Teaching techniques are always evolving—and so should classroom tools. Consider acrylic in the classroom to help refresh your room. Acrylic is easy to clean, durable, shatter resistant, light weight, and easy to transport, making it a must-have tool for back to school. Classroom acrylic displays can be decorative or used for directional, educational, and safety purposes.
How Can You Use Acrylic in the Classroom?
Acrylic is a great accessory for a teacher as it provides many uses in the classroom. Here, we take a look at three ways to make classroom acrylic work—as signage, barriers, and a unique dry erase board—and a multitude of ideas to try.
Signage
Signs serve an important role in schools. They share important information, state expectations, provide safety protocols, and reinforce lessons. Here are few examples of how to use classroom acrylic to convey such information.
- Introduce the teacher. An acrylic block personalized with the teacher’s name gives new students a warm welcome.
- Directional signage. Customize acrylic panels to create directories in public areas, campus maps, room numbers, and room identifiers (i.e., music room, library, principal’s office, etc.).
- Educational aids. Signage that supports learning, such as the alphabet, periodic tables, or multiplication tables and mathematical formulas, can be displayed on classroom acrylic. Students are visual learners—some more than others—so using the acrylic signage can help reinforce lessons.
- Safety information. Details, such as emergency exits or fire/safety procedures, outlined and displayed in public areas or near classroom doors help keep students safe.
- Post guidelines. Class rules and/or student expectations stated on acrylic panels outline students’ responsibilities.
- Make labels. For young students, signs that tell them where to place backpacks, lunch bags, and homework, etc. can be used year after year.
- Stay organized. Create monthly calendars in the colors of the rainbow and mount on the wall. Acrylic is available in many colors and using them to create a color-coded calendar will aid in keeping long-term projects on track.
- Motivate students. Have inspirational or motivational phrases engraved on acrylic panels and display as artwork in the classroom.
- Showcase student projects. Feature students’ art projects and papers in wall-mounted acrylic frames.
Barriers
- Acrylic barriers have become more mainstream with social distancing, but they’ve always been used in schools. Here are few ways acrylic barriers can be used in the classroom setting.
- Splatter guards. Hang acrylic barriers in science labs to prevent splatters during experiments.
- Create privacy. Place partitions in classrooms, study halls, and library cubicles to create a sense of privacy. Acrylic also maintains a sense of safety due to their transparent nature.
- Promote hygiene. Use as tabletop barriers in the lunchroom to reduce the transmission of germs at larger, communal tables.
- Unique Dry Erase Board. An acrylic dry erase board (to borrow from teen terminology) is aesthetic. Armed with chalk markers, a teacher can find limitless uses of the classroom acrylic. Here are a few ideas:
- Share the daily agenda. Write the day’s lessons or the night’s homework assignments on an acrylic panel.
- Create a classroom task list. Assign classroom jobs using acrylic sheets in multiple colors. Color-coding tasks make it easy for students to see what has to be done, and who’s turn it is to do it.
- Assign seats. Draw a seating chart for students, draft a list of lab partners, or announce teams for group projects. The information can be erased and revised easily whenever necessary.
- Give your whiteboard a modern update. Traditional whiteboards are hard to clean. This classroom acrylic idea provides a neater presentation. Acrylic wipes clean with a damp cloth and eliminates any “ghost” letters from previous lessons.
Punch Up Your Classroom with Acrylic
We hope the above classroom acrylic ideas help you start the school year strong. Contact us at Acme Plastics and let us help you create the perfect environment for learning.
