My Classroom 2015-2016

As you know, I had to change classrooms this year. And, to be honest, I wasn't as excited about that as I usually am. Mostly just because I LOVED my old room. But, now that it's all said and done, I love this room, too.

Want a peek?

Here's what's hanging on the outside of my door. The walls out here are crazy and nothing much sticks to them so I had to *illegally* hot glue my banner up. But, I did attach the hot glue to the ribbon so I'm pretty sure it'll come off clean. I hope... The banner is just a cheap find in the Target party section. I bought four banners, which were all one color, and mixed them all up to get a few banners with multi-colors. You'll be seeing more of those! I just added regular name tags to the banner and they say "Work to be proud of!"

Here's my door this year. As I say every year, I don't do a theme. It's just not my thing. But, as I also say every year, if I DID do a theme, it would be nautical/ocean because I am in love with fish, crabs, sea horses, anchors, etc. Ha! So, I did make some cute little fish for my door out of cupcake liners! I like it because it's colorful and fun. 

Here is my front wall and carpet area. 

I love this little corner. I had to make a seperate Objectives board because the kids couldn't see it, and I like where it is now! 

This is one of my Word Walls. This is where we will put vocabulary words and hard to spell words. I made this out of cupcake liners, too! And, if you look closely, or really, not even that closely, you'll see that it's a big old crooked mess. Haha! 

I still have to do my calendar area. I haven't done it yet because our laminator has been broken and I've been trying to decide how much calendar I want to do every day. 

My desk area...

I haven't found a great place to put my balloon wreath yet, so it's been hanging out here. I'm sure it'll probably stay there all year....

And, here's our class promise that we made on Friday! There are few things I like more than a kid-made class promise!! It isn't that cute, but they made it. Which, I love. 

This is the back wall. I wasn't super excited about all the green at first because it's kind of dark. But, it's growing on me...

In between the two windows, I have some clips so I can hang anchor charts. 

And this is my small-group area. I plan to hang reading strategies on the clips you see here. 

This is my cabinet wall. I love all the storage! And, I love my garland that I made out of, you guessed it, cupcake liners! 

Also, the butterflies were our first day of school activity. It helped us get the "butterflies" out of our tummies ;)

This my other Word Wall. I use it to hang index cards that the kids make with academic vocabulary words.

Here's the class library. I got the little chairs for ten bucks each at Target this summer and the rug is from Ikea. 

I decided to hang all the lanterns and pompoms from my old room over the library in this room. I just think it's kind of fun and whimsical.

And, we're back at the front door. 

Like I said, overall, this room has really grown on me! I like colorful, bright and fun and this room is all of those things. So, I love it! 

Thanks for taking the tour of my new classroom! Hopefully, it'll be a great year in Second Grade!!

Classroom Sneak Peek

Well, summer's over. 

Inservice starts Monday and we have kids on Wednesday. 

Because of summer school, I wasn't able to get into my new classroom until this Monday. And, boy, did I have a lot to do!!! 

I still have a couple of things I want to do, and I'll take better pictures and post more details later, but here's a little snip-it of my new room! 

Stay tuned next week for more! 

And, since my last post was about how the blog world makes teachers think everything has to be perfect, I feel inclined to say three things: 

1. I'm not happy with my calendar placement or board and I don't know how to make it better. It's stressing me out! 

2. I made almost everything you see in those pictures out of... cupcake holders. Haha!!! Glamorous, I am not.

3. My old classroom curtains didn't fit these windows. So, my mom and I made new ones. That aren't hemmed and are held together with safety pins. Which, I think is charming but my mom assures me it isn't. :) 

So, yeah. Perfection is not a word in my vocabulary anymore. 

Thanks for stopping by!!

Classroom Tour 2014-2015

 

Hey, y'all.

 

Today we had yet another exciting day of teacher inservice. Tomorrow is our last day and we have kiddos in the room on Wednesday! I spent a good amount of time in my classroom this afternoon and tonight. And, well, I *think* it's done.

 

I say think because you never know when inspiration will strike. But, it's as done as it's going to be before Wednesday, that's for sure! I wanted to get it done today so that tomorrow afternoon I can do some plans and make some phone calls to my kids. And, I wanted to post the pics tonight because tomorrow night, I will be doing my best to block school out completely so I don't die of nerves. Even after 8 years, I still get sooo nervous!

 

I thought about not posting pictures because, honestly, not much has changed. But, I'm going to because I like going back to look at past posts and I know one day I'll want to remember what my classroom looked like.

 

So, here it is.

This is my objective board and carpet area. I used to have the calendar on that bulletin board, but I decided this year that I'd rather have the space. Oh, and the school took my computers away and replaced them with laptops. So, after much hemming and hawing, I decided to keep them in that red basket. We'll see for how long ;)

 

This is my classroom library and Reading bulletin board. My books are labeled by AR level.

This area is actually new. I used to have a Word Wall here, but decided to just use my academic one this year. So, I exposed the chalkboard (which, I kinda love!) and added some ribbon and clips to hang student work on. Also, instead of getting rid of the computer table, I made it a Writing Center! I've always wanted one and I couldn't be happier!

This is my desk and Writing bulletin board. I added those stars to my lanterns above. They cost $1.00 at JoAnn's so I couldn't turn them down!

I try to color code my teams. So, they have a colored ribbon in their totes, colored chair pouches and a pouf. This is obviously the blue team!

The front of the room.

This is my small group area. I've tried to cover a lot of the shelves because I think the fabric is more calming than clutter. Also, I had my mom make me some pillows to put in the windowsills. This is actually the kids' favorite place to read and work!

Try to ignore the air conditioner. It has been leaking and they came in today to "fix" it and are coming back tomorrow. Fingers crossed on that one. But, this is my academic Word Wall. I use paper clips to attach words I want my kids to remember. Also, the table is where the turn in their work. I added the "Be A Leader!" poster this year for two reasons: that is our class motto and they took a TV off this wall and left GIANT holes in it's place! Two birds, one stone :)

I have this bulletin board and then another one just like it on the other side of the air conditioner. I didnt take a picture because, again, the air conditioner was laid out on the floor in a million pieces. Ha! I use this bulletin board for students work and anchor charts and I use the other one for Guided Reading stuff.

Small group area again.

These are their book boxes. They keep library books and center materials in here.

The back counter area with our "Ten Essentials" ready to go! I pretty much worship Ron Clark. So, these are biggies for me.

This year, I tried to put out a bunch more of my math manipulatives so they're more accessible to the kids. Most of them landed here.

I have a little craft for us to work on Friday that will go on that blue area above the chalkboard. It will, hopefully, make this wall look more finished.

This is the only view of my room that I just hate. It looks so junky! But, I think it's just because of all the books and I don't know what to do about it. But, I hate junky classrooms so it does bother me, I'm not gonna' lie.

 

 

 

So, that's my classroom!

 

If you have any questions, please leave me a comment and I'll do my best to answer!

 

 Thanks for stopping by!