The Best 1st Grade Room Transformations You Need to Try
These are the top 10 best 1st grade room transformations. They are easy to implement, rigorous, and fun for first graders. All 1st grade room transformations focus on a different skill set so you can use one each week or at the end of each unit. The best part about my room transformations is that they’re 100% editable! If you haven’t taught a specific skill yet, or need to modify the content to meet your students’ needs, you can change any of the questions. All 1st grade room transformations are challenging, aligned to standards, and engaging for students. They are also easy to set up and simple to use. Check out the 10 most popular 1st grade room transformations below.
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The Floor is Lava Classroom Transformation
This classroom transformation is themed after the game, “the floor is lava.” In this transformation, students solve math challenges around the room while avoiding the hazardous lava on the floor below! Furniture can be moved around the room to make it easier for the kids to step around the lava, or they can even walk on chairs to get around. The challenges can be used for rigorous test prep all while letting the kids have a day they’ll never forget.
The Floor is Lava is an end-of-year review, so it reviews all standards. Kids use the critical thinking skills they have learned throughout the year to solve this transformation’s challenges and ready them for test prep. Some examples of the skills they learn are measurement, operations and algebraic thinking, geometry, and numbers in base ten! With this transformation, you are able to review all these skills with your classroom.
While experiencing their classroom turning into lava, kids race to solve challenges around the room. Not only do they have to worry about math problems, but they also have to be careful not to step in the lava! It is the perfect way to have them slow down and think while solving questions. This transformation has lava-themed challenges and posters included to make your classroom even more immersive, and you can easily add extra decorations from the Dollar Store or Target for under $10! By the end of the day, kids will have experienced a day like no other, and they will be more ready for testing than ever before.
- Read more about this room transformation in detail here.
- Purchase the Floor is Lava for 1st Grade Room Transformation here.
Donut Shop Classroom Transformation
Donut Day is themed after one of the sweetest treats of all – donuts! Students become donut shop-owners and review their math skills at each station. They have to complete their recording sheet in order to finish the day, and they might even be surprised with a tasty reward at the end. This transformation reviews common core math standards and helps your students retain important skills while still having fun.
Donut Day reviews several different math standards. Students answer questions about data using 3 categories, practice making a bar graph using data from 3 categories, and even graph data from a class poll. They are plenty of challenges for students to learn these skills, and the most important thing is that they are having fun while doing their work!
Donut Day transforms your classroom into an enriching environment where it is easier than ever to have your students solve math challenges with smiles on their faces. Between the fun activities and decorated classroom, it more than inspires your kids to learn and work hard in groups, pairs, or individually.
The theme of Donut Day is simple. Your students are donut shop owners, and they must review their math skills at each donut station around the room. Fun donut posters are included in this transformation for you to hang up on your walls or classroom door! It makes the room a much more exciting place to work in. You can also find more decorations at places like the Dollar Store, and maybe even reward your students with a real donut or another donut-themed prize at the end of the day. The possibilities are limitless!
- Read more about this room transformation in detail here.
- Purchase the Donut Shop Day for 1st Grade Room Transformation here.
Doctor Classroom Transformation
It’s Doctor Day! In this classroom transformation, your students are surgeons and their job is to perform life-saving operations on their patients around the room. They use their math skills to perform surgery and race to solve all the challenges in time. With doctor name tags, posters, and other decorations around the room, it is a unique day students will never forget!
Doctor Day reviews many different standards as the students perform their surgeries. They practice place value, written comprehension, error analysis, and many useful concepts that help them work within numbers 1-90. For example, they learn the concept of 10 being a bundle of 10 ones, the idea that numbers 11-10 include a 10 and a number of ones, and numbers 10-90 refer to 1 ten, 2 tens, 3 tens, and so on. Not only do kids act like doctors for a day, but they must learn to think just as critically.
Customizing Doctor Day to meet your classroom’s needs is really easy. Print-out doctor posters are already included in this transformation, as well as doctor hats your students can color in and even wear! If you want to experiment even more, you can easily find extra decor like gloves, masks, and fun pencils at places like Target and the Dollar Store. As the teacher, you are able to be as flexible as you want with this transformation.
- Read more about this room transformation in detail here.
- Purchase the Doctor Day for 1st Grade Room Transformation here.
Halloween Classroom Transformation
Boo! It’s Halloween in this extra spooky classroom transformation. Students work their way through a haunted house and solve Halloween-themed challenges around the room. It is the perfect way to let your kids experience the fun of Halloween while practicing important math skills in a way that is easy for them to retain.
This Halloween classroom transformation reviews many skills for your students to practice. Kids learn how to count to 120, place value drawing tens and ones, comparing 2 digit numbers, practicing word problems to 20, adding 3 numbers, applying properties, unknown addends, relating counting to operations, fact fluency, and determining unknown numbers.
This classroom transformation carries an extra spooky theme that will make your students’ Halloween a lot more exciting. Kids don’t just have to worry about the challenges they’re solving, but also whether they will draw a “trick” or “treat” card upon finishing a station. Halloween decorations make the classroom even more immersive and let the kids feel like they are working in an actual haunted house. The best part is that you as the teacher can decide how many challenges your students will complete, and you can easily customize anything else to suit your classroom best!
- Read more about this room transformation in detail here.
- Purchase the Halloween Haunted House for 1st Grade Room Transformation here.
Camping Classroom Transformation
Let’s go camping! In this 1st grade room transformation, kids actually get to feel like they are camping out in the middle of your classroom. To complete the day, students must go around the room and solve challenges at each station. There are camping-themed challenges, posters, and other decorations that make it feel like your classroom is a campground and make it extra exciting for the students to work in.
Camping Day reviews many different standards, such as relating addition and subtraction, understanding subtraction as an unknown addend problem, written understanding, error analysis, finding an unknown number in 1st-grade addition and subtraction equations, and math with marshmallows! Kids won’t even realize they are doing work with how much fun they are having.
Camping Day can be customized to however you like it. You can choose to hang up the camping posters I have provided, or you can add your own decorations as well! I like to buy items from Target and Amazon, and I even found cute fake fires for $5 that I place at each challenge station. It’s also easy to dig around your garage and find a flashlight or tent to set up in the classroom. You can make your classroom feel like an actual campground without spending any money at all! The best part about this transformation is how customizable it is. You can set up your classroom in whatever way you like. No matter what you do, students will always have fun!
- Read more about this room transformation in detail here.
- Purchase the Camping Day for 1st Grade Room Transformation here.
Pirate Classroom Transformation
Arggghhh!!! It’s Pirate Day in this swashbuckling room transformation that makes your students feel like they are pirates hunting for treasure. Students hunt for challenges around the room, and these challenges can be completed in any order. Pirate-themed problems are littered around the room for them to solve, and in order to receive their treasure at the end of the day, they have to complete each one. This pirate adventure embarks kids on a one-of-a-kind experience where they practice math skills while having the jolliest time.
Not only does Pirate Day let your students have fun, but it reviews many different math standards. Kids solve addition and subtraction word problems, the addition of 3 numbers, applying addition and subtraction properties, understanding subtraction as unknown addend problems, relating counting to addition and subtraction, adding and subtracting within 20, understanding an equal sign, practicing true/false questions, and determining the missing number in addition and subtraction equations.
- Read more about this room transformation in detail here.
- Purchase the Pirate Day for 1st Grade Room Transformation here.
Thanksgiving Parade Classroom Transformation
Celebrate Thanksgiving in an extra-special way by trying out this Thanksgiving classroom transformation! In this transformation, students solve Thanksgiving-themed challenges in a Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade setting. Kids go around the room to solve each challenge and practice their math skills as they go. Fun Thanksgiving posters and balloons can also be set up around the room to make it a day your students will never forget!
Thanksgiving Classroom Transformation teaches students math standards within every challenge. Kids practice adding and subtracting within 20, finding missing numbers in addition and subtraction, using place value blocks for numbers 11-19, using place value blocks for multiples of 10, telling time to the hour or half-hour, comparing 2 digits with >,<. or =, addition and subtraction word problems, and true or false addition and subtraction equations. With every challenge they solve, the more comfortable students grow using these new skills.
Thanksgiving Classroom Transformation is themed around the Macy’s Day Parade. Tell your students that they are going to New York City to see the parade. This will be held right in your classroom! Thanksgiving posters are already included in this transformation for you to hang up. But if you want to do something more, you can buy additional decorations. I get my decorations from Target or the Dollar Tree for under $10! Something I like to do is fill up balloons with helium and give them out at the end of the day as the prize. No matter what you want to do, Thanksgiving Day Parade is easily customizable. It is the perfect way to have your students celebrate Thanksgiving while reviewing their math skills!
- Read more about this room transformation in detail here.
- Purchase the Thanksgiving Day Parade for 1st Grade Room Transformation here.
Veterinarian Classroom Transformation
One of my favorite 1st grade room transformations is pet hospital day! Veterinarian Classroom Transformation is a great transformation for all pet lovers! Students become veterinarians and are tasked with healing sick animals around the room. Kids practice their math skills. They work hard to tend to the pets under their care. By the end, students will have become problem-solving experts. The best part about this day is that they get to work in a pet hospital-themed environment with matching challenges!
The Veterinarian Classroom Transformation reviews several standards for your students to practice. For example, they practice addition within 20 word problems, subtraction within 20 word problems, addition and subtraction word problems with unknown numbers, and looking for keywords in word problems.
Veterinarian Classroom Transformation is a transformation every student can enjoy, because what kid doesn’t love cute pets? The more challenges they solve, the closer they get to healing all the animals under their care. This just shows how a little fun can make learning a lot more enjoyable. To make it extra special, I have included pet-themed posters you can hang around the room or on your door. But, you can also buy additional decorations from places like the Dollar Tree or Target. In the past, I have bought inflatable animals to put around the classroom. I let each student bring one home as a reward! Customizing this transformation to fit your classroom is much easier than you think.
- Read more about this room transformation in detail here.
- Purchase the Veterinarian Day for 1st Grade Room Transformation here.
Circus Classroom Transformation
The circus is there! In Circus Classroom Transformation, your students are able to attend a circus held in your very own classroom. Kids spend the day solving 10 different challenges placed around the room. Circus posters and banners are included to decorate your walls and doors and immerse kids into this circus-themed environment.
Circus Day reviews many different standards with your students, such as matching coins with money amounts, matching coins with word amounts, writing money amounts in word form, error analysis with coin identification, identifying pennies, nickels, quarters, and dimes, counting coins or money, and identifying different coins.
- Read more about this room transformation in detail here.
- Purchase the Circus Day for 1st Grade Room Transformation here.
Leprechaun Classroom Transformation
1st grade room transformations are incredibly fun when it’s time for a leprechaun family reunion! Leprechaun Day is a room transformation where your students learn that they are going to a leprechaun family reunion. Throughout the day, kids solve 10 challenges around the room. The classroom can even be decorated with fun posters, banners, and other leprechaun-themed accessories.
Leprechaun Classroom Transformation reviews many different standards. It has kids practice adding multiple numbers, addition and subtraction word problems, understanding the equal sign, finding unknown numbers, counting to 120, using comparison symbols, finding 10 more/10 less, pictograph data, geometry, and base ten blocks.
Leprechaun Classroom Transformation reviews many different kinds of math skills all while letting your students have a lot of fun. To make this day even more enjoyable, you can hang up the included posters and banners. Or, even have your students fill in rainbow coloring sheets. If you want to experiment, you can find cheap Leprechaun-themed decorations from the Dollar Tree or Target! I love buying green tablecloths and streamers to decorate my classroom with. But every classroom is different, and you can customize this classroom transformation any way you like.
- Read more about this room transformation in detail here.
- Purchase the Leprechaun Day for 1st Grade Room Transformation here.
I hope you enjoyed all of these 1st grade room transformations! Each one is 100% customizable for you to use. My blog posts offer further ideas and tips on what to do for each one.
Are you new to this idea and ready to try a classroom transformation? I’m here to help! Be sure to check out my additional posts with classroom transformation tips. Follow me on Instagram where I share even more resources and tips for teachers.
Want to add some fun decorations to your next room transformation? I’ve got you covered right here with my Classroom Transformation Decoration Lists!
Looking to try out a room transformation but not sure where to start? Come join us in the Classroom Transformations with the Lifetime Learner Facebook Group to grab a free video game-themed room transformation for K-5!
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