Classroom Tour Post!

Hello! My sweeties and I started school on Wednesday and are finally starting to develop a daily routine. :)  It always feels so good when that starts to happen.  I really am blessed to have two sweet classes this year that are SO excited about reading.  It doesn't get much better than that!

Since I have a little bit of energy tonight, I wanted to share my completed classroom with you.  As I looked as these pictures, I realized I missed a few shots.  So hopefully I'll be editing this post soon to include pictures of my desk, the front of my room and my storage area for our clipboards and dry erase boards. 

Alphabet: Ladybug's Teacher Files

Subway Art: Hope King

Lanterns and Tissue Paper Puffs: Hobby Lobby

This is the view from my desk.  I use a piece of felt cut into four pieces and rubber bands to keep the chairs from scrapping on the floor.  It works wonders.  I have to replace most of the felt throughout the year but it's SO worth it to not hear scrapping sounds all.day.long. :)

Here is a picture from the opposite corner on the room.  I need to take a close up picture of what is hanging up in the front of the room.   

Bookshelf: Mr. Fourth and Ten :) 

Library Tubs: Sterilite via Home Depot

Library Tub Labels: Lessons With Laughter 

Reorganizing my classroom library was a labor of love this summer. I purged a lot of books and organized them by genre, author, series or topic this summer. I can already tell that my students LOVE it!  It's made it book shopping so much easier.  

Word Work Tubs: Dollar Tree

Task Card Storage: Target

Fluency Tubs: Sterilite 

My library continues over to this large shelf as well. It also stores my word work centers, fluency tubs and reading task cards.  

Stools: Ikea

Here is where all the magic happens, my small group table!  I haven't always had the space for one at my current school, so I cherish every moment we spend over here. 

Border: United Arts and Education

Theme Team Letters: Cameo Creation

Theme Team Posters: Primary Punch

Even though I love my black and neon classroom, I couldn't pass up this Ohio State Bulletin Board Border!  :)  Theme is big in fourth grade, so I decided to put up a Theme Team wall for us to reference throughout the year. 

Baskets: Big Lots

Basket Labels: Hope King

This is a better shot of the open space above my guided reading table. I keep our book club choices and our writing/reading notebooks in the baskets.  

Voice Level Signs: A Cupcake for the Teacher

Hand Signal Signs: A Cupcake for the Teacher

Daily Five Rotation Signs: Teaching With Love and Laughter

Behavior Bingo: Dots and Spots

This is behavior management central in my room! My teaching partner and I both use the voice level and hand signal charts and it really makes a difference!  I use behavior bingo for my whole class behavior incentive and this year's kids LOVE it! My morning class just earned their first bingo! :) I use the rotation chart to schedule my small groups. 

Ribbon and Fans: Hobby Lobby

I've been working on redecorating my classroom for two years now.  Next summer, I'll finally get new curtains for my classroom.  Until then, I love this little display. :) 

Reading Strategies Letters: Cameo Creation

Reading Strategies Posters: Amy Groesbeck

I only have one bulletin board.  It's a little hard to get to, so I don't change it super often.  Right now, it has the reading strategies we use throughout the year hanging up.  

I hope you enjoyed a quick glance into my classroom. Like I said before, I still have a few pictures to add, but I just love this room.  It truly makes me smile when I walk in the door.  :)

I've linked this post to the following link ups! :)

Classroom Updates Day One

In my seven years of teaching, I've had four classrooms. Changing classrooms is a lot like buying a house.  For everything you love, there is always something you hate.  

For me, it's my ugly, ugly green chalkboards.  My room has four huge ones.  This week I packed my bags and spent some times tackling and taming my green monsters.

My grade level and I weighed all our options about the green monsters before school ended and decided to go with contact paper. We considered paint, but that's messy and permanent and I'm the world's worst painter. So I purchased two large rolls of black contact paper from Amazon.  I also spotted various colors of contact paper at my local teacher store. 

The whole process took about six hours today.  I say that because you have to peel the packing of the paper in small little pieces and then smooth it out.  It's very tedious work.  I rewarded myself with a nice bacon cheeseburger and fries for lunch.  

Although the process was not what I would call fun or even enjoyable, it was worth it.  Here is my completed back wall. 

 Please don't judge the mess.  I'm being very vulnerable and real by showing you this pictures. ;) This picture right here is real life in my classroom folks.  

Also, I hate my primary book bins BUT they aren't broken and are still doing a fine job.  Would I like new ones? Of course, I would! BUT I'll replace them next summer.  Mine are from Ikea and I love them, I have had them for six years now and they are handling their daily beatings from ten-year-olds well.  I hear them have them in a funky and fun green that would be perfect for my room, but I am choosing to ignore the section they are in at my local Ikea for now.

I also bought a few rolls of dry erase contact paper so I can write down our homework and some of our learning targets.  Mainly these boards are used to display anchor charts and for my focus walls, so I wasn't really worried or bothered by covering them up.

 

Isn't my chevron border purdy? :) I got mine at Michaels.  Who would have thought, right?  The border is from Trend and you can find it here on their website. 

Other parts of the room are coming along too.  My husband is off for ten days in August and I'd rather be hanging out with him on our staycation than getting my classroom ready.  So I've gone in a bit lately to unpack, cover my bulletin boards, and to tame those green monsters.

 

This year I covered my bulletin board and my cursive alphabet bulletin board with wrapping paper.  I really loved the grid lines to cut on and since I don't change them out often, I think it will work out nicely.   I was able to get large rolls of black and hot pink wrapping paper at Hobby Lobby.  

I also unpacked and labeled most of my literature circle books. :)  Since our storage is exposed, I need it to be cute and functional. The green, pink, and blue baskets came from Big Lots this summer.

Everything else on the shelf has a home somewhere else.  I don't use these shelves all that often because of how tall they are and because you can see everything.  However, they are good for things like literature circle books that you don't use all year round but still need quick access to when you do need them. 

Overall, I'm about 70% packed and hope to be open house ready next week so I can savor these last few weeks of summer! 

Take a peak in my polka dot themed classroom

I can breathe a little bit easier tonight.  My room is finally "done".  Done as in I can finally go to work and plan and copy and organize and not stress over math manipulative organization, tissue paper pom poms, or whether or not I cut border in a straight line. 

My room is small.  It's in the basement.  It's dark.   So when planning my theme/direction this year, I knew I needed to really focus on organization and keep prints/colors minimal to make the space feel bigger than it is.  My overall theme is happy and bright polka dots (not quite primary colors and not quite cool colors) and I loved how it turned out.  

 

Here is my "When You Enter This Classroom..." project from earlier in the summer. 

 

This is the view you see when you walk in the door to my classroom.  I have air conditioning this year.  PTL. :)

 

 This is my ELA Focus Wall/Library area.  Of course I just noticed one of my book bins is missing a label! Whoops!  The ELA letters are from Caitlin Clabby, the alphabet is from Ladybug Teacher Files, and the focus wall headers are from moi.  I got the genre posters from Beth Newingham's website and the Comprehension and Genre cards are a freebie from long ago from Christina Bainbridge's classroom website. My book bins are from Ikea.  

The math letters are from Caitlin again.  Eventually this area will have anchor charts we create together in class, but this works for now.  The Keys poster will stay up all year though. 

This year I will have a few ED students in my room.  I wanted to have a place where all of us, not just my ED students, could go to chill out, so this is my Alaska spot in my room.  I got this idea from Amanda Nickerson of One Extra Degree and Lisa Lizak from Made in the Shade in Second Grade.  The Alaska sign can be found {here}.  In the box are lots of squeezable items and some paint brushes.  The paint brushes are to brush against their skin, some of my new students really like this calming strategy. 

Part of my teaching resource area.  I need to put scrapbook paper inserts in the front of the drawers. They will be used for my Monday through Friday materials with an extra drawer for filing/etc. 

You see those shelves?  Those are totally Really Good Stuff knock offs! A friend of our family made it and my daddy painted them to match my then stars and stripes themed classroom.  :) 

 My desk, even though I'm happy to have one, was a hot mess.  It had scratches all over it and was just ugly. I was inspired by my friend Nicole of Teaching With Blond Ambition's classroom. She had the most darling monogram on the front of her desk.  I just used more of Caitlin's adorable letters to spell out my name.  My name is Italian, and follows no phonics rules or patterns so I've always gotten some FUNNY spellings of it, maybe they'll learn how to spell it this year! I got the tubs from the Christmas Tree Shop.  They are extra large beverage containers and are perfect for my clipboards and privacy folders! Since I don't have room for a small group table, our small groups will happen on the carpet with clipboards.  Eventually, I'd like to replace this college dorm carpet.  :)

I didn't get a super close up picture of this area, but this is where the magic happens, up front by the Smartboard.  This is where I do a lot of my teaching. I hate teaching with my kids at their desks, I feel if I keep them up close to me, they focus better!  I made sure to make a big enough space up front for all my fourth grade friends.  

This area is the one thing that I really don't like about this room, all the exposed storage.  Since I really dislike open storage and find it busy and distracting, most of my materials are in my one little closet. The top two polka dot boxes are filled with multiple copy chapter books that are used in book clubs.  I need to pick up another set from Ikea to put the rest of the books in.  The adorable banner is from Bridget's (Lovely Little Leaders) store. The circle numbers are polka dot themed calendar pieces and are used to label each of my students' coat hook.  All those extra math manipulatives will be gone soon! I'm just letting my coworkers pick through them before I put them in our free for all room.

I really wish that hand sanitizer pump was up a little higher so this shelf fit a little bit better. ;) This shelf holds my math centers (still be be cut out but available here) and extra supplies for our community school supplies.  I love a good container from Sterlite.  Word to the wise, spend a few extra cents on the containers and get them from Target.  The ones from Target are legit, very sturdy and well made. The ones at Wal Mart, are the same brand but are not nearly as nice and the lids don't fit quite right.

One of the constraints of a small room is the lack of wall space for a clip chart.  I had to get creative and put mine on my tiny closet door. 

Since I lack usable wall space, I had to put my students turn in pockets on the door to my classroom. 

How I love this pocket chart.  It's been the one constant in my room for the past six years.  I LOVE how my students' papers are typically in ABC order, with the exception of move ins.  When we turn in multiple papers on the same day, I just quickly grab the papers out of the pockets.  Easy, peasy.   

Finally, here is my ways we go home transportation chart.  Eventually it will have clothespins for each of my kiddos for them to track how they go home.  It's available {here}. 

One last picture, this is from my desk. Not that I spend a lot of time here, but it gives you an overall feel for the room. One day, I'll make more tissue paper poms, but for now, three will do. 
 

I hope you enjoyed this sneak peak into my classroom.  Since my room is so small, I feel that organization and minimal excess of charts/posters really opens the space up.  Obviously our focus wall will have our anchor charts for learning, but this year I'm not putting up lots of "extras", think random teacher store charts or even reading points incentive charts. Once we are done with a chart, it will have to come down and store away for next year, or recycled if it's a class created chart.  

Later this week, I'll share with you how I organize my math manipulatives, the one picture I forgot, and how I keep my focus wall easy to manage each week.  

I hope you enjoyed the tour of my room! :) 

I'm linking up with my bloggy friend, Courtney, from Swimming into Second tonight! Click on the image below to check out more awesome classrooms! 

Monday Made It!

I'm really late to this party today, y'all.  I blame it on Emily Giffin, the Olympics, and oh yeah, teaching.  School hasn't started for me yet, but I do get the honor of reviewing reading skills and strategies with some super cool future fourth graders Monday through Thursday through next week.  It's been really hard to wake up and make it through the day.  I miss my naps. :) 

I feel like I've been a crafting fool lately.  Here's the thing though, I don't consider myself to be a very crafty person.  I haven't done this many crafty projects since my wedding two summers ago.  

The main reason.  I decided to be all kinds of crazy sauce and change my classroom theme.  I spent many an hour last week, making this. 

Teachers Pay Teachers

I'm so, so, so excited with the way everything came out.  I searched and searched for polka dot classroom theme sets, and never quite found what I was looking for.  My theme used to be stars and stripes, so I have lots of red and blue in my room, so I wanted my new theme to be primary polka dots without screaming kindergarten or first grade. So I made up my own classroom theme, and I can't wait to start piecing together my room with it! 

I put together my clip chart this afternoon.  Here it is all assembled. 

So sorry for the glare, we have the worst lighting in our apartment, but at least you have any idea. I love using the binder clips to connect the pieces together.  I plan on using ribbon to attach the clip chart to 3M hooks in my classroom.  

I made a separate listing for my clip chart if anybody needs one.  This IS included in the full classroom decor pack though too. 

Teachers Pay Teachers

Finally, I decided I need to make those tissue paper poms to hang from my ceiling.  

 

I followed this tutorial, which is honestly one of the best ones I've found online.  I am making a couple more in these colors.

 

I got the tissue paper at Hobby Lobby, and if I could do this again, I'd buy two packages of each color and use 12 sheets per pom ball like the tutorial suggests instead of only using the 10 sheets in the pack.  They look great hanging up, but once you get close, there are some pretty big gaps.  Then again, they'll be hanging way up in ceiling, so I guess it only matters to me. ;) 

The countdown is on for this tired teacher.  School starts on August 22nd, and I'm trying, trying, trying to get my room done ASAP so I can focus on planning with my new team (I'm new to fourth grade) and well packing to move the first week of school too.  So I'm sure next Monday's made it will be twice as long!

Thanks again, Tara for hosting this awesome party, I so look forward to it each week! 

 Good night friends!

Rules and Behavior Expectation Freebies

It appears as though Stephanie from 3rd Grade Thoughts and I shared a brain today, or great minds think alike because I intended on posting on Whole Brainish Rules today too.

I am implementing Whole Brain Teaching into my classroom next year.  I'm calling it an onion approach, introducing a little at a time for my comfort, and my students, and so what we do sticks and I don't just resort back to whatever I was doing before.  While I've loved just about everything I've read...I wasn't crazy in love with the rules.  So like Stephanie, I was very inspired by The Polka Dot Patch's  revised Whole Brain Teaching Rules.  The wording was much more me, and paired with Stephanie's movements, I knew they'd be the perfect fit for my classroom.   So I spent some time last night creating some that fit my new classroom theme.  

I tweaked them just a little because I do allow my kiddos to stand up while working, so I just made Rule 4: Raise your hand to speak to the class.  My school is a PBIS school, so I also made fresh posters for my room of our behavior expectations.  

Click {here} to download your own copy! 

Graphics courtesy of Scrappin' Doodles, Jessica Weible, and Prettiful Designs.

Note: When you view this document in Google Docs, the backgrounds will appear to be gray.  However, once you DOWNLOAD the actual pdf file from Google Docs, they will be all bright and cheery like in the picture! :) 

I printed them off today at Office Depot and I'm in love! They are perfect for my new classroom theme. :)

Speaking of a new classroom theme.  Yeah, I know I said I was doing stars and stripes again this year.  Then the other night I woke up in a panic because I remember I GAVE AWAY all my stars and stripes borders at the end of the year because I was planning on changing themes.  Whoops. 

So for the past few days, I've been a total crazy woman.  Working on materials to bring my dream of a primary polka classroom together. 

Click on the cheerleader below or {here} to check it out on Teachers Pay Teachers.  Due the size of this file, I can only upload it for purchase on Teachers Pay Teachers. 

I'm linking up tonight with TBA!
 



Anybody got big plans this weekend? I'm working in my room tomorrow, and I just downloaded Emily Giffin's new book Where We Belong to my Nook, so I'm sure I'll be reading it this weekend too!  So, so, so excited.  She's my favorite author. :)  Of course, I'm tempted to start first with this! 

This ebook FREEBIE is Darcy's (Something Borrowed/Something Blue) diary from high school.  Nook users, you can download it here.  I'm not sure about Kindle, but I'm guessing it's a Kindle freebie too. :)

Happy Friday!