Classroom Reveal

Okay, so maybe it's not a "Classroom Reveal" since I don't have a mass of people following my blog and just waiting to see what my classroom looks like! But...I've spent enough time on Pinterest and enough time working on my classroom that I feel like it's special enough to call it that! I am SO excited about my classroom this year! I came into a very messy, cluttered classroom last year as a new teacher, so over the course of the year, I cleaned and purged (many times!), watched for what worked and what didn't, figured out what I wanted to change around and how I thought it might work, and decided what I wanted that I didn't have in my classroom.

As soon as kids were out of my classroom in May, I went to work. The first thing I did was to snag my kidney-bean shaped teacher table from the classroom across the hall, where the teacher was leaving. Step one, check! I also traded a shelf with another teacher across the hall, switching shelves about the same size, but this one gives me three shelves, instead of two, which just works better in Kindergarten. I also snagged a small rug from a friend who was moving so I could have a separate library area away from the big learning rug. Step two, check! I also cleaned and cleaned and cleaned! I was able to get rid of things because I knew for sure that I would not be using them, something I couldn't do last year as a first year teacher. Next, I went to Lowe's, bought a beautiful bright blue paint, and then dragged my husband to my classroom for a few days to help me sand and paint my mismatched and dirty blue and maroon shelves. Step three, check! After they dried, I rearranged the classroom to how I thought I wanted it, letting my eyes and brain adjust to it over the summer. It actually ended up pretty close to how I imagined it, I just tweaked the arrangement a bit throughout July to fine tune it. Step four, check!

Seriously, my classroom ended up perfect. I hope that doesn't sound arrogant, but it's perfect for me! It ended up that everything had its own perfect little place, there's nothing awkward or just there because I didn't know what to do with it. And that's such a relief! Plus, I was able to spend the time and money this year to make it cute, and that's just fun. Enjoy!

his is the back corner of my classroom. I was SO excited to find a place that was out of the way and sort of hidden for those Saxon Math boxes! Anyone else have that problem? The cart next to it is the cart that holds centers - more on that to come in a later post! The pocket chart is our center chart. I choose to let my students choose from centers and go as they please rather than dictating their centers and making them go on a rotation. I switch out the options regularly and the kids choose whatever centers they want during center time. They're divided up into Morning and Afternoon centers, and color coded for my kids.

 My sink area, which I am so fortunate to have! We wash hands every day before lunch as well as after any crazy painting or art projects. Last year, I got tired of saying "ONE pump of soap, ONE paper towel" over and over, so I made a nice visual this year and hung it right above the sink.

 This is the wall right by the door, as you can probably tell by the visual directions right there. They are so nice, even after only two days of school, I can point to that and the kids know they need to fix their line behavior. I also have my Brag Tags hanging on that wall in a small calendar pocket chart. More on that to come later!

 Ahhh my Writing Center. I am so proud of this center this year. Last year, my Writing Center moved around as I rearranged the room and wasn't very well stocked, as we had just moved across the country and I didn't have much to contribute. But, after a year of stocking up and learning, I have a beautiful, well-stocked Writing Center that I'm proud of. I've got envelopes that I've saved from junk mail, stencils from another teacher, stickers I stocked up on, some "I Can Draw" books, as well as four different kinds of paper. I made the labels after scrounging up those four baskets from different spots around the room and baking a ton of cupcakes to get those frosting containers for the writing utensils! The small green and red containers, I found at Dollar Tree last year.

A second major area of triumph this year, my library. Last year, the library was pretty much a bunch of books shoved on the shelves, no organization or way for the kids to get past the first level of books. It was just something that fell by the wayside in the rush to get the classroom together, and then continued to be neglected due to having to, you know, plan and teach! I was also overwhelmed by the sheer number of books in the classroom. This large shelf was completely covered in books. I took spring break last year to get the library under control. I bought a bunch of Sterilite baskets from Walmart (WAY better deal than buying the book bins from Really Good Stuff, in my opinion), along with four large plastic tubs. I then removed every single book and sorted them by themes into four quarters of the school year and put them each in their own tub, labeled and sorted. I also divided up the fiction and nonfiction books that didn't fit in a category and distributed them among the tubs. They sat in my classroom for the remainder of the school year, but as soon as we got some shelves cleared out in a storage closet this summer, they were out of my room and down the hall. Now, when I'm changing my themes up, I can easily grab them and switch them around, and the kids get a variety of books all year and aren't overwhelmed by the selection...or the piles of books threatening them. This summer, the READ letters were a fun craft project for me. I bought the letters at Target and the paint at Hobby Lobby (on sale!) and spent a few days painting. I found the mouse from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie at Kohls and got Pete the Cat through Scholastic with my bonus points. I also turned a tall shelf on its side and made some pillows (with fleece, because my sewing skills are not great) to make it a fun little bench. There are also more pillows inside the shelf for kids to use on the rug. So far, this area seems to be a hit with the kids! I really think there's a lot to say for giving the library its own area and adding personal touches like pillows.

 This is right next to the library, right along the back wall. The blue shelf houses toys, yes, toys, and their book boxes (because my library doesn't have a shelf tall enough for them!). Being a small, private school, we still have time for play! And I love that so much! Playtime at the end of the day is so good for their social skills, and I like knowing they're using their imaginations and doing some play without a screen. Next to it, we keep their crayon boxes and books on the white shelf, since they have tables, not desks. I like them to have their own crayon boxes, instead of communal supplies, to reduce the spread of germs and reward responsibility for their belongings. I have them color coated to match the colors of the tables. This way, even on Day 2, they know where their crayon boxes go and they know which supply box to get.

This is the front corner of the classroom, you might call it the command center. Yes, my desk has to be up in the front where all the action is, because that's the only place my computer can hook up to the internet AND the interactive whiteboard. Last year my desk was in the back, and I hated having to move my computer back and forth if I was doing work or planning during my break time and then used the projector right after that. But I keep my desk (fairly) clear so it is for instruction, not clutter, especially since I have a document camera this year (yay!!!). That's for my teacher table in the back :-) Up here, I also have sight words, vocabulary, and our weekly Bible verse, as well as the date and schedule, posted.

This is the clip chart I designed. With the copyright issues with Dr. Seuss things, it's hard to find a good one on Teachers Pay Teachers. So I downloaded a good Seuss font and some fun borders (find them here) and made one myself! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The problem with my classroom is always finding some free wall space that's tall enough for the clip chart, where the kids can reach it! So we're using the side of my filing cabinet. But hey, you do what you need to when you don't have much wall space.

I apologize for the multiple photos of this one, but I couldn't get a full picture with the words visible. This is one of my favorite things because I actually came up with it all on my own! It wasn't even Pinterest-inspired. I was wanting to post more about goals and life skills, especially because it's an accreditation year for the school, so it looks really good! And I had gotten this cute bulletin board set from the teacher store, mostly for the characters in it, but I had all these book pieces. As I thought about using these Dr. Seuss books in my lessons this year to teach life skills, I realized this would be so cool! So I put statements up on the wall based on the life lessons taught by these books. I love how it turned out and can't wait to start using them in lessons to teach the kids life skills.

 This is my hallway bulletin board...a foreign concept to a girl who grew up in California, where the classrooms all open up to the outside, but hey, it's nice...especially because we don't have large bulletin boards in our rooms. This is my beginning-of-the-year board this year. I got the striped paper from the paper crafting section of Hobby Lobby and the characters in a bulletin board set with the books in the above pictures.

My voice chart! I still haven't introduced it to this class (and I may never have to with only 6 of them), but I started using one part way through the year last year and it was invaluable. This year, I took the time to make a cute one. This was a Pinterest-inspired project. I again used a good Seuss font (Grinched 2.0 found here), printed onto different colors cardstock (I went with the stoplight approach), and then glued onto some matching scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby....can you tell I really like Hobby Lobby? It's seriously one of my favorite places.







So those are some of the highlights of my Seuss classroom! I decided not to hit the Seuss too hard, and went the primary color theme so that I can reuse more things. As a new teacher, I feel like that's the best approach, until I've stocked up supplies a bit more. I did purchase a Dr. Seuss border, some Cat in the Hat hat cutouts, and the bulletin board set, and I love those! This classroom is the result of a lot of time, frustration, paint, Pinterest hours, and hard work, but it is so worth it! I am so happy with my classroom this year. It is so satisfying to get it exactly how I want it.

God's blessings and happy teaching,
Mikaela