Classroom environments are extremely important for students and for teachers. Everything from the color of the walls to the arrangement of the desks sends impressions to students and can affect the way a student learns. The emotional environment also will affect the learning environment and how well a student receives instruction.

Emotional Environment
Creating a positive learning environment is essential for success in the classroom. Teachers should create a welcoming atmosphere where student feel safe and willing to share. Classrooms should represent the students equally and everyone should know each other's name. Teachers who use humor in the classroom also create more positive environments.

Physical Environments
Structuring the physical environment of a classroom means strategically placing desks, students, decorations, and playing music. Desks arranged in a circle give the impression of sharing, while coupled desks work well as workstations. The color of the walls and the decorations on the walls also send impressions. Light colors open up spaces and warm colors are welcoming.

Respectful Environments
Classrooms should be a place where students feel respected and feel their contributions matters. No student should be singled out or secluded in the classroom. Every student should feel accepted, wanted and respected.

Classroom environment is one of the most important factors affecting student learning. Simply put, students learn better when they view the learning environment as positive and supportive. A positive environment is one in which students feel a sense of belonging, trust others, and feel encouraged to tackle challenges, take risks, and ask questions. Such an environment provides relevant content, clear learning goals and feedback, opportunities to build social skills, and strategies to help students succeed

There is a direct relationship between the kind of learning environment teachers create in their classrooms and student achievement. Here are 10 specific strategies for developing the optimal classroom climate and culture.

1. Address Student Needs
Remember that students, like adults, have not only physical needs but also important psychological needs for security and order, love and belonging, personal power and competence, freedom and novelty, and fun. Students are driven to meet all of these needs all the time, not just two or three of them. When teachers intentionally address these needs in the classroom, students are happier to be there, behavior incidents occur far less frequently, and student engagement and learning increases.

2. Create a Sense of Order
All students need structure and want to know that their teacher not only knows his content area, but also knows how to manage his classroom. It is the teacher’s responsibility to provide clear behavioral and academic expectations right from the beginning—students should know what is expected of them all the time. Another important way to create a sense of order is by teaching students effective procedures for the many practical tasks that are performed in the classroom. For example, teach students how to:

3. Greet Students at the Door Every Day

As students enter your classroom, greet each one at the door. Explain that you want students to make eye contact with you, give you a verbal greeting, and—depending on the age of the students—a high five, fist bump,