‘A blank canvas’: Sask. teacher eagerly prepares first classroom

School halls are filled with excitement and nervousness as students slip into their desks this fall.

This year, the locker-lined hallways at Roland Michener Elementary School are new for Miss Samara Lishchynsky. It’s her first year teaching, she’s in the grades one and two classroom.

All summer she couldn’t stop thinking about how she would set up her classroom, her excitement so great she even planned her first day of school outfit.

“I have a skirt, some cute shoes, and a tank top that says ‘It’s a fun day for learning’,” she said with a smile. “I have my earrings picked out and my hair — I’m ready to go.”

Lishchynsky will remember the feeling she had walking into her classroom for the first time this summer.

“It was a little daunting, there’s lots to do and you want the best for your students,” she said.

“It’s also exciting because it’s a blank canvas and I can do whatever I want with it.”

What once were bare walls are now flourishing with decorations — the room is full of books, blocks, and crayons to shape and inspire young minds.

“I wanted fun exciting colours for the students but still calm where it’s not overwhelming,” she said.

What Lishchynsky takes particular pride in is her “secret stories” section of her classroom. A literacy nook designed to help students understand vowels and the origins of various sounds through engaging stories and songs.

As the year continues, she plans on decorating more and collaborating with her students to make her classroom home as part of her teaching philosophy.

“I want my students to feel like they’re also involved in the classroom like it’s ours together — it’s not just mine.”

Putting together a classroom is mostly done out of pocket, she explained. Adding it can be pricey and tricky for new teachers. Lishchynsky said there are ways to work around high prices such as taking donations from other teachers and thrifting at garage sales.

What Lishchynsky hopes most this year is to have a positive influence on her students, just as her primary teachers had on her. She has also been inspired by the teachers in her family, who have further fueled her passion for education.

As the first day of school fast approached, Lishchynsky said she was feeling nervous yet excited to meet her class.

“As a student, you never think that a teacher is nervous or that they don’t know what they are doing,” she said. “So, to be on this side is kind of different.”

She leans on advice from other teachers that answers to her questions are available and to  “go with the flow” as she learns alongside her students.

Lishchynsky hopes her classroom can provide her students with valuable knowledge and life skills and that her students feel welcomed and valued the minute they step into the classroom — knowing they are loved and they truly matter.

“I think it will be exciting to see each student grow individually and (see) where they end up in life,” she said.