1st Grade Classroom Makeover with Tropical Vibes Decor

Classroom Decor Inspiration, Decor Tips and Tricks

If you are a first grade teacher, looking for inspiration for a topical, bright classroom theme, then join me for a behind the scenes look into this summer’s classroom makeover!

Keri wanted something bright and happy in her 1st grade classroom and landed on the Tropical Vibes decor bundle. 🌴

Transforming her 1st grade classroom is one of my highlights my summer. ❤️

This image shows two people standing in front of a classroom wall decorated with tropical vibes decor. The words at the bottom of the image read "1st Grade Classroom Makeover with Tropical Vibes Decor".

1st Grade Classroom Setup Before and After 📚

Walking into Keri’s first grade classroom, I was on a mission to infuse bright pops of color and joy into every corner. 🤩

And, I wanted to do it in a way that made sense for a 1st grade classroom setup.

Here are some overviews of how we transformed the space with this Tropical Vibes decor makeover.

Here is Keri’s front classroom wall before. ⬇️

This image shows a wall in a classroom that has a whiteboard, smart board, and a few random posters above the whiteboard.

Keri already had some great posters for students to reference along the top of her whiteboard and smartboard area.

This image shows the front of a classroom with desks arranged in pods, a colorful rug on the floor, and bright, colorful posters along the top of the whiteboard.

So, we took the same ideas and used the Tropical Vibes decor bundle to make the space feel lighter, brighter, and happier. 🌴

I also hunted for a rug that matched the decor and provided a welcoming feel.

This rug is an 8 x 10 rug – and I love how the bright colors tie in with the classroom decor 😍

This image shows a section of a classroom with a classroom library, and some decorative bulletin board displays. Everything is decorated with tropical vibes decor.

In case you are wondering where to find this rug, it is the El Paso rug from Rugs.com.

Here is another before picture of a wall in Keri’s classroom ⬇️

This is a before picture for a classroom makeover. The wall is blank.

And after ⬇️

This is an afterpicture for a classroom makeover. Desks are arranged in pods, a colorful rug is on the floor, and colorful decorations are everywhere.

I loved having a large blank wall to work with! It was a great space to add multiple 9 cube organizers for her classroom library.

We finished off the space by adding several bulletin boards that Keri and her 1st graders will use throughout the school year. 🥰

This image shows a "Wow Work" bulletin board where student work will be hung during the school year.

The Wow Work is a fun bulletin board to display student work.

We added a binder clip on top of each page to make hanging work easy and quick.

This image shows a closeup of two different bulletin board displays. One is a birthday display and the other is a bunch of motivational posters in a tropical vibes theme.

Above her classroom library, we added some more bulletin boards!

One is a space to keep track of birthdays in the classroom! Once she gets her classroom list, she will be able to add her students names below each month.

The other is a collection of inspiring posters. This will be a great place for students to look to when they need a little pick-me-up. 😊

Cabinet Glowup ✨

Another HUGE project that was a part of the classroom makeover was transforming her cabinets.

Using contact paper, we were able to go from this ⬇️

This is a picture of yellow cabinets in a first grade classroom.

To this ⬇️

This is a picture of the same cabinets after the classroom makeover. The cabinets are now white and there are fun, bright decorations on the walls.

The white helps brighten the space SO much. 😍

Contact paper is a great solution if you aren’t loving the color of your cabinets, but aren’t able to paint.

Don’t forget to double-check with your building admin before making any major changes like that!

This image shows classroom cabinets that are opened with some different organizational items.

Keri had lots of great organizational tools she was using in these tall cabinets to store manipulatives and other resources.

This image shows the same cabinets after the classroom makeover. There are uniform organization cubes and colorful labels for everything.

We added some grey bins and labeled them to make her storage cabinets look even tidier and organized.

This image shows a closeup of an affirmation station in a classroom. There are brightly colored squares all around the mirror with different affirmations displayed on them.

One of the fronts of the tall cabinets was the PERFECT place to hang her affirmation station.

I grabbed this white over-the-door mirror from Target. ❤️

1st Grade Classroom Ideas for Organization 🗃️

Another area we focused on during the classroom makeover was transforming Keri’s organization tools.

Keri had a perfect spot in the back of her classroom with a 10-drawer cart and another rolling cart.

These carts hold supplies and manipulatives for different stations and days of the week.

This image shows two rolling carts with bright, tropical labels. One cart holds things for 10 different stations. The other cart holds things for each day of the week.

I used the editable 10-drawer and other rolling cart labels from the Tropical Vibes decor bundle to create these!

Adding tropical labels with a fun, bright background gave this space extra energy! ☀️

This image shows a bookshelf with black magazine holders displayed. Each magazine holder has a bright label with a number.

Keri loves using book bins for students to “check out” books from her classroom library, and store them in their book bin.

The numbers help students identify which is theirs and we used velcro dots to attach them to each book bin.

This image shows a closeup of a classroom library setup. The library uses cube shelves with buckets in each. Each bucket has a label for the type of book held.

Here’s a close-up of the transformed classroom library space.

Creating an area where students can find books they love is SUCH a fun part of being an elementary teacher. 🥰

She already had her labels for her classroom library, and we decided to keep those, so those are not included in the Tropical Vibes bundle.

Tropical Vibes Decor Ideas 🌴

After these key features were set in place for Keri’s 1st grade classroom setup, we added other decor pieces.

This image shows a closeup of tropical vibes alphabet posters along the top of the whiteboard.
You can also see number posters and schedule cards.

Since Keri is a primary teacher, we placed alphabet posters along the top of the front of her classroom.

We also added number posters to help with number recognition and a visual schedule with pictures for each subject.

💡 Keeping items at the front of the room that students will use often is a great classroom setup idea.

This image is a closeup of a math resources bulletin board display in a 1st grade classroom.

With that in mind, we created a makeshift bulletin board display for math resources.

These are resources Keri chose for her 1st grade classroom setup that will benefit what her littles will learn this year. 🥳

That is the beauty of printable classroom decor, you can pick and choose what makes sense for your room and students!

This image shows a flip calendar decorated in bright, tropical colors and decals.

This image shows a classroom calendar in a black pocket chart hanging on a bulletin board with a rainbow tassel garland on top.

Both the flip calendar and a monthly calendar display are at the front of Keri’s room.

The pops of color all throughout these displays add SO much joy into learning!

This image shows morning greeting cards posted on the back of the door of a classroom.

Keri wanted to include morning greeting options for her students, so we created this display on the back of her classroom door.

This way, when the door is open to her students in the morning, the choices are right there to pick from! 👌

This image shows the back wall in a classroom. There is a saying along the top of the wall that reads "Oh hey first grade" in bright colors. Underneath the phrase is a bulletin board with classroom rules posters.

The “Ohh hey First Grade” saying might be my favorite part of this whole classroom. 😊

Displaying Keri’s classroom rules on the wall of her classroom is a great way to help her students learn them early in the year and be able to refer back to them time and time again.