Classroom Tour! (Part One)

I think I've got the big stuff done. Everything is set up......but I don't have a single plan made for the first week of school!

So.......to keep from thinking about that....here's a tour of my room and what I've done so far.

Lots of my ideas have come from blogs and Pinterest (how did we teach B.P.--before Pinterest?) and I'll try to credit back to the original pin when I can.

We move everything out so the floors can be shower scrubbed and waxed over the summer. So every year, it's starting with a blank slate.

 Here's the view from the hallway. There's a lot of stuff in there! Different from the first pic, huh?!

I replaced all of my shelving with open wire shelves from Lowes. I love the open look they give to the room. PLUS...they are on wheels so I can just roll them out in the hall when I have to pack up at the end of the year! And as a bonus, I can use rings and shower hooks to hang stuff! These are all my reading materials, other than file folder activities in my filing cabinets.

Moving left around the room...

Here's my Literacy Schema board. We record what we are learning, the students' reflections (exit tickets) for the day's lesson, the reason they think they need to learn the skill, and their schema (what they already know).

That's Dexter on the board. My son's girlfriend, Aleck (she's my friend, too), helped me out A LOT. She is an uh-may-zing artist!

Under the Literacy Schema board is one of my new wire shelves. The tennis balls also mean I can just push the whole thing out to the hall at the end of the year! I clipped my vocabulary rating chart on.

See....it's just held on with binder clips. I use them for everything...clipping labels on baskets...on the window blinds....

Next up is our literacy curriculum map. This will probably change after I work with it for awhile. These are the skills for the first four weeks.

Everything is held on with magnetic tape, so when I'm doing a whole group lesson on a specific part of the map, I can move it to the front of the room or to wherever we are working and post student work samples with it. Can you see the timers at the bottom of the board? Can't teach without them and the magnetic ones mean I can usually always find them.

The small area to the left is for homework. We only give fluency practice for homework. 

I keep my markers and erasers corralled in a shower organizer that is attached by suction cups.

The supplies I need for small group work at the table are stored on shoe racks and decorative boxes behind the table.

The colorful drawers came from a sale at Joann's last winter. They are labeled by subject and by day of the week so that I can find what I need when I need it.

My teacher desk is in the corner behind the small group table. I keep it to hold my computer, document camera, and the numbered file folders I use as portfolios for important student papers. The white drawers hold post-it notes, sharpies, tape, etc....anything I need within easy reach. Spelling words go in the pocket chart.

The magnetic board above my desk holds important memos, etc. My sweet daughter made me the P from buttons for a Christmas gift. I think of her every time I look at it.
My schedule is posted on the sentence strips. 

My rocking chair sits at the edge of the whole group area. My kids use Sharpies to sign my chair every year. I ordered two map rugs for seating. I got them online from a discount  supplier. I don't still have the name, but I found them by searching Google.

The Math Schema board is next to my desk. I've combined both the schema and the skills for the first four weeks on one board.

My listening station materials are under the Math Schema board. I used shower curtain hooks to hold the earphones. The tubs on top hold the supplies I need to have handy for whole group lessons. I got them on sale at Michael's right before school started last year. I use them for ev-er-y-thing!

This is one of my favorite things Aleck helped make. I got the idea {HERE} from 3rd Grade Thoughts and {HERE} from Grade 2 Happenings. We went to Lowe's, laid out the crates on the floor, and had them cut a board to hang over just about an inch on each side. The crates are held together with zip ties. We found blue baskets to match my room colors to hold whole group supplies, such as white boards, Expo markers, and other supplies I need to keep handy. Aleck made the labels and attached them with the small chain that hangs from a ceiling fan. (I'll be posting the labels as a freebie in a later post.)

Here's a close up of the board. We spray painted it black and then sprayed varnish on for the last coat. Aleck then painted the cute orange and blue design. The shelf sits under my Promethean Board. All of our classrooms have a board. I can't remember teaching without it!


I don't think the page will ever load if I keep adding pics. I'll post more tomorrow with the black and white labels for my baskets.


Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!