Carter in the classroom

Frisco Teacher Transforms Empty Classroom Into Artistic Teaching Arena

Wayne Carter's in the Classroom to show us how teachers are finding ways to build excitement

Teachers are always looking for new ways to get kids excited to come to school each day. At Frisco ISD’s Carroll Elementary they decided to accomplish that by changing up the scenery.

It started with an empty classroom, teacher Leahlyn Clare, and a school-wide commitment to make learning fun.

It’s called the transformation room and it’s essentially a classroom with a theme. There has been a Harry Potter-themed room, a Winter Wonderland and now Jurassic Park.

Every kind of lesson and every subject can find a home in the transformation room.

"I’m not going to wake up and say 'Yes! I get to teach two step division,' but knowing I get to do it in the Winter Wonderland room in a Buddy the Elf costume was a game changer," third grade teacher Leahlyn Clare said.

The students share that excitement, walking in with "ooo’s and ah’s" when they saw the Jurassic Park room.

During a recent lesson Clare gave her students a mission: the dinosaurs had escaped from the park and students had to look for clues in passages they read to figure out who may have purposely let them out.

The students had to make inferences based on what they read -- a skill, they’re often tested on.

Student Gabby Hernandez says she's lucky to have a teacher who thinks up ideas like this.

"She just has a lot of positive energy and makes learning so much fun," Gaby said.

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