Classroom transformations have become a fun trend in elementary classrooms. One popular idea is a Glow Day classroom transformation. I recently shared about my glow day on Instagram. I received many questions about how I pulled it off so I highlighted my answers to the top questions below:
Q: What supplies do I need?
A: This is the number one question I received! Here are the things I purchased/gathered for my Glow Day classroom transformation. There are other supplies you can get, but these are the basics you’ll need for a successful day.
Absolute Must-have: BLACK LIGHTS! *see question below about how many to purchase
The black lights are key to Glow Day success! The goal is to get your classroom as dark as possible, add some white accents, and then “light up” the classroom with black lights. This set is perfect because it comes as a two-pack,
UV Tape can be used for so many different things in the classroom. You can create hop-scotch and other games on the floor. You can use it to outline student desks and bulletin boards. It’s also great to add to your board games to give them a black light twist (think JENGA blocks). This tape will turn basically anything in your classroom into a colorful UV statement! Use this link to check it out on Amazon.
Just like the tape, this paint can easily transform daily classroom objects into Glow Day masterpieces. I used this paint on white bulletin board paper to create fun signs to hang up around the room.
This fun garland will stand out so good in your glowing classroom!
Glow sticks, necklaces, bracelets, glasses, etc.
Not only should your classroom glow, but your students should too! Fun accessories make this event even more fun for your students!
These hats though… they’ll be your students’ favorite! The kids look so good in them and they just add more fun to the day!
White paper/cardstock and Yellow highlighters
Ditching the pencils on glow day is a must. Yellow highlighter shows up so good on white paper and glows perfectly in the room. When planning activities, stick to paper/pencil. Chromebooks will be much too bright.
Games (see below)
Q: How do I get all of these supplies?
A: I purchased the blacklights because I wanted to reuse them year after year. Now that I have them, this is an expense I won’t have to spend for next year.
I asked parents to donate: glow sticks, glow bracelets/necklaces/glasses, blacklight paint, glow in the dark tape, highlighters, and other small items. You can find a parent letter here. If your school has an active PTA or an admin who likes to spend money on your classrooms, I would ask for donations there too! These are easily available at Walmart and many dollar stores in the party sections.
Q: How many black lights do I need for a glow day classroom transformation?
A: This depends greatly on the size of your room. I used 4 lights in my classroom, which I think is standard classroom size. If you feel your room is large, you might need a 5th light. Smaller classrooms can get by with 3 lights.
Q: How dark does my room need to be for a glow day classroom transformation?
A: The darker the better. You will probably feel like the room is TOO dark at first. But, that’s ok. The black lights work better if you have blocked off all light sources in your room. I even turned off my ActivBoard. Everyone’s eyes will adjust once they’ve been in there for a little while.
Q: How do I manage the centers?
A: Something that worked well for me was 5 minutes of independent work time at the beginning of each station. This gave everyone a chance to think about the content in silence before the group work time began. Sometimes I turned on the lights for 5 minutes of work time. Several students liked when I did that. It gave their eyes a break from the darkness.
Q: What academic activities did you do at each station?
A: My glow day was a third-grade test-prep celebration. I wanted to be sure my students were still working on questions similar to what they’d see on the state test. Each station had 8 questions. Students recorded their answers on the recording sheet. Their answers had to be checked before they could play the game at their station.
My principal was very impressed with the quality of academic work. He appreciated that Glow Day wasn’t just all fun and games.
Q: What games did you play?
A: After their work was checked, students were able to play a game at each section. You can read more about the games I used here.
- Jenga. You can easily adapt a regular Jenga game to make it glow day-friendly. I put strips of Glow in the Dark tape on each piece. One of my parents found an awesome glow-in-the-dark stacking game, very similar to Jenga.
- 2. Connect Four. This time I used a regular Connect Four game. I put tape on the pieces so they would glow, but it’s not near as cool as the glow-in-the-dark Connect Four. I’ve got one of these in my Amazon cart!
- 3. Tic-Tac-Toe. This was the easiest game to set up. I put tape down on the tables. Students used glow bracelets and glow sticks as their game pieces. This tape is fantastic for glow day! It worked perfectly for my Tic-Tac-Toe boards.
- 4. Ball Toss. I used 5 neon cups and some ping-pong balls. I lined them up in a straight line and taped the cups to the floor so they wouldn’t move around.
- 5. Ring Toss. I purchased 4 small cones from Dollar Tree. Students threw glow necklaces onto the cones. I taped a spot on the floor for them to stand on.
Q: How long did your students spend at each station?
A: 20 minutes. This was a good amount of time for them to complete the 8 questions and play the games. It would have felt rushed if we moved any quicker than 20 minutes. If you decide to do more than 8 questions, you will want to allow for more time.
A Reflection on My Glow Day Classroom Transformation
Glow Day was such a success. I’m so glad I left my fear behind and tried it out. Classroom transformations can be scary. You worry you’ll fail, or you worry what your co-workers will think.
The best way to get over your fear of classroom transformations, is to just do one!
I’ll definitely do glow day again next year. Watching their faces as they entered the room made it all worth it. They told me “thank you” more times than I could count. The biggest surprise of all was how focused they were on their work. They were so engaged, they didn’t even realize they did 40 test-prep questions! Proof that learning can be fun & engaging at the same time!
Are you ready for a glow day classroom transformation?
Click here for a Glow Day Classroom Transformation Planning Pack. This link includes editable templates, game ideas, and other tips to help you get started. These editable templates will save you time and energy, so you can spend your time preparing your room for all the fun! This link also includes an invitation, supply list, station signs, and a PowerPoint for teams and instructions.
