So excited to share with you my NEW classroom pics. I posted a few days back that I decided to change the layout of my classroom to help with organization and SMOOTH sailing throughout the new school year.
Last year it was my first year back to teaching after being a stay at home mom to my four boys. I taught 1st grade for 5 years, then I enjoyed being home with my boys for 16 years. Now I am back! So we all know the first year no matter if you taught before or not is always tough :(! I felt like everyday I was doing the best I can to keep up.
So at the end of last year, I started organizing. I went through cabinets where papers were all mixed up and I sorted, sorted, sorted. I purchased plastic boxes to place all my materials for each monthly theme. I also spent a lot of time this summer looking at many blogs to get ideas how to organize my room. Here is what I came up with :)
Last year each student had their own supply box with a box of crayons, glue stick, white glue, scissors, pencil, and eraser. The supply boxes took up a lot of room at their tables. Supplies got lost, and someone was always looking for something. "I can't find my scissors!" I also spent a lot of money on supplies to fill 18 supply boxes!! So for this year, each table will have 1 basket of supplies in the middle of the table. I found these baskets and fuchsia pencil holders at IKEA! I saved a lot of money on less supplies :) We all like to hear that.....
Center Ideas:
I made an area for each literacy center. Here is my guided reading area. Last year my word wall was away from where I was doing my guided reading. Not the smartest idea. I always wanted to refer to it and the children were reluctant to use it. This year my word wall is behind my guided reading table. In this area I have everything I need for guided reading. The binders that you see are all labeled. I still need to laminate the spine labels to make it easier to find what I am looking for.
Binders:
Sight Words
Word Work
Student Assessments
Writing
Guided Reading
The baskets have sight word readers in them to use during guided reading.
On the left side I have my guided reading leveled books. I have two mini pocket charts to use doing word work. The small turquoise file on the top shelf has sight words on index cards for each student. I have it labeled so I know where each student is at with their sight words. I have a parent volunteer come in to practice with each kiddo so this will be easy to find. The black 4 drawer shelves right next to my table has sentence strips, highlighting tape, spyglasses to find sight words and ABC charts for students.
My reading nook is much larger this year. The kiddos were always cramped trying to read their books last year, so I knew it needed to be larger. All the baskets are labeled with themes. The corner book holder contains thematic books. Right now it has all books about apples. My big books are in the reading nook also for students to look at. Once we have the first day of school, I take a pic of each darling and then I label their orange book boxes. These will go on that empty top shelf that you see.
A cozy little area :)!
Poetry Center:
So excited about this area! Last year most of my bulletin boards displayed student's work. I decided for this year to make some of my bulletin boards an active area for my kiddos to learn. Each week we have a poem of the week. I used to have the poem on a pocket chart. Now I will display the poem of the week on this bulletin board in my cute polka dot frame. On the right side I have two small purple pocket charts. I will have the kiddos find rhyming words and sight words in the poem and write them on sentence strips to put in these pocket charts.
All the supplies for the poetry center are right here! How amazing is that! I finally figured it out that by keeping everything in the right section, makes teaching a lot smoother. In the 3 drawer file I have highlighters in one drawer, glue sticks to glue down the poem, and the poem of the week miniature style. In the black shelves are the kiddos poetry journals. The white binder contains all the poems for the school year so I can grab it and copy the poem for the following week.
Art Center:
Everything my kiddos need for art!
Colored Pencils
Colored Markers
Scrap booking Scissors
Playdough
Stamp pads/Paint dots
Yarn
Scrap Paper
Foam Scraps
(Planning on labeling Everything)
Word Work (Top Shelf)
In basket I have white boards for sight word practice.
Sight word letters to make necklaces.
Sight word game
( Will add to this center once kiddos are familiar with routine)
ABC center (Bottom Shelf)
Plastic letters for playdough
Letter Stamps with stamp pads
Letter game
Handwriting books
Sandpaper letters with crayons to do rubbings
Math Center:
These baskets I used last year for my math manipulatives. I decided to use my tall bookcase for them because I can hide the door to my furnace. My math center is on the other side of the room now. I have a lot more space and a cute round table for my kiddos to work at.
This is right next to the bookcase. These shelves are perfect for all those small math supplies you need daily! Here is what I put in the shelves:
Colored buckets contain math specific books
Math journals
Links
Rulers (wooden and plastic)
Place Value rods
All kinds of counters
Calculators
Scales
Magnetic numbers
Mini Clocks
I placed my daily schedule in this cute little nook behind my computer. Last year it was on my white board but it never was too secure. Kept falling or sliding down.
So much better to look at each day :)!
I love the pocket with the daily activities in it close by!
Finish this today! I know several of you out there in blogging world had this great idea to take a pic of all the students in each month for the birthday bulletin board. It's ready to go. I just need to add the months and the pics of my students once school starts!
I always like to decorate behind my desk area. I will probably add pics of my boys and family to make it more personal. My students love to see what my kids look like!
Reading Buddies Shelf:
Behind my desk I have a sweet reading buddies shelf. In the turquoise bucket are the books that go along with my reading buddies. I have a backpack that goes home with one of my kiddos each day. They write and draw a picture about their sleepover with the reading buddy. We share the student's picture with the class each day :)!
And finally, here's my desk :(. Still have a lot more word to do. Stay tuned for Part Three of my classroom pics. I can't wait to share them with you. Please let me know what you think so far.
Sherry :)
