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!