8 times!!!
That's the number of times I have changed classrooms in the 14 years I've been teaching.
That's a lot!
You would think that I would have it down to a science by now, but it still takes me forever to get things just the way I want them. And inevitably, halfway through the year, once I've spent time moving throughout and living in the new room I want to change it ALL. I clearly have problems. ;)
So here are a few pictures of how my new room looks (so far).
It's hard to see specifics in the pictures above, so I will try to take more detailed pictures for some future blog posts to explain my reasoning behind each part of my room. But you can get a general idea of our space. I try to create as many different areas in the room as I can including: a teacher desk area (for all my mess that will happen on busy days), guided reading/small group table, our whole group meeting area with smart board, and a some center areas you can't really see in these pictures. I think the kids move better in a room with specific areas for different activities.
Here is my calendar bulletin board below.
This bulletin board always take me so long to create it just the way I want it. I put this up and took it down at least 3 times before I settled on this arrangement. This year I created some calendar ten frames for us to count our days of school each day along with the counting straws. I felt like I needed another visual that the kiddies could see and use each day, because you can really never have enough visual teaching aides. When I posted this picture on Instagram I had some sweet folks ask if I had these for sale. I really just made them quick for myself so I decided to just post them here as a FREEBIE instead of putting them in my store. If you'd like them, go ahead and download them below.
And here is my word wall.
A new classroom means adjusting what you might normally have on your walls to what space you now have. Last year my word wall looked like this...
That classroom had zero wall space and only two small bulletin boards which needed to have my calendar/morning meeting items on them. So I used the cabinets and I LOVED the way this word wall worked for us. The colors helped visually separate the letters and students could easily locate words. This year my cabinets were smaller and I needed to change the size, but I wanted to keep the same general idea. I also plan on making it interactive....more on that to come.
So there is just a little peak into my classroom for this year. I don't know about you, but I LOVE looking into other people's classrooms. In fact, I often pop into my colleagues' rooms in the summer to see how they've arranged things. I love exploring Pinterest for this very reason too! Every teacher has such a wonderful way of organizing things for their students and creating a fun learning environment. If you have any links to some great classrooms to check out, leave a link in the comments so I can take a peek too! It's kind of an addiction :)
On a different note, I just uploaded TWO new products too and they are on sale! These are perfect to use during guided reading, as a center, or a fast finisher activity. Your kids will love this Spot the Rule Breakers game!!! Two versions are currently available with more to come. I hope you'll check them out.
Happy back to school to all of you! I know we all love our summers, but there's something so exciting about getting ready for a new school year. Soak it up!
