Classroom Reveal 2016-2017
This is now my 4th year teaching, and I finally feel like I *somewhat* know what I am doing most of the time. I am no longer in the survival mode and drowning in the exhaustion from my first year, and after a few years of tweaking I have finally figured out a layout and system for my classroom that works!
I love, love, love my classroom this year and its thanks to so many other bloggers and teacher friends for sharing their ideas. Hope you enjoy!
This is my favorite place to teach at and we spend most of our day on our class carpet for mini lessons. I am in *LOVE* with how these blackboards turned out with the fabric border. Since last year I had a vision of sprucing up my blackboards and I am so glad I did!
On the left, the green side, I have my reading focus board. The Journeys focus wall display is from Teaching Kids 1st and it is perfect. Each section is on a ring and can easily be changed throughout the year. It will soon be a students job to change the focus board information.
On the right, the pink side, I have my Whole Brain teaching 5 rules, my morning message and anchor chart display, Whole Brain teaching scoreboard, and my "I'm done.. Now what" bubbles. My computer cart is kept to the right side and I frequently use my laptop that is connected to the smart board with my students.
To the left of my smart board is my library. The pink books are sorted by level. Currently levels A-O are out in their corresponding bins. The blue and green Really Good Stuff bins below are sorted by genre and/or author. These are just about half of my library collection... I am slightly obsessed with children's books. Throughout the years, I have come to realize that having TOO MUCH choice with the little ones can be overwhelming. So I now have a rotation schedule with the genre buckets, and plan to rotate with seasons, holidays, etc.
Our tent is from Target and both my kids and I are obsessed with it. It fits perfectly next to our library and currently everyone is anxiously waiting for our tent to be "open". Our class pet lives in our tent now too!
Next to our tent is our bookshelf display with all of my favorite read aloud for the current unit/season/month etc. Right now these are all my favorite back to school books! The laundry basket to the left is full of big books!
This is my math focus wall where I keep my Math Workshop rotation board that I adapted from Teaching Kids 1st and my Reflex Math Wall of Fame. You can read more about my Math Workshop here or about how I LOVE Reflex math here. Below the bulletin board is my cubbies that are filled with math manipulatives, centers, and more. The labels are adapted from Brown Bag Teachers Word Wall Labels.
These blue book bins are again labeled using the same labels... can you tell that I like consistency and things to be uniform? HAHA! Each student is assigned a number and they are allowed to choose 6 books for their book boxes, from Really Good Stuff. I utilize book boxes daily during read to self, free time, and more. The big blue box is filled with books that I use for listening to reading. These are all books on CD. 
If we keep traveling around past the book bins, you get to our writing center table. This space is perfect for little writers! In the white drawers I keep different types of paper. In the black milk crate there are file folders with students numbers on it, where they can "file" their work. This is similar to a mailbox system. If they want to take their writing home they can, if not they will file it under their number and I will look at it periodically. The rolling drawer cart holds lots and lots of math games that we utilize during our workshop time.
On the back wall, there is our number line, and our Chevron Numbers from Amy Lemons that students use for number words. Additionally, this space is also our word wall, holds our mailbox/cubbies, and four computers.
Are you still with me?!?! Were almost done! This is the opposite corner and holds my file cabinet, word work drawers, refrigerator, and social studies focus wall. I was SO excited to find these dry erase maps from the Target Dollar spot this summer.
And last but not least.. my favorite space of the room! I love small group time and it is a staple in my classroom.
I transformed the board behind the table this year, as it use to be a black chalkboard and I used white board paint and I am so pleased with how it turned out! I keep my "I can" statements, calendar, days in school, schedule, and reading strategy cards on the whiteboard. To the right of my table is a bookshelf full of resources including Journeys Guided Reading books, my teacher toolbox, and an older set of Rigby Guided Reading books. To the left of my table is my small while cube shelves, and on the wall is my Phonics Dance display.
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Well thats it friends! I hope you enjoyed the tour of my room. Any questions, please comment or email me. I'd love to hear and see how you all set up your room too!
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