Saturday, August 17, 2013

My new classroom...in progress

I started my career in Atlanta, Georgia as a 3rd grade teacher. My classroom was decorated with hand-me-downs from retired teachers and garage sales--I made it work. 2 years later, my husband got a job promotion and we moved to North Carolina. I taught 3rd grade again for 3 years there. 
THEN, since my husband is so awesome at his job, he was promoted again within his company and we moved to Houston, Texas.
I will be teaching 4th grade Language Arts and Social Studies this year! Starting a new school, new state, new curriculum, new grade and new subject area specialty is already posing to be a challenge, and I don't have my students yet! 
As I began to unpack my school boxes from the move and hang things on the wall, I felt I was getting a lot accomplished. THEN, I walked down the hall and saw all my new coworkers' classrooms. Let's just say, they a;; are awesome, have a theme, and are MUCH more complete than mine. I decided that after 5 years of hand-me-down posters, decorations and supplies that I should make a theme for my room. I went with lime green, blue and a hint of pink. All my favorite colors, and I already had many things these colors anyway :)
This is my guided reading center. I took 2 trapezoid tables and combined them to make my version of a kidney table. On the side wall I will have my CAFE board for the Daily5 (which is all packed with my house belongings)

A view of my teacher corner. 
I framed all my previous classes and hung them on the wall using command strip picture hangers (basically strong velcro). My calendar, schedule, and jobs chart is all located here. 

I bought fabric at Hobby Lobby to go with my theme and made separate bulletin boards on the walls for each subject I teach. 

On my cabinet doors I will display my word wall and student work samples. 

My reading nook. Most of my books are still packed in a storage unit waiting to be shipped here from NC, so it looks quite bare right now. 

NEW Carpet! I have had carpet squares since I went to college and had them in my dorm room. I took them to my classrooms and they were great. 
I suggest carpet squares for the classroom because they are easily moved around and conformed into different shapes. Unlike a standard rug that must stay the shape it came in. 
HOWEVER, after almost a decade of carting these squares around the country they were filthy! I sent them to the land of trash and bought a simple rectangle rug. 
I picked out a few square that were still presentable and put them in my reading nook. 


I saw this idea on pinterest. Last year I taped fake flowers to my pencils to identify them, but they always got destroyed within days. Duct tape is easier to put on, and comes in so many cute colors :)

Grade, Copy, File trays in my teacher area to help organize papers.


Kids were always taking my chair behind the guided reading table. My classroom this year had a bigger chair for the teacher, so I put my mark on it with ribbon. No one can take it now :)

Texas flag in my room! 

I have had this tool box since I started teaching. This year I finally decided to label the drawers. 
I made several text boxes in WORD the same size as the front of the drawer. Then, I put the label on the inside of the drawer with double sided tape. 

My communication station. Here I will put extra handouts, permission slips, book orders, newsletters etc. Hopefully this will eliminate the need to make extra copies of something when a student looses it, and eliminate wasting paper. 


My check in board. I have an entire blog post about this, look for it!



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