Classroom Setup: Day 3

Today was a long day, but I was determined to be done with classroom setup in 3 days.  Drum roll please... AND IT'S DONE!!!  I did my best to take pictures of the room in the same order.  These are pictures of the final product.




This is the bulletin board that I created on the wall on the left side of our math nook.  We will be calling our rules "habits", because they are what we need to be in the habit of doing.  I will be using 7 Habits of Happy Kids as the framework of our classroom rules: Be Proactive, Begin with the End in Mind, Put First Things First, Think Win-Win, Seek First to Understand- Then to be Understood, Synergize, and last but not least Sharpen the Saw.  There will also be pictures of the children doing each of the "habits" so there is a visual for the lower-level readers.




On this bulletin board will be pictures of the children learning and playing together.  This helps the classroom to feel a little more homey.  I did it on the bulletin board next to the rug, because that is where we meet as a family to learn and conclude our learning.




This bulletin board is directly behind my small group table.  I will use it to post the learning objectives for each group that I meet with. 




I put my word wall on my white board.  The sight words are written on index cards, and magnet tape was applied to the back.  This way the students can remove words they want to manipulate, and return them to the designated spot.




Cannot say it enough... #GOTTOHAVEAPLACEFORLUNCHMONEY... long enough hash tag for you? I am putting all classwork and homework for the day in the mailbox.  This will eliminate time wasted by passing out papers during the day... they will have everything they need for the day in their folders when they arrive in the morning! 

In the morning the students will come in and put their book bag on a hook.  They will bring their lunch money, and put it in the basket.  They will fill their folder with everything in their file, and take it to their seats. 




This turned out EXACTLY how I wanted it!  This will be where work is displayed in the classroom AND it doubles as a cozy reading nook.  All books on the black bookcases are fiction, and will be divided with the students into categories that make sense to them.  Special "thank-you" to my colleagues husband who assembled my bookcases.  When I attempted to do it on my own it went a little like this:
Step 1: Pull everything out of the box.
Step 2: Look at the directions quizzically.
Step 3: Return everything to the box, and pretend you never opened it!




How many assignments do we complete in a day?  How many students do you have in your class?  That's how many times you here, "I'M DONE, I'M DONE!".  I used this last year as well.  Students do not come to the teacher to tell them "I'm Done!"  They turn their assignment in to the "I"m done!" basket, and return to their seat to complete the next assignment. SUPER EFFECTIVE!




Something NEW I am going to try this year!  Each strategy we learn will be added to the box.  If the students come to a word they don't know while reading independently, they can go to the box to look at strategies we have learned and try to use one.  This will prevent them interrupting while I am doing small group lessons.




This is the informational text portion of my library!  I do not LOVE it, but it will do for now.




These are the name tags used on the tables.  Each table has a different color associated with the team name: pink team, blue team, yellow team, black team, green team.  Easier for the students to remember than numbers.

My classroom is finally a place that I am excited about living for the next year!  Now it is time to move into the new house!  Has anyone ever said, "there are not enough hours in the day"?

 

 

 



Classroom Setup: Day 2

Today was VERY productive!!  Tomorrow will consist of assembling the bookcases, finishing organizing the books, putting titles on the bulletin boards, thinking of the best place to put science and social studies anchor charts, and some last minute tweaking to make it first-day ready! 

  The black wall will be used for the students to hang work they are proud of!  I am still figuring out what exactly to do with the area just to the right of the door.

 

Do not mind ALL the baskets... I decided to begin unpacking them before leaving this afternoon.



The front wall will be used for all literacy anchor charts as well as the word wall that the students will be able to access. 

This is going to be my math nook.  All anchor charts pertaining to our current learning (in math) will be posted on this wall.



 

Classroom Setup: Day 1

Let me begin this post by saying that school starts for teachers on August 12th.  As we all know, that first week is full of meetings and planning.  Only small classroom things need to remain on the to-do list at that point.  My husband and I close on our first home at the end of next week.  YIKES!  This leaves me with 3 more days to complete my classroom.  However, I am determined to do it in 2.  That's right... 3 days total to finish my classroom.  I wanted to post pictures of the process, because too often it seems that you see these amazing classrooms, but have no idea where to begin.  OR you begin to panic when you get started and your room looks like a hurricane came straight through the middle of it!  I chose to begin with organizing this year, because that was the part I wanted to do differently.

Am I the only one who arrives in my classroom on Day 1 rejuvenated, and with so much excitement, and then I spot it...

THE PILE of furniture, boxes, and miscellaneous items.  At this point... all of that rejuvenated excitement is replaced by "Oh my lawd, how will I ever get all of this done?!" 

When I find this pile, my first order of business is to sort out the classroom library books, and get them out of the way.  I know that the books are the very last thing that I need to put out.  Partially, because at the bottom of this pile... are my new bookcases waiting to be assembled.

This is at the end of Day 1.  Along the wall are the cabinets that are waiting to be assembled.

End of Day 1

End of Day 1

End of Day 1

Most of what I did today was organization, and finding places for things!  The next step... beautification, assembling bookcases, and organizing books!!! :)  Anticipating 2 more working days.