IT'S TIME! 2015-2016 Classroom Reveal!!!

Oh my stars!!! This has been one BUSY summer! It feels like I haven't had time to do anything, but somehow my classroom came together! It always does, doesn't it?

I'm really excited about this school year. I've got lots of plans and ideas to implement and I can't wait to meet my new kiddos!

 FAIR WARNING: This is a really long post!!

Just sayin' :)

Well, without further ado, here it is!

Front Corner by Door

Front Corner Library

 While I did some changes from last year, the colors of the borders, the hanging lanterns, the word wall, and the alphabet I kept the same. 

Back Corner from my Table

Yes, I was Netflixing How I Met Your Mother on the Aquos Board while decorating. 

Back Corner from Associate's Table

I LOVE IT! It's so me! So I'll start the tour with the front wall. 

 We've got the calendar and morning math board. The classroom rules are from Maria at Kindercraze! And if you couldn't tell, my classroom is totally inspired by her fabulous-ness!! She uses wooden frames for her rules but I couldn't find any I liked so I cut frames from poster board, painted them, and laminated. Then using chalkboard contact paper I cut out a cute template and wrote with chalk "Classroom Rules." One is crooked in this pic, but I fixed it after noticing it :)

This is my morning math/meeting board. We've got all we need here to keep track each day.

 This vertical number line is a genius idea that our mentor teacher at the lab school told us about. Just genius. 

 I've also got a horizontal number line. We use the number lines to talk about greater than, less than, between, etc. If you can see we put clothespins on the number line.

Here are some more pics of the board. 

 

The "How Many Days in School" board is where we put tallies for each day using a white chalk marker. The red pocket chart with Velcro strips is for our Base 10 blocks and for holding my extra days of the week. I use to use paper Base 10 blocks until my classroom became the Grand Central Station for all things Base 10. So I've just kept the pocket chart. My Morning Math Pack has a chart for the paper Base 10s.

This whole Morning Math Pack is available in my TpT Store (also in a White Set, for August and September).

For money and base 10, I put Velcro strips on the laminated parts of the morning math boards and the actual coins and base 10 blocks. I found these cute little pails at Target Dollar Spot!

 

  

Found the coins at Dollar Tree. And the Base 10 blocks keep arriving at my classroom year after year as if they magically disappear over the school year and they must be replenished. What I'm trying to say is that I have entirely too many Base 10 blocks so I stuck some Velcro on them. 

I also have these Fascinating Facts for 100 Days and Beyond from Really Good Stuff. They've got an interesting fact everyday based on the number. Like Day 1 is Dolphins sleep with 1 eye open. Day 10 is 1+2+3+4=10. The kids love it!

   

 This is Mr. Mistoffelees. He is our mascot because I love penguins. This little cart I have is on wheels. It's a Big Book Cart (originally) but I remade it to be my math supply station. On the front is Glinda.

 And in the back is where I keep all the stuff I need, like extra Velcro, numbers, markers, magnets, Calendar headers and dates, extra base 10 (I seriously have enough to build a new classroom), and other things I might need throughout the year as our Morning Math skills build.

Here is the Calendar!

 

The August Calendar Pieces are part of my Calendar Kits. 

 

 Right now I have through November posted. December and January and June and July are done, and I'm working on posting those and working on creating the rest the of the months!

The 120 Chart (available in Morning Math Pack)

 Under the board is our Birthday Graph, also from Really Good Stuff. And my simple remind to Follow the Yellow Brick Road :)

The pocket charts are for our BLOCKS choices each day. The kiddos each have their name on two small rectangles. When they come in each day, they unpack, and before starting their morning work they choose two BLOCKS for the day. This helps with attendance and independence!!

 Here's my shelf makeover! And my small container makeover! It keeps all my teacher stuff I need for whole group lessons on the rug. Also the turn in tray is here for the students to turn in work.  And the easel stores all my big books and rolled up anchor charts.

Then we have the schedule, the words for the week, and the color signs.

   

The schedule cards are completely editable and available {HERE} in my TpT Store.  

 

The words for the week are written on dry erase magnets. I change them out each week. 

Moving on, it's my library! I LOVE my classroom library. It is my favorite place to be.

It got a complete facelift this summer. I swapped out my baskets for these fantastic magazine boxes from Big Lots.

Perfect fit for all shapes of books. These library labels can also be found in my TpT Store {HERE}, in both black and white. The bin labels also comes with book labels, to match the bin.

And some more pics.

 Green bins are Fiction/Fantasy books.

 These little seats came from a little but super awesome store called Five Below. I need to move where there is this store or this store totally needs a shopping website. Or when I make my first million I can just open one here.

The numbers posters can be found {HERE}, updated with tally marks and tens frames!\

 The pink bins are series books.

The black bins are informational/nonfiction books. 

The green basket there carries our reading buddies. The children can choose a reading buddy to read to during DEAR time.

 These dark blue bins also carry series books (cuz Big Lots was out of Pink, yo. Improvisation.)

I personally happen to think that my library is pretty much Awesome Sauce, and you can read about how I set it all up by clicking {{HERE}}.

 

Alas, my filing cabinet has to be in the reading area because it literally can't go anywhere else. But that's cool.

I keep my stereo up here along with my Star Wars bobble heads and giant 2 lb. Vicknair Violet Crayon from the Crayola Experience. 

And some final pics

 Are you still here? Aces!! You rock!!!

 I have some freebies to reward you with! 

Just keep reading. 

You'll see them. 

I promise. 

Here is our Comfy Couch and Rainbow pillows. Excuse the pillows, because they are in desperate need of stuffing which I haven't done yet. But I will!! 

 Under the couch is our Building Words Center - games, magnetic letters, and other items needed for spelling practice. My Building Words Center games **FREEBIE ALERT** (see?? I told you!) are {HERE} and {HERE}. 

The couch is under the Aquos board, which isn't very user friendly for first graders but apparently we're working on that. So I will make it work!! I don't have a picture because I was totally streaming HIMYM on Netflix and I'm sure you really don't want to see Ted and Barney singing For the Longest Time. Or maybe you do. And that's cool.

Construction paper and supplies bins. These labels btw are in my TpT Store {HERE} and are completely editable!! With a tutorial!

On top of this shelving unit is the Ladibug and my laptop. 

Look, there's Ted's head.

 I love Astrobrights paper so much I had to literally put it everywhere in my room. My Somewhere Over the Rainbow letters I cut out on my Cricut and the pennant banners I freeformed and then glued on ribbon and tied to the wall using Command Strips.

This idea is also from Kindercraze - she cut out silhouettes of children playing, backed them with cloud paper, and hung them over her windows. Since my underlying theme is Wizard of Oz, I cut out the four friends!

This is my associate's table area. We also use this wall for anchor charts of what we are learning currently in Science and Social Studies. Our first unit is Mad Scientists! So she's got the anchor charts and vocabulary words all ready for the first week of school. 

The back wall is our alphabet and word wall and computer center.

 My Word Wall Letters are available as **FREEBIE ALERT** {HERE}. Also in a White Set.

 

We've got 6 computers in our classroom, all running Windows 7 and veeeeeerrrrrrryyyyyy slow. I'm hoping we can eventually get Chromebooks or Android tablets for the whole school since we are Going Google. Here's hoping!!

At each computer I have a list of students kept in a clear plastic photo frame. Each student has a clip with a number next to his or her name. We use this for IXL. Every day students have to do 1 to 2 activities on IXL. This can be done in the morning, during math, or in the afternoon. Once they have done the activities they move their clip from the left to the right so we can easily see who hasn't tested for that day. At the end of the day, my two "Computer Techs" move the clips back over so they are ready for the next day. These lists and numbers are also in my Classroom Labels Set.

 Then we have my corner.  I have a shelf with all that technical stuff we teachers need: daily boxes, reading small group supplies, book orders, awards, prize box, files, Data binders, etc.

On top of my shelf I have the student mailboxes where I file graded papers before sending them home. And on top of the mailboxes are my little Dojo monsters from the Dollar Tree!!!

These binder covers and spines are also in the Editable Classroom Labels product.

My fridge has the Wicked Witch and her flying Monkey. And above the fridge, the jobs. All available in my Editable Classroom Labels product. I glued the square numbers on the top of paper clips and then clipped the numbers on the job. Very simple. Very quick. Easy to change.

The last wall is my wall of cabinets and storage! 

BLOCKS is our Reading/ELA center rotations. Under these letters is where I put the names of activities the children can choose during Block 1 and 2. I created this and I'm putting it into action this year. I will keep this blog updated as I go through the year and try it out.

Here is my new Writing Center! I found these great shower caddies at Target. I assigned each one to a table. I will keep their writing folders in each caddy.

Also, Writing Checklists are available in each caddy. Laminated so they can check off with a dry erase marker and then erase when done.

I've got I Can Write... posters up.

Here we have reference books, blue pens, red pens, highlighters, and all types of paper.

I love the bright envelopes!!

Each I Can...Poster has a corresponding folder with the paper the child can use for writing.

On top of the crayons, I have Sticky Notes, Writing Ideas, and Portable Word Walls.

The ideas box contains picture/word cards on binder rings and some foam dice with ideas.
I made those word walls YEARS ago, and apparently on another computer because I can't find them, so I'm working on putting them in digital form to add to my Writing Center Setup Kit on TpT which you can find {HERE}.

 The Setup Kit has all of the above items in my Writing Center. Except the Colors Labels. Those you can find **FREEBIE ALERT** {HERE}.


Next up is my listening center. I put some cloud paper up, with borders, and added some Command Hooks to hang up headphones. I have a dish rack that I use to store the iPads each day and two baskets with Listening Books. My firsties can sit on the stools and listen to books. 

 

The Wizard of Oz Characters

 HUGE shout out to my mom who made me these great characters.

Here are my teacher boxes and pencil sharpener. I keep these boxes near the door so it's easy access and reminds us to check the boxes for office items. 

Must have pencil buckets!

Finally, we have the math center.  I keep all the math manipulatives (except for the thousands of Base 10 blocks) here within easy reach for the kids. They can use these items during math to help them.

 These boxes have our Math Centers. Each table is assigned a different box each day.

 

The first unit of our math series is available now in my store. This unit has lessons and centers that correspond with the whole unit. You can download {THIS} **FREEBIE ALERT** of lessons 1-3 to try out.

To finish up, here are my desks!

All ready for Meet the Teacher night! You can grab this **FREEBIE ALERT** Flip Book {HERE}.

OZ Binders - stands for Organized with Zeal. Read {HERE} about how I set up these binders and grab another great **FREEBIE ALERT** freebie :)

Each table has a shelving unit with shower caddies. We continually add stuff and change stuff on these shelves all year.

Wondering about the symbols on the back of the seat sack? It's a grouping system!

 Each student has 6 shapes and 6 numbers on their seat sack. There are 6 different ways to group the students.

Here is the reminder card that I use to help me with grouping:

So for example, if I want groups of 6/5, I would tell the students to find number 1 and the shape. All the number 1 stars would go together, all the number 1 circles, and so on. Groups of 4 and 3 are the same way. The kiddos are never just grouped with their table mates all the time. The groups change up constantly. And I have the cards in the seat sacks and they can be rearranged easily as well so throughout the year the groups are always different. They get to work with everyone over the year instead of the same. If that makes sense!! And I don't have to change seating arrangements!

So that's it! I hope you enjoyed my (very detailed) classroom tour. I really appreciate you hanging around til the end.

What did you think? Yeah, I know I talk entirely too much.

Can't wait to see everybody's classrooms! Ciao!