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Saturday, September 1, 2012

Classroom Photo Tour!

I just finished up my teacher work week and am spending the long weekend getting ready for my new kiddos to come on Tuesday.  I got to meet most of the munchkins during an open house this week and I am EXCITED to get started with this sweet little group. I have super sweet parents who are anxious to pitch in and help and the kids seemed genuinely excited to come back.  Yes!
 
 I always have anxiety leaving on Friday before the first day of school because I know the next time I walk in the kids will be on their way!  I am afraid I am going to get home and realize I forgot to do something HUGE! I bet no matter how many years I teach, the feeling will always be there on that day.  Too funny.  Anybody else have "issues" leaving their room the day before the kids come??
 
I also know that is the day that my classroom will be the cleanest and most organized it could EVER hope to be during the year.  So...a perfect day to take pictures of course!  I do NOT have a great camera but hopefully you can get the idea!
 
 
 
Here is a first look when you walk in the door.  The covered cubbies house some necessary but not so pretty things like testing materials and extra teacher manuals.  The blue shelf is our community supply shelf. The black bulletin board above it will soon be a place for some writing charts we will create together.


 

This is a closer look at our community supply shelf.

 
 

Here is our calendar and math board where we begin each day.  The yellow "table" is just two desks pushed together with fabric over top.  Inside the desks and under them are more "hidden" storage areas!  The crates on either side of the table are for whiteboards and clipboards.

 
 
 Yikes! Don't look!
 
 
 
 
 
This is a generic pocket chart that is labeled "Work Groups"  I use little plastic, colored counters
(I can usually find them at Staples)
and write names on them so that I can easily slip them in the pocket chart and change groups around for games, projects, etc.



 
 
 
Here is the front of my room and chalkboard....freshly washed! 

 
 
 
Here is an up close view of the pocket chart I use to organize the Daily 5 (or Daily 3 as I like to call it...more on that soon!)  It is hard to read but it has a spot for read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, work on writing and then my name (for small group) and our reading teachers' names for kids who are pulled out during some reading rotations.





The itty bitty table is just a regular round table that I took the legs out of.  The kids love to sit and read or write on pillows at this table.  So cute.  The shelf on the table is just a cheapo shoe shelf that I painted this summer with baskets to hold odds and ends.
 




This is my desk and filing cabinet area.  The bulletin board above the striped table will soon hold our reading strategies!




This is another shot of my little corner.  The pink shelves are just two more of those cheapo shoe shelves painted and stacked on top of each other.  I keep worksheets and materials for each subject in each of the colored baskets.




Here are my new blue shelves that my sweet fiance made for my book baskets!  These books are organized by authors/series.





 
 Here is one of the little reading areas that kids love to go when we are reading.  The pink basket holds seasonal books on CD and the yellow basket underneath has personal CD players for listen to reading.



One more shot of the main classroom library! (mostly because I'm lovin' those blue shelves so much!)




Here is where most of the "magic" happens!  This is our little meeting area where we do most of our whole group instruction.  The pocket chart is hot glued to the wall.  I hot glue EVERYTHING to these cinderblock walls. :)  The black bulletin board behind my chair will soon have tons of anchor charts!




Here is our smartboard.  She isn't the prettiest thing but I don't know how I lived without her. :)  The black crates and baskets underneath are mainly for hiding cords (which I detest!) but they also come in handy for holding things that I use a lot in my whole group teaching.  There are also some tennis balls (much better for moving things on the smartboard so that all of the little sticky fingers don't get on it) and some fun pointers (from the dollar tree) in there.



Here is my word wall where our dolch sight words will be displayed as we study six new ones each week.  The little table in front is one of those cheap laminate "dorm room" style tables that I painted.  This is another favorite workspace for the kiddos!  The yellow shelves are ones that my dad made a couple years ago. The white baskets on them hold books divided by subject (plants, space, fish, etc.)  and the book boxes on top are from Really Good Stuff.  These are the childrens' individual book boxes for our Daily 3!  They also keep their headphones in there for listen to reading. 
 
 



Here is the back corner of the room where the bathroom is loated.  The bathroom door and black board to the right will soon be filled with math vocabulary and anchor charts.  The blue drawers hold materials for word work (stamp pads, etch a sketches, unifix letter cubes, sandboxes, etc.)
 
 
 
 
These are plastic placemats (from Big Lots I think...)  that we use for "sorting mats."  The "stickiness" of the plastic helps all the little paper pieces from flying off their desks!
 


Isn't that little elephant bench precious? I got it at Target several years ago.  It is a perfect spot for the kids to do "read to someone."  It makes me a VERY happy teacher to see two kids engaged and reading a book together on it.




Here is my small group teaching area in front of our cubbies.  The boxes above the cubbies hold seasonal things and supplies that I don't need to get out very much.  They are just the fabric drawers that you can get just about anywhere.





The shelves to the right of the sink hold math games and manipulatives.  The sterilite drawers on the sink counter are for student mailboxes!




I started using velcro dots and laminated name plates inside of cubbies instead of contact paper so that I could easily switch them around in case I accidentally gave any little bitties the TOP cubbies. :) Plus...contact paper drives me up the wall.

 
 
Ta-da!





Here is a view of the room from my "teacher corner."  I change the desk arrangement around a lot during the year, but this will be a good starting point!
 
And on the desks....my "must have" for the first day...Play Doh!  It requires NO directions, NO supplies, and I think it relieves some jitters for my babies on the first day.  I also laminate construction paper to use as mats so that the play doh doesn't get all over the desktops.
 
 
 
 
Homework folders all ready for the first day!
 




Here is a "New Student" bag that I put one "extra" of everything in so that when a new student walks in my door...I can pull it out and cut down on (some) of the chaos that comes with getting a new student on the first day or in the middle of the year. :)

 
 
 
 
I use these little baskets as "drawers" in their desks. They put their pencil pouch and any "loose" tools in there to keep their desk nice and tidy.

 
 
 
Whew...sorry for the picture overload!!! I'll be back soon to tell you more about this....
 
 
 
 
For now...I'm off to try to mark some things off of my GIANT to-do list while my sweetie is working.
 
 
 
We are BOTH missing him.
 
But don't worry...Sawyer is sending text updates of all the college football scores to his daddy at work. :)
 
Enjoy your long weekend!
 
Photobucket

54 comments:

Unknown said...

THe basket in their desk is genius!!! I wish I had enough room to do that!

Kimberly
The Learning Tree

Amy Johnston said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Amy Johnston said...

Thanks!! They JUST fit in my desks. I actually figured it out by accident... :)

Kelly Benefield said...

I love all of the bright colors in your room! Wow! You have cubbies! How wonderful! Thanks for stopping by my blog. Hope to see you link up soon!


Kelly
Teaching Fourth

Amy Johnston said...

I plan to! Thanks Kelly!

Unknown said...

The desk "drawers" is SUCH a good idea!! I may have to try this. All the random materials that don't fit (or make it) back into their pencil boxes drive me nuts.

❤ -Stephanie
Falling Into First

Amy Johnston said...

Me too Stephanie!! I don't know about yours...but the clean desk fairy that comes to MY room...does not like loose stuff floating around in those desks. ;) They are fairly inexpensive at walmart. I believe they are sterilite brand!

Unknown said...

I love all the bright colors in your room! It looks awesome! Thanks for linking up!

Swimming into Second

Amy Johnston said...

Thanks for the opportunity and your kind words!! :)

Unknown said...

Those are some seriously lucky kiddos!!! That has to be THE most organized classroom I've ever seen! <3 the bright colors and all those bins, cubbies, shelves & boxes! (I'm impressed w/ the new blue shelving, too!) ;) Hope next week is the start of a great year for you!! -Michele

Unknown said...

ps- it just took me over 20 tries before proving i'm "not a robot" w/ the Captcha!! i didn't realize that photo was part of the secret code! duh!!! (let's see how many times it takes this time!)....

Kelly said...

I love your idea of hiding supplies with fabric - brilliant!

Kimberly said...

I love your new blue bookshelves and the bright colors in your room!
Kimberly
Funky First Grade Fun

Corinna said...

Your room looks wonderful Amy! I love bright colors and those cute little rugs are just perfect. Thank you so much for linking up and being my 500th follower!! No balloons and confetti, but let me know which item you would like from my TpT/TN store:))

Aloha,
Corinna
Surfin' Through Second

Mrs. Wheeler said...

Looks awesome!!!!!!!!! I love the bright pink in there! The baskets: do you buy them for them? So they are in place of school boxes? I kinda love that idea!

Megan
Mrs. Wheeler’s First Grade
Mrs. Wheeler TpT

diditeach said...

What a nice room......love the basket in the desk idea and the Velcro dots on name tags. Thanks for sharing :)

Amy Johnston said...

You're too sweet! :) I turned off that darn robot thing. I hate trying to figure them out....

Amy Johnston said...

Thanks Kelly! :)

Amy Johnston said...

Thanks Kimberly! :)

Amy Johnston said...

Aww, you're too sweet! You don't have to give me anything... I was just happy to find your blog! :)

Amy Johnston said...

I did buy them and I've used them for about 5 years now and they've held up great! I want to say they were somewhere between a dollar or two when I got them. :) They still bring cloth pencil pouches and they just go inside the drawer (just because it's on our supply list) but it could definitely take the place of school boxes! Glad you liked it Megan. Thanks for your sweet words!

Amy Johnston said...

Thanks so much!!

Christy {Crayons and Whimsy} said...

Your room is amazing! Thanks for finding my blog... it's been fun to look at yours. I'm clearly new to having a blog, but not new to stalking other people. I'm happy to add yours to my list. Back to your room... You have made it so colorful and cheerful, plus I love all the sunshine you get in there! Your fiance could have a side job of making those book shelves- they are perfect and I always struggle with the organization of my books.

I hope you feel better. And I love that you make apple sauce with your little friends - I'm going to look into doing that too!

Christy
http://www.crayonsandwhimsy.blogspot.com

Andrea Ploc said...

Wow, I love your ideas of how to create a wonderful classroom ! When I looked at your pics it kind of made me wanna come to your class and see it all in real - it looks so inviting ! You must be a great and inspiring teacher ! Best greetings from Vienna, Austria ! Andrea (a.ploc@chello.at)

Unknown said...

I love your removable name tags for the cubbies! I teach at a military school so our turnover rate is really high. This will save time when I lose a student or get a new one. Also, where did you get your name tags? I love the colorful desings and they look so much better than the plain white name tags!!

Ginger said...

Where did you get all of your storage bins?

Tonya Thompson said...

Beautiful room! Love the colors and the organization.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I love your classroom! It's tidy and organized. I love the desk drawer idea. I'm going to try this idea. Thanks for share your classroom and ideas with me.

Anonymous said...

I love your room. It is fun to find other teachers that love rooms with lots of useful stuff. I love finding brest ideas. Thank u for sharing your talents
Jan in nebraska

Rachel Rivera said...

I love the desk drawer idea!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

What size are the baskets you put in their desks

Miss Talkative said...

Hello! I love the bookshelves your dad made! Do you have the dimensions? I would love to make them this summer!

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

How did you paint the laminate shelves?

Liz said...

Where did you get your homework folders? Thank you :)

Unknown said...

Where did you get those lime green tables and the aqua community shelf??

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for sharing where to get them! I am moving to first this year and I hope this will save the year for me with desks :)

Unknown said...

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