A Look Back at My Classroom...a Work in Progress

I am rethinking some of the organization in my classroom.  Mainly, my hanging files, which are open in a corner where my teacher desk used to be.  I am feeling "antsy" to get that area more organized.  Not so much what is in the files, but more where I want to put the files.  I chose hanging files over file cabinets because my stuff is very accessible and I use it more if I don't have to open a drawer.

My room hasn't changed that much over the past few years, but I always consider it a work in progress.  I am currently looking for a rug for my read-to-self area/library.  I have carpet in the room, but I want something special to make the kids go there and "hang out" and read, read, read.

Here are just some photos over a few years to show the room basics.  Nothing fancy, love turquoise and lime green!  This year I surprised even  myself and threw some red in there because I fell in love with this red chevron border.  Then it turned out to be toooo bold, so I toned it down a bit by layering border and it was fine.  Just a touch of red to go with my Creative Teaching Press borders I already love.  (red chevron border: Isabella at Mardel.)

I am in the mood to go and clean some stuff out today...It's December 26th...AM I CRAZY?!  I love to go up to school when no one is there and I can just do what I need to do.  I'm not really going up there, but I want to.  Weird, I know. 

This is one of my favorite b-boards.  The fancy framed corkboard is from Hobby Lobby (80% off, of course! ) This year, I added some red chevron border under the brown paisley border.  It is really cute!

I added these graphic polka dot curtains to hide shelving last year.  Even though my lockers are maroon (who picked those?! fire 'em...and the person who chose RED chairs to go with the maroon...AND the person who chose the patchwork carpet, yikes.)  The brown does look fine in person  above the maroon.  I added this pennant thing last year.  Found it in Canton, Texas at the First Monday Trade Days.  If you are ever in Texas at the beginning of ANY month, you gotta go. Fantastic! Plan to spend two days if you want to see most of it. 

You can see my shower curtain wall map just to the right of the border.  It is from Target and you can still get it online.  BEST PURCHASE EVER for my classroom.  You can write on it and the kids look at it every day!

The corners of  my room have A,B,C, D there.  We use them to show our answers by walking to the corner of our choice.  I also have math "clue words" there as well, and when we are problem solving, we may just walk to the corner of the chosen operation to show HOW we plan to solve the math word problem. 

I painted paisleys on this old classroom chair to match the Creative Teaching Press border called "Paisley on Chocolate." It's one of my favorites! 

My own children went to the school where I teach.  When they brought me a great art piece they'd done, I framed it in black and hung it in my room.  I moved this display above my lockers this year to free up wall space.  Love it there!  It makes me happy to remember when my kids were little and came to school with me each day! (And then I remember that I got NOTHING done after school and left as soon as possible each day because they were ready to go home!  It was good, though. No regrets!)

So this is how it starts each year!

Then Daily 5 organization kicks in...

Bookshelves start to take shape.  Classroom library is looking more appealing!

Guided Math wall ready for activities!

Desks in place, (see my framed art above the lockers? Better!) 

Now I need to find that perfect area rug for the D5 area.  Maybe I'll find a great after-Christmas sale!! I think I took this walk down classroom memory lane to help myself to get organized for 2015, so thank you for bearing with me while I get ready for the new year!  

Room Reveal...the Middle

I posted the "perimeter reveal" a couple of posts ago.  Here's a little peek at that again:

Then there was this little problem with that middle area of the room...

It's so much better and kids' desks are ready with their little activity to get them "settled" in during those first few hectic minutes the first hour of the first day. 

I LOVE my class.  They are so bright and sweet and mostly EXCITED to learn. I'm really excited to have a self-contained class for the first time ever.  It's such a sense of school "family."  I am going to love it!

Here are the "after" pics!

I have three tables of 6 desks...and I'll probably need more as the year goes on!

Part of my library area.  See our D5 book boxes?! 

Please excuse the little mess on the bottom shelf and the big paper sack in the foreground!

 Behind my book boxes is my "teacher area."  I did away with my desk last year, and I love it, but I still have to have some storage and computer spot.  The hanging files next to the computer are my go-to files for daily things.  I found that I wasn't using all the good stuff I had because I hate digging through a filing cabinet.  I just have everything out in the open, and I can get to it in a second.  It isn't beautiful, but it's efficient!

More of my D5 library

I hope everyone has a fantastic year!  Pray for an early fall here in Texas...we NEED recess and it keeps getting cancelled due to temperatures!

Only FIVE More Days as of Today!!!

Just click to enter on their site!

Creative Teaching Press designs (one of my main room theme/patterns) is offering a drawing for a $200!  My favorites are all of turquoise, chocolate, dots and  paisley designs (love paisley on chocolate the most!) Here is how I use some of the borders, letters, cut-outs, and patterns in my room.

CTP Letters are super cute!

Some of my favorite borders!  

My favorite "Paisley on Chocolate!"

I painted this antique classroom chair to match my CTP paisley borders. 

Using cut-outs to make this antique desk my "featured writer" station.

I truly got my inspiration and colors from my favorite CTP borders - as you can see on my bookshelf, bulletin boards and curtains. I'm really loving their chevron stuff this year, so that will be a new addition for me. 

There are lots of ways to enter their contest!  Just posting my blog entry gave me five entries. Thanks for reading. May the luckiest teacher win!  :o)

There are lots of ways to follow my blog as well! Just check out the sidebar!

I just wanted one little thing...

...from my classroom and I ended up staying an hour.  Since June 18th, the air-conditioning in our school has been off.  Let me remind you that I'm in Texas, and you DON'T want to go up and work in that crayon-meltin' heat with no a.c.  If I go up to school for something in the summertime, it's a run-in and run-out kind of situation.  I had lunch with my teammates today...I love them. I have THE BEST team of friends to work with.  Afterwards, I decided to swing by the school, run inside and grab a hanging file of math stuff to reorganize at home.  When I walked in it was just "ahhhhh."  The good kind of ahhhhh, like when you come in from hot recess and you're hit by that cool air when the door opens.  A team of custodians had been cleaning carpets and walls, etc...so the air was on.  They were finished with my room, so I stayed of course!  My furniture was shoved into a big pile in the corner, so I moved it more to the middle, still in a pile, put my teacher desk back where it goes, and started to organize some things.  I thought I'd share a picture of a couple of things.  Well, two pictures and one thing.  The first one is my room after I moved the student desks kinda to the middle of the room.  Can you see my clips hanging from the ceiling?  I keep something hanging from the ceiling all of the time during the school year.  I'm 5'3", so hanging anything from the ceiling used to require me walking on the desks after school, risking life and limb.  I came across these neat little gadgets that work if you have acoustic tiles.  They fit on the metal strips between the tiles. They come with a little tool you use to install them, and you just attach it to a broomstick (just use the one you ride to school on when you have PMS.)  You just "twist" and the plastic thing locks onto the metal strip, then the string is adjustable. (Probably a good thing I'm not a technical writer for a living.)  I have them hanging so I can stand on the floor and clip stuff up without climbing.  I ordered mine through some company in a catalog, but they have them at Mardel, click here to see a picture. Here are a couple of photos of my room today:

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www.lovesthirdgrade.blogspot.com

Here's a picture of our hallway decorated in the spring of this year.  We change it about four times a year, seasonally. We reinforce symmetry using the butterflies.  We cut them out, dot some food color on one half, and fold it over to make a print on either side.  The kids then color around the food coloring, but in a symmetrical fashion on each side.  

 I seem to develop super-human strength when I want something moved and there is no one to help.  I hope if I ever really need to fight some bad guy, it'll reappear at that moment.  I moved a half-hexagon table from down the hall into my room. It had to have weighed several hundred pounds...well I don't know how much it weighed, but it was heavy and it's now where I want it.  My husband will come home and the whole living room is completely changed.  Where there's a will, there's a way, right?  

I'm not going to leave you with the impression of my classroom from that photo.  I'll post "after" pictures later!