Done {enough}: Classroom Tour

Well, folks, it's done. Enough. For this year.

I'm never *quite* satisfied with my classroom, but I think it'll get there. Part of it is because I'm at a new school this year. I'm in a new classroom. I haven't had 20 kids in there yet to figure out how the flow will go and what areas need to be accessible... you get the idea. But, it's done enough for the start of school this year. It's functional. And I think it's pretty enough and homey enough for Open House on Monday night.

Okay, okay...enough talk... pictures. I was going to put some in the post, but then I realized I had 42. Um...yeah. I really only took pictures for a couple of minutes, but I guess I take them fast. Soo.... I made a slideshow for your enjoyment! :) Let me know what you think!


I'm linking up here and here with other amazing teachers who are ready to reveal their rooms, too!

 

Home Sweet Classroom: Curtains!

Let's face it. We, as teachers, practically LIVE in our classrooms. And so, if you're anything like me, your classroom has to be a little bit COZY. Right?

Well, as you can see, my classroom this year started out as anything BUT cozy.

A whole wall of windows? Yikes! Curtains, now! Plus, there's a large air conditioning unit in the corner of my classroom and it is LOUD when it's running. Some fabric might help absorb some of the sound from the A/C. Maybe. Hopefully. Fingers crossed.

So... SEW... I began the search for some curtains. Knowing that I couldn't possibly afford to hang curtains over all of the windows, I focused on the five small windows at the bottom. First stop was a fabric store, but I left empty-handed and discouraged that it would cost me my firstborn child a fortune to buy quality fabric to make curtains.

Next stop: the WMart. I looked at curtains and sheets. Nothing I liked. Ventured back to the fabric section to grab some Velcro (for an entirely different project) and as I rounded the corner, I came face-to-face with this:

YES! That's it! Cute, but not "girly." Polka dots. Whimsical. Gender-neutral. Very colorful. Sign me up. So I waited. (And waited, waited, waited) for someone to come cut 4 yards of this lovely fabric for me. And then I paid $28 for it (more than I wanted to spend, but a bargain for perfection!).

And then I brought it home and dragged the sewing machine out of the storage room and gathered my mother and my grandmother (I'm still a sewing novice, so I need them!) and we went to work. 3 hours later we piled in the car, our new creations in the trunk, and headed to my classroom to hang them up!

I LOVE them! There's still so much work to do in my room before school starts TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY (AHHHHHH!!!), but these curtains make my heart happy, and warm up the room so much already! Lucky for me, the teacher store has tons of stuff that matches my new curtains... it's all called Dots on Chocolate, and you'll be seeing much more of that in the coming days. Hooray!

Grub Work

And so it has begun.... today was the third day I spent in my classroom. I'm so thankful that the school kitchen had these HUGE carts that I could use. I unloaded a van load of stuff in about 20 minutes... hooray!

I began by stacking it against the cabinets so that I could arrange the desks before all of my stuff inevitably explodes around the room. (I told myself it wouldn't, but let's be realistic...) So then I arranged the furniture...

This is the first year that I'm not starting the year in rows... I'll let you know if I like it this way or not! I've also decided I'm going to let the kids pick their seats for the first day...they can claim their spot at Open House the day before. After all, I'm just making random guesses by placing them somewhere, so I'd rather let them choose and then fix it later if it turns out to be an error in their judgment.

I started arranging the shelves for my class library. I clearly do NOT have enough bookshelves in this classroom...and I even brought two of my own! I will have to remedy this somehow very soon....

 By the end of day one, I had at least the bulletin board behind my desk almost finished (notice the border jetting out the top and bottom of my board...I couldn't find my scissors!)

 And, as promised, by the start of day 2, I had stuff everywhere....

Day 3...I solicited some help from my very sweet and willing friend, Sharon. Thanks to her, all the bulletin boards now have at least paper and a border!

(Yes, I teach in a Christian school, so this bulletin board is A-Ok! :)

My desk is STARTING to resemble a space I'd like to hang out in. I'm hanging scanned copies of my college diploma, and my teaching license. The frame on the bottom is a sweet certificate my 5th graders from a couple of years ago made for me. 

And, finally, another finished product thanks to Sharon's hard work... my cabinets are all labeled! I stole this idea from my friend Julie, who teaches 5th grade at a local public school. I walked into her classroom one day and noticed her genius! Now when a kid asks for, say, construction paper, I say, "It's in cabinet O." Brilliant! I used die cut letters I had gotten in a big pack at Target once upon a time, and then put clear contact paper of them to attach. Love!

It's the Little Things...

So, I had grandiose plans about blogging like crazy while subbing this year... and you know, I just lacked inspiration most of the time! I really discovered that, while I love teaching... I hate subbing! After a couple of months I began to be requested by teachers at my favorite schools, so at least I got to know the kids a bit and the teachers, too. But I'm telling you what, it's nothing like teaching. I miss teaching.

And I'm glad. It means that I made the right choice to become a teacher, and I know I'm going to appreciate my own class next time so much more than I even did before! I won't take it for granted!

I may have a couple of leads on a job for the coming school year... but for now it's a waiting game. In the meantime I have two weeks of subbing left before I head to Virginia to help my cousin out with her kiddos for the summer.

I never seemed to collect enough information on one idea to create any quality posts, so I'm just going to make this a "random" post containing some of the fabulous ideas I've "collected" (a.k.a. stolen) over the last four months of subbing.

Idea #1: Kindergarten Table Trash Cans. Brilliant. The kids toss their paper scraps into their own table trash and then are responsible to dump them into the bigger trash can once or twice during the school day. As much cutting and pasting as kinder kids do everyday, this saved so much time and mess!

Brilliant Idea #2: iPhone Bulletin Board 
Now, maybe I'm an oddball, but I have been SHOCKED at how many teachers have non-functional bulletin boards in their classrooms. I mean, c'mon! The wall space is limited and precious, and you fill a whole wall with letters spelling "Happy Birthday" and balloons with the kids' birthdays on them? Can't you limit that to a poster in a corner of the room? I don't know, but I am really not a fan of the fru-fru kind of teacher decorating. I like functional.

Which is why I like this bulletin board so much!

 Each "icon" was inside a plastic sleeve affixed to the wall. It fastens on one side using Velcro so that it can be opened. Inside is a pocket with "tickets" that the kids attach to their finished work.

Each "icon" came with a file. These were on a bookshelf just to the right of the bulletin board. 

The kids pull one of the "Settings" activities, for example, out of the green folder. They complete the work (see example), and then return it, with the "ticket" attached, to the pink FINISHED folder. If the work is done well, the teacher returns the ticket to the student. The tickets were used as a sort of currency in this classroom. They could purchase rewards or have tickets taken away for irresponsibility or bad behavior. Because I already have a mini economy, I would either turn these into opportunities to earn money, or put the tickets into an end of the week drawing for a privilege the following week. 

 Cute idea #3: Presidential Reports

I just really liked these! I thought it was a clever way to display the kids' reports on the presidents.

Other Smart Ideas for the Classroom Walls:

 

 I hope this is the philosophy of every teacher. I like the way it's worded here, so I took a picture to copy it. :)

I really like these quotes, and then the breakdown of the teacher/student responsibilities. This was in the middle school, but the principles are great across the board.

As we celebrate kids' different learning styles, we can give them choices about their learning. The only choice they don't have, however, is to do
nothing!

I spotted these in a 2nd grade classroom this week and it made me smile. This is how I learned to add/subtract in 1st grade...using the dot system on the numbers! The funny thing is...I STILL tap the invisible dots when I add. It reminded me that sometimes we don't even have a clue what "sticks" with our students. But 21 years after the fact, I'm still adding this way, thanks to Mrs. Carver! :)