can write like that or what do they do when they work on an art project. It's simple. We teach them how to be successful, just as we taught them how to be successful when sitting at desks.

Sit back and watch a few of the videos below, letting your mind open wide to the possibility of transforming your "small classroom" into one that has space for all the living and learning for the year.

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Do you need a list of must haves for classroom design?

This summer as you are thinking about setting your room up for next year, put these few essential items we couldn't live without on your "watch for" list:

1. A low table - some students love sitting on their bottoms or knees on the floor as they work.

2. One or two large area rugs - for our whole group meeting area

3. Book shelves - for our ever growing classroom library

4. Shelves or cubbies for supplies, math materials,journals

5. One or two filing cabinets - to store student books, math materials, or teacher materials. The drawers close so you don't see the mess.

Watch these videos below to see the items in classrooms.