A lot of people don't realize that the bright, cheerful, inspirational classrooms they always see don't come that way — a teacher's classroom is typically bare-bones until they decorate it themselves.
Julia Van Ness, an eighth-grade special education teacher from New Jersey, realized this when helping her husband, also a teacher, decorate his new classroom.
"In my experience, schools try their best to provide teachers with materials they need for their classrooms," Van Ness said. "However, they may only have a limited selection, so you have to go to the store if you want something specific that matches what you envision your classroom to look like. I'm thinking mostly about bulletin board paper and borders here — schools may have some, but Stephen had to get some borders that matched the middle-school age of the kids and his own personal style."
Other decorations teachers purchase may include inspirational or educational posters, welcome signs, calendars, reading rugs, name tags, and more.