Classroom Pictures

I have re-vamped some things in my room for this year! I didn't do a total make-over because, well, it would have stressed me out and cost a lot of money I don't have!

It will still be changing all throughout the school year, but here's what it looks like now.

This is my classroom doorway!

This is the door...

This is the front of my classroom... the 1st grade Number Corner is all set up (minus the calendar cards) and the manipulatives are in a convenient spot, number lines are in the front for all to see.

Here is the front corner... Kindergarten's Number Corner is set up here (I teach K and 1 math/science/social studies), my rocking chair, easel, and duct tape on the floor until our principal orders some rugs for us!! YAY!

Here is the general set up of the rest of my classroom... this was taken before I had done much to my room. I'm sure that back sideways table is driving some of you OCD teachers crazy! haha It had to be sideways for the table drawers... oh well.

My teammate had her class schedule set up with those clocks that our school has a BAJILLION of, and I thought it was a brilliant idea! Why go buy clocks when you have a ton of these at your disposal?! The students can understand and match the hands on the hands on the clock much better than they can read the time (10:35, etc.).

Here's my brand new owl bulletin board! This will be used to hang kindergarten's work, and first grade's will be hung out in the hallway. I LOATHE putting up bulletin boards (it's SO hard!) but I LOVE how great they look when they're done! I was a Chi Omega in college, so naturally, I LOVE owls! Hooty hoo!

Here's a close up of my funny little owls on the bulletin board.

Okay, these drawers are new this year. I have one at the end of each table in hopes of making things easier. haha The top drawer will be for the behavior folders of the kids who sit at that table (so, 5 Kinder folders in morning class, 5 1st grade folders in afternoon). The middle drawer is for kindergarten Math journals and bottom for 1st grade math journals. I got so tired of having to pass all those things out EVERY day, and picking them up EVERY day and them being in the way on their tables whenever we were done with them. Now, they are in the drawers for just the children at that table. Hope that makes sense.

These are also new this year... Workspace Mats! Sometimes children are not very spatially aware and get in each others' space. I laminated those large pieces of construction paper and taped them down with clear packing tape. I know, that orange table is probably driving you crazy. Me, too, but I work with what I've got (a tiny classroom and lots of kids).

I just made this silly little "How To Be A Good Listener" poster to hang in my room for discussion the first days of school and stay there the rest of the year for reference.

I just found, printed, and hung these adorable table numbers from "Rowdy in Room 300" on TpT. Get it HERE

Here's how I'm going to show my centers rotations this year. I'm not done with the charts yet, but it's going to have those tiny Post-its with a student's name on it. 2-5 on each color sentence strip. Then, there will be a clothes pin with a center written on it that will change each day.

There will be more to come once school gets going and I get to work on it more.

I try not to stress out about "OMG I HAVE TO HAVE EVERYTHING DONE BY THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!! AHHHHHH!" Not true at all. It needs to be organized, clean, and children-ready by the first day of school, but the whole first month doesn't need to be planned, not all folders need to be completed, name tags on lockers, centers completed... that is stuff you do the first weeks of school. In my school, your roster is not the same the week before school starts as it is a week into school. There will be kids on your roster that never show up. There will be kids that show up a week or a month into school and stay til the end of the year. I won't create folders, name tags, locker tags, or anything for them until they show up to school. It is a waste of time, energy, and materials. I wasted a lot of those things last year in my first year of teaching and decided not to do that again this year.

My motto for teaching year #2:

Have fun, don't stress, don't change too much, and take care of myself.

I stressed a lot about EVERYTHING last year. I didn't take care of myself the way I should. The things I did in my classroom last year worked (for the most part), so I am not going to break my back trying to fix what is just fine...like the saying "don't fix what ain't broke". There are a few things that I will remember didn't work, or I didn't like last year that I will ABSOLUTELY change this year, starting with the obvious room changes already.


I cannot WAIT to get to know all my brand-new kinderbabies and see all of my old kinderbabies in my firsties class! I think it will be so cool to have a class of children I had last year, as well as a class of all new faces!

I met THIRTEEN of them at Thursday night's Sneak-a-Peek! THIRTEEN!!! At my school, that many families NEVER come! Our school average per teacher is usually 5-10. I am SO THRILLED to have some really great kids with really great families! I am going to LOVE them all! I was so slap-happy Thursday night, I was probably smiling like an idiot! Oh well! I can't help loving cute little children with cute little families!

I'll let ya know how my first day goes tomorrow! Wish me luck!