Okay, let's be real. Once those yellow buses hit the road and school supplies were scattered across the store shelves, I dropped off the blogging planet…. and now we are in Quarter Two of the school year with no posting proof of my teaching existence. But, let me reassure you, this school year has been top notch. Like, REALLY, REALLY, TOP NOTCH.
Can we say it's been a let-me-keep-this-job-forever-and-ever-amen kind of year. I've been beyond blessed with the little lives that have walked into my heart this year… THEY MELT MY HEART.
Between the, "I don't like the weekends, because I just want to be in school all the time because I miss you!" and "I'll do anything for MY teacher." Like, really… I'm not even paying these huggable kiddos to say these things!
(And hey, I do get the "It's not fair." and "Can't we just take a nap instead?" cards as well, so it's not all perfect in teacher heaven! But, gee… we're close!)
So, I never did a "Teacher Classroom Reveal" Post at the start of the year… was it because I was trying to wrap my mind around teaching 32 seven year olds? Might have been. But that is neither here or there, for hired another teacher and now I'm a mother hen to just 24 ducklings.
Here's a sneak peak into my classroom on the night before school started… it looks pretty much the same… perhaps just a little more lived in-- okay, a lot more lived in… but that just makes it prettier, if you ask me!
WELCOME TO ROOM 116!
When you walk into my classroom, this is what you see! Special things to note: 1) Yep, those are good ol' chalk boards! Obviously a favorite. 2) DUCK TAPE. If you're not using duck tape lines in your classroom, you're missing out. Perfect. Straight. Lines. Every. Dang. Time. This year, I decided to do a boy line and girl line, instead of one giant line that lingers through the entire hallway. #bestdecisionever I'm never looking back. 3) See those crates under the Calendar? Those hold my Reading Wonder Series Books and Clip Boards… Each crate is color coded with a row on the rug. Genius.
Love my word wall? Yep, me too. The plan is to put up high frequency words… yep, that's the plan. (note: add to the to-do list) That white board now houses our math center and reading center rotations. (not shown) I stepped away from the ever-so-popular clip chart this year and decided to do the AMAZING "Super Improver Wall." (from Whole Brain Teaching) **WINNER** ! I seriously feel like I've won the jack-pot on this one! My sweet darlings are tearing up their goals and we can't get enough of celebrating our friends once they complete a level. Need a positive change in your classroom? THIS. IS. IT.
My little desk… oh, it will never be this clean again. I blogged about that Math Calendar in a previous post and have a student companion book in my shop if you're interested! It's a great way to practice and master those HUGE number sense standards.
THAT RUG. I love it SOOO MUCH. My teammate from last year moved and left me that. Best gift ever. Personal space is so easily defined! Each one of my students have their own space, so there is NEVER ever arguing. I also *LOVE* that shelf in the middle of the room. We house our table trash cans and extra group supplies there. It's so convent to have everything at our fingertips! You'll also notice our light green "table boxes" in the middle of each group. We store extra pencils, erasers, highlighters, sticky notes, pens, scissors, and glue in these boxes. I was using little table crates, but everything kept falling out of them… this was the PERFECT solution.
This is our reading focus wall. We reference it EVERYDAY. Many of those anchor charts you can find in my store. Even though we use the Reading Wonders Series, I also implement some CAFE reading strategies in… really, they go hand-in-hand…
Do you spy what I ended up doing with my little table crates? They now are the home of our place value blocks! I found the idea on Pinterest!
And we'll complete the tour with a picture of the back of the room. :) Those blue mail boxes are another addition to my classroom this year. SOOOO NICE. I hold my small groups for math and reading at the back table. I also hold intervention groups and writing conferences there. It's really my "desk" through the day! Behind the table you'll find that I gridded the cabinets with washi tape to make a word bank for our vocabulary words. We reference them often, and my kids just light up when they use one of our "Smart 2nd Grade Words" or if they find one in a book!
Thanks for taking a visit our room. (And reading this LOOOONNGGGG post) You deserve a pat on the back or high-five, seriously! :)
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