Classroom

I guess the first way to introduce what I do and what goes on in my classroom is by taking you a tour of the room!  This is my first year at a new school this year, so it took a LONG time this summer to set everything up, but it was worth it.  Another teacher walked by and said your classroom looks like Pinterest.  Nailed it!

This is my calendar and story area.  Every morning we gather here to do the calendar activities.  We also meet after recess so that I can read them a story while they take turns using the bathroom.  Usually the story is about a math, science, or social studies topic we're learning.  

The math manipulatives are all organized for them to use when they need to.  The entire back wall is magnetic!  No more staples, tape, or hot glue!  The background is an awesome ocean scene fadeless paper from Hobby Lobby.  It's quite a pain to put up by yourself since it's such a big roll, but as long as there isn't anyone around to hear you yelling at it then it's ok.

The schedule is posted on the wall with clocks beside each thing.  As we learn time throughout the year I no longer have to answer "How long until lunch??" I can just say figure it out and point to the schedule.  

Below is an close-up of our weather graph.  Each morning the helper tells us the weather.  The kids have their own version of this chart that they bring with them to calendar every day.  On the back is a temperature graph.  We graph the weather and temperature in the color crayon of where the temperature falls.  For example on this picture we would have used yellow.  I keep my temperature graphs for the year and tape them side by side on the wall so they can see the temperature trends throughout the year.

These are the closets.  They're double sided so it makes a nice space separator from the sinks and back counter.  On the top are all the mentor texts that I use separated into math, science, social studies, and language arts, and separated by advisory.  

This way they are right beside my story chair.  Can you tell I like things organized?  If I'm not over-organized then I lose EVERYTHING!

You can see the edge of the closets on the left side.  This is where the star of the week board is.  Each week a different kid gets to bring in pictures to display all week.  I always put up pictures of myself for the first week of school.  

You can see the mailboxes beside the chair that my awesome husband made for me.  It only took me bothering him all summer about it for them to finally be done at the end of the first week of school!  Our class pet Brownie is sitting on top waiting to go home with his next friend.

I started with groups of four, but there just wasn't enough space for all those desks.  I'll update the picture with how they are now soon.  In the back left corner are all the books.  There's also a table with the spelling stations organized, and soon-to-be focus board.  We only have two kid computers.

This is my group space.  I don't have a real teacher desk this year.  Instead my "desk" is a long table attached to this U shaped table.  It's great because I can just wheel my ugly green chair all around.  All my teacher binders are back there too.  I have a magazine box for each day of the week to keep all my copies in.  This helps me plan out the week and it's also super handy if a sub has to come in.  All I have to say is work out of the Monday box.

This is my cute reading group cart that stays by my table.  It's loaded with things I use during groups.  It's a little messy right now, but it's super convenient.  Ikea has so many awesome things!

All of the books and resources I will use for each reading group is kept in these crates that I've ziptied together behind the reading table.  Last year the kids had access to these, but this year I chose to just pull out the materials for them.  

This is the front of the classroom.  The whiteboards are gray.  Weird.  Also, they don't really work at all.  Most colors only erase with Clorox wipes.  And really, who doesn't want to use colored whiteboard markers???  

The class rules are posted on these owls saying "make wise choices".

This is the birthday graph-

Each group can earn a point by being the first ones prepared for what we're doing, the only group that's quiet, or just doing what they're supposed to.  The winners get pennies for each point they get (I'll explain my reward system in a later post) and seat cushions to use for the entire next week!  You'd be surprised how hard they work to have their behinds padded for the next week!

This is how I organize what papers I've pulled from binders and didn't have time to put back in, and the papers other teachers have given me.  These all have to be filed but this is a good way to presort them.

Last year I had the lunch choices in a pocket chart and they would graph what they chose so we could do lunch count.  In this new school, they don't take lunch count!  So what do I do with all the cute lunch cards I made?  We still pin them to the board.  Students know they can use the bathroom (one at a time) if this bathroom pass is up on the board.  The quiet voices sign also can be switched to no talking during tests.  The pouch is handy to keep nurse notes and breakfast passes in.

So what do kids do when they finish something early?  Anything on the "I'm bored surfboard" of course!

All my closets are labeled so I know where things are.  Drawers that have a green sticker on mean that kids can get into them whenever they need to.  Ones with a yellow sticker mean that they can get in them after they ask or if they have won a prize.  Ones with a red sticker are only for adults to be in.

Right now the writing station is small.  There is paper for the kids to use for their final copies, books other classes have made, pens for editing, and whole class journals they can add to when they have free time.

These are the tubs that students use during their reading center rotation.  Most of the time it has a leveled book in it for them to read independently or with a partner.  Sometimes it has a skill worksheet for something that we're doing.  Sometimes it has a game in it.

There are always extra books about topics we're learning about displayed for the kids to read.  After I read one during story time, it goes in here, too for awhile.

Lastly is my word wall.  I decided to not do a traditional word wall.  The kids have personal word books that they can use to spell common words.  This is actually a display of all the vocabulary they learn in each content area this year.  These are printed onto paper and sent home at the beginning of each advisory for them to practice, too.  I'll explain all that in a later post.

What did you find worked best for you when you were organizing your room?

First Post

There have been so many times where I've written out a few blog posts and even posted them, only to delete them again. I always think of things that I'd love to share with others about successes and failures in my classroom, but then get too busy doing something else instead of posting them. Last week I took an after school class to learn more about Blogger. I learned a few tips and tricks, so I guess it's time for me to actually start doing something with this! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you find something helpful on here! What's something you'd love to know or learn about?