Canva for the classroom

There’s something called ‘the third’ teacher, after parents and teachers of course.

It’s – the classroom.

The space around us plays a crucial role in incidental learning.

Classrooms that optimize color, light, and layout can improve academic performance,

and positive vibes!

First thing’s first: remove clutter! As a rule of thumb, you want to keep 20–50% of wall space clear.
It’s an easy win to improve focus in class.

Once you have a clean slate, you can introduce a new theme, and a splash of color.

Whether it’s Minecraft, Oceans or Einstein, you can bring your classroom to life with Canva’s free graphics. Once you’ve landed on a theme apply it to all your labels desk tags and wall charts.

If you’re a perfectionist like me, you just like everything to match.

But when it comes to color, there’s a lot more than meets the eye.

Reds and oranges attract attention, great for spaces where students do engaging activities.
Blues and greens are calming – good for quiet spaces like reading nooks.

To avoid overstimulation, remember to limit your palette to 3 or 4 colors.

Designing a learning space isn’t the same thing as decorating it. From the colors you choose to the fonts you use – a considered classroom can improve learning.

As we’ve discovered, creating a positive classroom environment is essential.

The walls around you offer an opportunity to foster learning and discovery—and a great way to do that?

Inspiring classroom posters.

The posters you pin up, will be seen by your students every day. So the messages they communicate will really sink in –
whether they’re academic (like times tables) or social (like playing fair on the field).

Make sure every poster is relevant, and rotate them regularly as the topics change. This will keep those young minds, curious.

So what makes a great poster? It should communicate a message in a clear and engaging way.

Search for educational posters in Canva to get you started. Keep it simple. And practice hierarchy.

Hierarchy gives emphasis to the most important parts of your message, so students know what to read first, second and last. What’s the most important thing on your page? Make this the biggest, and brightest.

And remember, posters are there to educate, not decorate. They’re the backdrop for all learning that happens in your classroom.

Sometimes planning a lesson can feel a bit like going to the dentist.

You know you need to do it, but you’d rather be doing just about anything else!

But what if lesson planning was actually fun?

As educators, we try to balance engaging teaching with efficient planning.

You can create beautiful lesson plans in Canva to keep both you and your students engaged.
So say goodbye to the boring word doc!

Since efficiency is key, you want to lay out your plan in a clear flow.
Use dividing lines or housing shapes to give clarity to each section.

Start with the objectives.
Then, add activities.
And finally, the materials needed for students to complete the lesson.

Now here’s the fun part.

Canva’s lesson plans can be shared online, which means you can include all kinds of multimedia – the world wide web is your oyster!

You can embed links to videos, blog articles, podcasts, or worksheets. These resources will empower your students to work independently – giving you more time to interact with them directly.

So. Are you ready to take your lesson plans to the next level – and show your class just how tech-savvy you are!?
Have fun with it and they will too.

At first glance they’re just simple shapes and lines on a page.

Nothin’ too fancy.

But, they can help with teaching and learning in ways more complicated tools can’t.

Meet, the graphic organizer.

Probably the most undervalued tool in Pedagogy!

A Graphic Organizer is like a road map. It can help to simplify a complex topic into a clear visual journey.

It’s a great teaching aid for you, and a great learning tool for your students – helping to enhance their higher order thinking.

In Canva you can easily customize your own organizers for the classroom. Once you’re in the swing of things, with a few designs you love, you can copy and re-edit them for different topics.

They really can be used in so many ways… reading comprehension, ordering information, mind mapping and more!

You could even supply a variety of print outs for your students to use on a daily basis – the same way you do stationery.

See what happens – they may re-interpret those shapes and lines in ways you haven’t yet imagined!

You probably used to standing up in front of class to deliver a lesson.
Presenting is part of your day to day.

But the modern classroom isn’t a lecture theatre.

It’s a place for us to learn from one another –

so presentation skills are important for your students too.

Students gain so much from presenting. They learn more about a subject by teaching it to others, and build the self-confidence that they’ll carry with them for life.

Standing up in front of a class can be scary at first. Still gives me the shakes.

Start by getting them to present together, in teams.
Or split up the class so they’re presenting to smaller groups.

Does your class participate in Genius Hour?
They can use Canva to present their journeys of discovery for the rest of the class to learn from.

Remember, when it comes to slide design, make it visual.
In Canva, it’s easy to add images, gifs and videos to keep young audiences engaged.

And the best thing about any speech? The student themselves. If they feel empowered to bring creativity to their presentations, they’ll be more confident in their delivery, and have the room hooked.