Saturday, August 16, 2014

2014-2015 Classroom Tour!

Today I'm so excited to take you on a tour of my 2014-15 Classroom!
Just to forewarn you, this post is jam-packed FULL of pictures- but there are TONS of freebies sprinkled throughout!
Classroom set-up plays a huge role in the success of implementing the procedures and routines in my classroom, so I spend a great deal of time setting up my own classroom and scouring through tours from other teachers online.
Some of my most favorite tours include TONS of pictures, so I'd like to include the same in this post.
MOST of what you'll see can be found in my Bundle pack here.
You'll notice most of my boards are blank. I'm a firm believer in making the space purposeful for the kids. Hanging a poster on the wall without talking to my kids about it or creating an anchor chart with them does not suit my teaching style.
We make TONS of anchor charts All.The.Time. and reference them daily. Those will hang on the boards once we've created them, along with their work.
You'll also notice the beautiful windows made some of the pictures glare and the lime green color a little off, but I wouldn't trade my windows for ANYTHING! :)

Our students each have a Chrome Book as well. My Chrome Books cart is not pictured here, because they're still getting set up for the new year!
I also have an interactive whiteboard, but my projector hangs from my ceiling and the equipment is hidden in a cabinet behind my teacher desk.
 
Let's get started!
First, we'll just scan the room and then I'll give you some close ups with links and details.
(Disregard the :05 clock hand being crooked- I'll have to fix that Monday!)
 
 









 
Ok, so let's take a closer look!
Going back to my door:
blank chart where our rules will go (after the first day) from Mardel's
dismissal and emergency procedures clipboards to grab and go (from the dollar store and I just painted and added ribbon)
bookshelf- covered with chevron contact paper and blue duct tape
(mailboxes will go under the light switches-coming soon!)
 
 
 All bins from Dollar Tree except the top left, from Big Lots.
Chalkboard from Michaels (painted)
This is where the kids will turn in their folders and papers throughout the day.
The bottom left is my volunteer basket and the top left will be for notes
 To the right of the door I have a dry erase board from Jo-Ann's (I added the stickers).
Homework Club (Plate from Michaels, I added the stickers and ribbon)
 
Continuing to the right of the door I have my sink area with my Data boards ready to go! 
Fans from Party City
Data Chart from Mardels
 
To the right of this are my cubbies and storage cabinets.
My Word wall is on the cabinets and the book bins are from the Dollar Tree.
Fabric Banners were made by me with fabric from Jo Ann's.
 
Continuing onto the next wall I have the start of my small group area.
The cart was from Michaels a few years ago and will hold all of my Guided Reading and Math Intervention materials.
The colored bins will hold all of the work for each of my Guided Reading Groups for the week.
Here's a close up of the bins. The charts above will hold our Reading Strategies after we introduce them, as well as our Hunks and Chunks.
You can also see one of my purpose charts here.  
The binders are my Data Binder and my Guided Reading/Math Intervention lesson plans
 
Here's a peek at my small group table beside my library.
Fabric from Jo-ann's, crates from Target.
 
 Here's the bookshelf behind my small group table that my hubby made me!
I painted it gray and added a chalkboard paint to the top and used washi tape on the edges
Square bins and supply bucket from Dollar Tree and taller bins on the bottom shelf from Big Lots.
 
Above the shelf is my Guided Reading Groups chart and our Reading Focus Wall
The wind chimes serve as a management tool signal for clean up!

Moving to the right you can see:
Daily 5 Rotations (board from Jo-Ann's and painted by me)
The green cart (one of the rainbow ones, but I covered the bins with duct tape from Dollar Tree) holds our Work with Words activities. 
You can see the purpose chart here also.
The little blue basket at the bottom of the bookshelf holds our Reading Strategy buddies. (Unit coming soon)
 On to my library!
All of the square bins are from Dollar Tree
 The top left shows my fabric banners that I made from fabric from Jo-Ann's
Top right sows our listening center chart and our peer book recommendations that the kids will fill out and will hang on the clothesline on the windows.
 My book bin labels are chalkboard pins from Michaels that I painted.
The favorite titles bin was a clearance find from Michaels
Read to Self and Read to a Friend purpose charts
Reading Tools bin from Dollar Tree- holds pointers, whisper phones, timers, and glasses
The round green and blue sit spots are placemats from Deals.
 
This corner holds:
Left side- Science anchor charts and posters
 
Our Writing Center!
This changes monthly and will be themed each month.
The chalkboard wire holder contains our monthly journal prompts and was a purchase from Jo Ann's that I painted.
 The journal prompts, vocabulary cards, and I can statements are from here.
Once we introduce each choice, I will hang an example under each "I can" statement.
The writing tools bucket is from Dollar Tree, along with the pencil buckets.  
Our whole class journals are also from here (bin from Big Lots)
The silver organizer is from Jo Ann's.
The clear pockets are going to hold each of the writing choices once they've been introduced.
 
To the right are my beautiful cabinets!
Above you can see my number line and number cards 0-30
 Top left: Dry erase materials and boards, clipboards- small buckets from Dollar Tree, bins from Big Lots
Top right- chalkboard bought from Michaels and painted, shout out blue bin from Big Lots, green bucket from Dollar Tree
I'll be teaching Science to all 4 2nd grade classes, so I have bins (from Big Lots) to hold their interactive notebooks
 
Moving along to the right of the cabinets is my Math Work Station area.
Our anchor charts will go on the right side.
Our Math Workshop Rotation board is on the left with empty space for any focus charts or student work.
The drawers will hold our work station materials and were black but I painted them.
 
 Close up of our Math Work Stations Rotation board
The board was a purchase from Jo Anns that I painted and added glitter tape and a flower to dress it up.
It's magnetic and chalkboard, so the student names will be written under a number and I'll just rotate the magnetic numbers.
 Next to the Math area is my desk area.
Ignore the paper mess.... it's all of my new curriculum and goodies I bought from the sale that needs filed. Also my beginning of the year copies and open house materials that I'm still working on.
Under my desk are my Data notebooks in the green bins from Big Lots.
The cabinet with the window holds my audio and interactive whiteboard equipment, along with other storage for myself.
I'll show you a more in depth look at my files and cabinets sometime next week.
 The top left is a close up of my cork boards I re furbished from Jo Anns.
Top right- bin from Big Lots contains my Lesson Plan binder and my Parent Contact Binder.
The right shows my organizer from Michaels that I put contact paper on top.
 A little close up of my main desk area
My team mate got me that beautiful plant! Blue frame from Dollar Tree
supply organizer from Michaels and dressed up with ribbon
Flowers and vase (dressed up with glitter tape) from Michaels
Green frame from Michaels and painted and dressed up with washi tape
 Close up of my data binders, eek---- look at the filing/new curriculum mess! That will be dealt with first thing Monday!!
You can also see my magnetic Class Jobs on the end of my desk.
 Moving along you can see my calendar area behind my easel.
You may think it's a little strange to have my easel in front, BUT we only use the hidden parts during calendar, and my easel will move during our meeting time.
You can see my 7 habits posters at the top, along with our Phonics Dance alphabet.
 Top left: Writing Process/Status of the Class (magnets on the back)
Picture directions (pictures are kept in a bucket in my easel and will be displayed on the first day)
Calendar from Mardels
Time Teller clock from Carson Dellosa from about 5 years ago. This thing has held up wonderfully and is on sale for $1.99 right now!
The dry erase sentence strip and cut up pocket chart with Velcro will be our money maker spot.
Plastic Jars from Wal-Mart (missing their labels for 100's, 10's, 1's to count the days in school with sticks)
The sticks in the blue pockets are what I use to call on students. I used washi tape and glitter tape to spice them up.
I'm also missing my schedule that I haven't printed yet.
My hundred chart pocket chart is below the board.
The stool and chevron tote are both from Jo Ann's.
The tote will hold all of our materials for the current day
The clothespins will hold student work.
The little share chair was a $1.25 yard sale steal that I painted and added the fabric.
 
And that's it!!!!
Thanks for hanging in there with me!!
I've got a few more labels to add at my calendar area and some filing to do Monday, but other than that I'm ready to start planning and copying for Open House and the start of the year!

I also forgot to put down my Sit Spots! (picture next week!)

What questions do you have for me??

I'll be back next week with my Curriculum Map for this year, my Open House materials, and a peek into my cabinets.

****Update 8/20 click here or here for a few more classroom pictures!****

Check out other rooms here!
http://www.swimmingintosecond.com/2014/08/show-off-your-space-linky-party.html
And here!
http://justaprimarygirl.blogspot.com/2014/08/setting-up-success-classroom-pictures.html
 
 

12 comments:

  1. Your classroom looks AMAZING!!! Where did you buy the clips you use to hang things on your white board and walls?? How did you hang up the corkboards to the wall?

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    1. Thank you!! We're in a brand new building and my district would only allow us to use Command or 3M hooks/tape. I used Command Hooks and strips for everything. The heavier items, like the corkboards and my Daily 5 rotation board is hung up with the 3M Velcro type strips- they are very heavy duty. The only other clips I used are on my calendar and hold my number cards- those are called Stikki Clips. I have Cinder Block walls, and the tacky stuff wouldn't work at all. Two of my bulletin boards (the DATA above my sink and the Reading focus behind my Guided Reading table are "faux" boards. I used the heavy duty Command Velcro strips and hot glued them to my fabric and stuck them to the wall. Then I hot glued the borders and letters. Hope this answers your question!

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  2. Your room looks amazing. From the color coded everything to the organization and storage. Holy built in storage!!! Did the duck tape look ok on the drawers? I'd love to color my rainbow ones. If love to see a close up. Thanks for linking up, but don't forget to put my image on your post too so others can find it and your post!! Have a great school year.

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    1. Yes, we have TONs of built in storage! Coming from schools with NO built ins, I'm lovin' it! It makes a world of difference with making the room feel less cluttered and more open! I'll take a close up and post next week with the cabinets :) I love using duct tape, I've used it for so many different purposes! The blue on the bottom of my chevron shelf is also duct tape. It covers really well and you can't tell at all! Thanks for reminding me to add the picture, this post was so long I was bound to forget something!

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  3. Your room is gorgeous! I love the blue and green with the pops of gray. It is so soothing and cohesive. The gray chevron bookcase is my favorite part. Thanks so much for linking up!

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    1. Thanks so much!! I love this book case, too- but it took forever! I did not anticipate the struggles of matching up the chevron all over!

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  4. Hi Kacie! Wow, you've been busy! So many good ideas! So glad you posted AND linked-up with a couple parties because I am doing some new-to-K teacher PD and we are gonna be taking some virtual tours! If I ever get my room set-up I'll link up, too. Thanks for mentioning Phonics Dance. I will check them out later. And where did you get your Seven Habits posters? See you around! Kathleen
    Kidpeople Classroom

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    1. Thank you Kathleen! Yes, it's definitely been a busy few weeks getting set up and squeezing in some summer fun! :) I LOVE the Phonics Dance, it's amazing. The Seven Habits posters are actually from my district and HAVE to been posted- I'm pretty sure they were purchased directly with the program materials. We're in the process of becoming a Lighthouse school!

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  5. Thanks so much for such an indepth tour and I really appreciate you sharing where you bought everything. We have so many of the same bins, it was neat to see how you use them; gave me lots of ideas except my room is a 1/4 of yours. :)

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    1. I LOVE looking at this very same thing- how we all use similar items so differently. Such a wonderful community of ideas! Thanks so much for stopping by!

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  6. I just LOVE your room!! It's so calm, cheery, and organized! :) Thanks for sharing!!

    Happy Teaching,
    Cassie
    Adventures in Teaching (A First Grade Blog)
    My TpT Store
    Follow Me on Facebook!

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    1. Thanks so much for stopping by, Cassie! It has been so clam and peaceful already! I'm so glad I took time this summer to organize and get files ready for the year- I can tell it's definitely going to pay off in the long run!

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