Teacher Easels for the Modern Classroom: A Complete Buying Guide
Posted by Today's Classroom Team on 17th Jul 2026
This teacher easel buying guide exists because most schools order the wrong one, and they do not find out until the easel has been standing in a corner for a full semester. On paper, the board seemed like a good choice. The price was right, and it looked like it would do the job. Once it arrived, though, it became obvious it wasn't the right fit for that classroom.
An easel isn't the most expensive thing in a classroom, but teachers use it constantly. A good one quietly becomes part of the daily routine. The wrong one usually ends up sitting in the corner because it doesn't work the way the classroom needs it to.
So this guide skips the sales talk and walks through the decisions that actually matter: what an easel is really for, the difference between the main types, how to match one to your grade level and your room, and what the honest cost looks like once you factor in how long these things last.
What this guide covers
The real job of a teacher easel in a working classroom, the main types and who each one suits, how to size and place one correctly, what the Copernicus range at Today's Classroom actually costs, and the five questions worth answering before you place the order. Jump to any section using the headings below.
What a teacher easel is really for
Walk into any elementary classroom, and you will usually spot a board at the front that never moves. That is the room's main whiteboard, and it handles whole-group instruction. A teacher easel does a different job. Teachers use easels in different ways. One day, it might hold an anchor chart at the front of the room. Later, it could be moved to a small-group table or used during a classroom discussion.
Classroom easels are built around movement and small-group work, not around being a second big board at the front. That distinction matters more than any single feature, because it decides whether the easel earns its keep or gathers dust. When people ask how to choose a teacher easel, the honest first answer is not about brand or price. It is about naming the specific job you want it to do that your main board cannot.
The jobs an easel does better than anything else
- ●Small-group instruction. During small-group instruction, teachers often bring a few students together to review a skill or introduce something new. An easel gives everyone a place to see the lesson without crowding around a desk.
- ●Anchor charts. Some charts stay up long after the lesson ends. Instead of taping them to the wall, a flip chart easel or magnetic board lets you keep them where students can see them.
- ●Moving the lesson. Not every lesson happens at the front of the classroom. If you teach in different parts of the room, a mobile easel is easy to move wherever the lesson is taking place.
- ●Interactive display. Teachers often use word cards, picture cards, and other hands-on materials during lessons. A felt or magnetic easel lets students come up and move the pieces themselves instead of just looking at them from their seats.
This easel is easy to wheel around my third grade classroom where I use it to create anchor charts during mini lessons and as a whiteboard at our back table during small group instruction.
Laura Santos, third grade teacher, California, reviewing the Copernicus Bamboo Teaching Easel
The main types of teacher easels, and who each one suits
Easels get sorted a few different ways, and the labels overlap, which is part of why buying one is confusing. Here is the plain version. Most classroom easels fall into one of these buckets, and knowing which bucket you need clears up ninety percent of the decision.
By surface: magnetic, dry-erase, or flip chart
A magnetic teacher easel holds paper, cards, and manipulatives with magnets, completely transforming how the easel can be used in your lessons. A dry-erase teacher easel lets you write notes, solve problems, or sketch ideas during a lesson, then erase everything when you're done. Many models also have a magnetic board, so you can write on it and attach charts or other materials in the same place. A flip chart easel is used to hold pads of chart paper on a hook or clamp, which suits teachers who build a lot of anchor charts and want to flip back to earlier pages. If your instinct is to keep and revisit charts, the flip chart easel style earns its place. If you mostly write and wipe, a plain magnetic dry-erase surface is the better fit.
By mobility: mobile or wall-mounted
A mobile teacher easel rides on locking casters so it moves between activities and rooms. A wall-mounted easel stays fixed on the wall, freeing up valuable floor space in a tight room. This is usually the first real decision, and it is worth its own conversation, which is why the full breakdown lives in our guide on mobile or wall-mounted easels for classrooms. As a quick rule, a mobile teacher easel wins in active rooms that change setup throughout the day, and wall-mounted easels win in small rooms with one fixed teaching spot.
By height: fixed or adjustable
Younger students often sit on a rug, so it's easier to use an easel that's low to the ground. Older students are more likely to be at desks, where raising the board can make it easier for everyone to see.
If the easel will be shared between classrooms or used with different grade levels, an adjustable teacher easel gives you more flexibility. If it's staying in one classroom with the same group of students every day, a fixed-height easel is usually all you need.
| If your room mainly needs | Look for this type | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Small group reading and writing | Magnetic dry-erase, mobile | Moves to the group, doubles as writing and display surface |
| Lots of anchor charts kept for weeks | Flip chart easel with paper hooks | Holds pads, lets you flip back to earlier charts |
| One fixed teaching corner, tight space | Wall-mounted | Frees the floor, no rolling obstacle |
| Shared across grades or teachers | Adjustable height, mobile | One easel fits different ages and uses |
| Preschool and early years | Low, double-sided, sturdy base | Child height access, two groups at once |
How to choose a teacher easel for your room
Picking one gets easy once you stop looking at features and start looking at your own room. Here is the order I would think it through, and it is the same order our Project Team uses when a school asks for help. Knowing how to choose a teacher easel is really just answering four questions in the right sequence.
1. What is the one job you want it to do?
Name it before anything else. Small-group reading. Daily morning message. Anchor charts for a writing unit. If you cannot name a job the easel does that your main board cannot, you probably do not need the easel, or you need a different tool. This one question prevents most wasted purchases.
2. Does it need to move?
Watch your room during a normal day. If the front of the room is the only place instruction happens, a fixed or wall-mounted board is fine. If you teach in three or four spots, you want casters. Be sure to consider your flooring, too, because a mobile easel that cannot roll over your carpet is not really mobile.
3. Who is standing at it, and who is sitting?
Match the height to the bodies using it. Little kids on a rug need a low board. Older students at desks need it high enough to clear the back row. If the answer changes depending on the day, that points you toward adjustable.
4. One surface or two?
A double-sided board lets two groups work at once or lets you prep two lessons and flip between them. A single side costs less and suits one teacher running one flow at a time. There is real money in this choice, and it is covered fully in our guide on double-sided vs single-sided teacher easels. Work through those four questions in order, and the rest of this teacher easel buying guide becomes easy to apply to your own room.
A quick gut check before you buy
Picture last Tuesday. Was there a moment you needed a surface and your main board was busy or in the wrong spot? If yes, an easel solves a real problem for you. If you are struggling to picture it, slow down before ordering. The easels that get used every day are the ones bought to fill a gap the teacher already felt.
Sizing and placing an easel so it actually gets used
The best easel in the wrong spot still ends up unused. Placement and height are quiet decisions that decide daily use, and they rarely make it onto a purchase order.
Match the height to the grade
Early years and primary students often sit on a rug for group time, so the board needs to sit low enough for them to see it without craning their necks. Upper elementary and middle school students sit at desks, so the board has to clear sightlines from the back of the room. When one easel serves a wide age range, adjustable height stops being a nice extra and becomes what makes it work for everyone.
Place it where the teacher already stands
Where you place the easel matters more than you might expect. If it's tucked behind a desk or in the corner of the room, chances are it won't get used as often. Keeping it close to where you normally teach makes it much easier to write on the board or grab it during a lesson.
Leave room to move around it
Leave enough space around the easel for students and teachers to use it comfortably. The product dimensions specify how much room the easel takes up, but you'll also need space for people to stand, write, and move around it.
If you're buying a mobile easel, think about where it will be used. Make sure there's a clear path between classrooms or teaching areas, and watch for thick carpet, rugs, or raised door thresholds that can make it harder to roll.
The best teacher easels for classrooms, and what they cost
Today's Classroom carries the Copernicus range across every configuration a school is likely to need, from compact single-sided boards to fully loaded double-sided bamboo units. When teachers ask about the best teacher easels for classrooms, the honest answer is that there is no single best one, only the best fit for a given room. Still, a few models cover the vast majority of real classroom needs, so here is what they are and what they run.
The workhorse: Copernicus Bamboo Double-Sided Teaching Easel
Priced nearly $400, this is the unit teachers tend to fall in love with. It gives two 29 inch by 29 inch magnetic dry erase boards, four storage tubs, a lockable book ledge, and a center shelf, all on a bamboo frame that stands 59 inches tall and rolls on 3 inch locking casters. It carries an 11 year frame warranty and a lifetime warranty on the tubs, and the bamboo has roughly a 38 percent lower carbon footprint than the metal equivalent, which schools with sustainability goals notice. If you want one easel to do nearly everything, this is usually it, and it lands near the top of most lists of the best teacher easels for classrooms for good reason.
The budget-smart single sider: Copernicus PTE78 Primary Teaching Easel
Around $295, this model is a good choice if you're looking for a lower-priced classroom easel. It has a large magnetic whiteboard on one side and a removable felt board on the other, giving teachers two ways to display lesson materials. While you can only use one side at a time, that's enough for most classrooms. If one teacher is using the easel throughout the day, this model handles everyday lessons just as well as many more expensive options.
The early years pick: Copernicus Bamboo Early Learning Station
At around $300, this foldable double whiteboard easel is a good fit for preschool through first grade classrooms. The board sits lower than most standard easels, making it easier for younger students to see and use during lessons.
| Model | Best for | Surfaces | Price | Warranty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bamboo Double Sided (BE1) | One easel that does everything | Two magnetic dry erase | $412.06 | 11yr frame, lifetime tubs |
| PTE78 Primary Teaching Easel | Budget-smart single classroom | Dry erase front, felt back | $294.41 | Standard frame warranty |
| Early Learning Station (ELS1) | Preschool and early years | Double whiteboard, foldable | $298.06 | Standard frame warranty |
| RC201 Reading Writing Center | Compact rooms, tight budgets | Single, repositionable tubs | $297.86 to $313.43 | Standard frame warranty |
Every one of these accepts a school purchase order at checkout with no credit card needed, and larger multi-room orders can run through TIPS, NCPA, or PEPPM using our co-ops and contracts page. Browse the full teacher easels range to compare every configuration side by side.
Not sure which easel fits your room? Send us your grade level, your room layout, and how you plan to use the board. Our Project Team maps it out and recommends the right configuration before you spend a cent. Free, and no purchase required.
Get Free Room Layout PlanningTeacher easel or chart stand: a quick word before you buy
One mix-up worth clearing up, because it sends schools home with the wrong product. A chart stand holds pre-made chart paper or flip pads for display. It does not have a writing surface of its own. A teaching easel has an actual board built in, so you write directly on it. If your real need is simply to hang finished anchor charts for reference, a chart stand does that for less. If you need to write, teach, and display live, you want the easel. The full comparison is in our guide on chart stands vs whiteboard easels for anchor charts.
Why so many easels end up unused, and how to avoid it
Plenty of well-made easels spend the year in a corner. It is almost never the easel's fault. It is usually one of three things: the board was ordered to duplicate the main whiteboard and had no distinct job, the configuration did not fit the room, or the storage filled up with clutter, so using it meant clearing it off first.
The fix starts before the order and continues after delivery. Give the easel one clear job, match the configuration to the room, and keep its storage tied to that one job. We go deep on this in our guide on why your classroom easel sits unused, because it is the difference between a board that works and a board that waits.
The one rule that prevents most unused easels
Never buy an easel to be a second version of the board you already have at the front of the room. Buy it to do what the main board cannot: face a small group, travel to the lesson, or hold a chart you want to keep. Give it that job on day one, and it will not end up in the corner.
Frequently asked questions
What should I look for in easels for teachers on a tight budget?
Start with a single-sided magnetic dry-erase board like the PTE78, around $300, which still gives you a felt display surface on the back. You do not need a double-sided unit unless two groups genuinely work at the easel at the same time. Good easels for teachers on a budget are about matching the board to one clear job, not about buying the most features. When you are comparing easels for teachers across price points, the cheaper board that fits your room beats the expensive one that does not.
Is a magnetic surface worth it, or is plain dry-erase enough?
A magnetic teacher easel lets you hold up word cards, student work, and manipulatives without tape, which opens up interactive lessons that a plain board cannot. Since most quality boards are both magnetic and dry-erase, you rarely have to choose. If you teach reading or early math with a lot of movable pieces, magnetic earns its place easily.
How do I know if I need a mobile teacher easel or a fixed one?
On an average day, think about where you teach. If instruction only ever happens at the front, fixed is fine. If you move between the rug, the tables, and a small-group corner, a mobile teacher easel follows the lesson instead of anchoring it to one spot. Just confirm your flooring lets the casters roll freely first.
Can one easel work for different grade levels?
Yes, if you choose an adjustable teacher easel. Height is the main thing that changes between a seated kindergarten group and a standing upper elementary lesson, so an adjustable teacher easel that raises and lowers covers both without needing two separate boards. This is especially useful for shared spaces and specialist teachers who move between rooms.
Do you help schools pick the right easel?
Yes. Our Project Team reviews your grade level, room layout, and how you plan to use the board, then recommends a configuration, all free and with no purchase required. You can also reach us at 877-909-9910 or browse school classroom furniture across the full catalog at Today's Classroom.
Keep reading
Once you have the basics from this guide, these four go deeper on the specific decisions that trip schools up most.
- ●Mobile or Wall-Mounted Easels for Classrooms. The space versus flexibility trade-off, and the flooring detail that decides whether a mobile board is really mobile.
- ●Why Your Classroom Easel Sits Unused. How to give an easel a job it actually keeps, so it does not end up in the corner.
- ●Double-Sided vs Single-Sided Teacher Easels. When the second surface earns its extra cost, and when it quietly wastes it.
- ●Chart Stands vs Whiteboard Easels for Anchor Charts. Which product actually solves the anchor chart problem in your room.
Need Help Picking the Right Easel?
Send us your grade level, room layout, and how you plan to use the board. We build a free recommendation, no purchase required. School purchase orders accepted.
