My Ocean Theme Classroom - Surfing to Success

Having an ocean themed classroom makes my students happy. Honestly, it makes me happy!

When students enter my room for intervention for the first time, they look around wide eyed and smile. Students that come to me year after year still look around and find something new.

While theme rooms can be busy and overwhelming, I find that this theme with cool colors helps create a calm environment.

I’ve added some amazon affiliate links in this post to help you find similar items.

Fish Swimming Around the White Board

Ocean Themed Classroom: The white board is surrounded by an ocean scene.

My white board is surrounded by water.

One of my favorite features in the ocean scene surrounding the white board is the kelp. We actually made them out of green leis. When cutting the lei, be sure to tie a knot or staple it to the wall right way. Otherwise, the pieces will fall of the string.

I like these leis that have fabric flowers. I’m not sure if the plastic ones would cut apart well.

My library and math manipulatives are easy for the kids to get to.

I’m so excited to have tables instead of desks. It makes collaboration so much easier. The school purchased a carpet for me which was awesome because before that I was using the tiny blue one under the pool which didn’t have much room.

See that blue pool? I love to play games with it. We go “fishing” sometimes with magnetic fishing rods. I use these with my Kinders when we are practicing numbers and letters. It is a great way for them to practice identifying letters and numbers. My 1st graders love fishing for sight words. When we aren’t doing a specific activity, I keep letter bean bags in there for spur of the moment activities.

Classroom Set Up: Two kidney tables with the teacher in the middle

I added the globes this year just for a bit of fun.

I love having two kidney tables. I can work with ten kids at once and just spin to help who needs it.

Just a little color to make my small group area fun.

Daisy the Dolphin

I love Daisy the Dolphin!

I saw someone selling this dolphin online. It was a mess (several different colors). I asked if they’d be willing to donate it to my classroom and someone volunteered to buy and donate it. My husband did a great job fixing it up and securing it to my wall.

The wave board behind it bulletin board is paper that I cut free hand and layered over a different color.

Our Cardboard Pirate Ship

We worked so hard to build this out of cardboard last year! Still love it.

Check out these blog posts to see how we built the pirate ship out of card board.

Of course the kids love the treasure boxes.

I’ve had this wooden jewelry box for a while, now it doubles as a fun treasure chest.

What’s an ocean themed classroom without a few pirates?

Simple Flowing Waves

I have an area by my door where there are lots of random bits of permanent hardware. Finally, I figured out a way to make that section fun while still following fire safety rules.

Ocean Theme Classroom: Use streamers to create water and kelp

The Turtle

First of all, look how much personality this turtle has. A few simple circles and a hand drawn smile go a long way.

This turtle is made out of a tissue pom pom and some card stock. First, I folded a piece of lime green card stock in half and drew the front and back legs. Then, I cut them out. For the face, I traced a lime green circle, two white circles, and two black circles. Finally, I drew the little smile with sharpie.

The turtle hangs from the ceiling near the door and slowly spins from the wind. When the breeze makes the crepe paper and turtle sway, it makes me smile.

Seashells

I also have a box of smaller sea shells that my mom collected over the years. The kids love to use them as counters during math.

Jellyfish

To make the jellyfish, I cut paper lanterns in half. I lined the edge with ribbon.

First, I cut a circle out in tissue paper. Then, starting at the outside edge, I cut a spiral until I got to the center. I glued some of the spirals to the outside and some to the inside. I varied the length as well. For some jellyfish, I also hung a few ribbons. These are the most tempting items in my classroom. Some of the jellyfish tentacles have gotten a bit smaller over the years as kids jump up and grab one when I’m not looking.

Polka Dots and Name on a Bucket for Pens

I’m pretty sure I spend more time making my classroom an inviting place than I do on my own home. Honestly, I spend more time in that room than I do any other. Well, I spend more time in my bedroom, but my eyes are closed. 🙂 I’m very lucky to have an amazingly helpful husband who helps me each summer!

Every moment put in getting ready is worth it when the kids walk in and smile.

Comments

Judy Ward says

June 14, 2016 at 2:56 pm

I love your classroom! I know all your students have to love you, because it looks like you really care about your students, by making everything interesting! Great job!!!

Nadine says

September 8, 2016 at 4:42 am

Wow, this is such a cute classroom. I really enjoyed your ideas and i think i’ll do some of these crafts for my little boys room.

Have a nice day and greetings from Germany,
Nadine

jeanette brickey says

May 3, 2017 at 11:53 am

So amazingly creative!!

Kanchana says

October 2, 2017 at 8:54 am

Wow! Your classroom is so wonderful, I wouldn’t mind being a kid there myself. Thank you for the lovely ideas, I was looking for some inspiration for an undersea themed birthday for my little daughter (she loves sharks!) and this popped up. Thanks again, and keep up the great work!