January 2015

My plan (key word plan) was to post pictures of my classroom in August like everyone else BUT things didn't go as plan. 

School started and......just like that ......I'm posting in January. 

I went in today to get a jump on my week. We have an in-service on Monday but not much time to work in our rooms. I ran, cheering with fists pumping in the air left the day of winter break without much attention to organization or anything else. When I entered, it wasn't as bad as I thought. There were dishes I left behind (yes, they were clean...I didn't have an extra hand to hold them when I left) that I had completely forgotten about and the "I'll get to that during winter break" pile next to my desk was patiently waiting for me. 

Here are some pics of my room:

My school is built around a historic residence. With the exception of some of the kindergarten classroom and all of the fifth grade, all the classrooms open straight to the outside. It is so nice during the fall and spring to prop your door open and let in the fresh air. 

So this is what the room looks like when you enter and you start scanning to your right. 

  

You can see I have NO labels on my book bins and they are a mess! 

        

Still.....more book bins with no labels....what kind of teacher does that!!

I love my Pinterest inspired tree. There are two in the room. My original idea was to have the tree change with the seasons, but I like the fullness of the green and decided to keep the canopy. 

(Really....the truth?!  I ran out of time..!)

Tree #2 shading my work display area! I think he is ready to shade some Snowmen at Night writing when we return. 

Now you've gone full circle and are back where we began. I love the birthday board that I created. 

Here is a closer (blurry) view.  So sorry....Just used my phone for these.

Look at how many September birthdays I had! Wow!

Welcome to my desk area. Neat day and covered tomorrow!

The black table cloth under the desk is covering tissue boxes. I have the boxes stuffed every where. 

I love my Sterilite boxes next to my desk. Originally, I labeled according to our rotation. We do an A-F rotation instead of Monday - Friday. That didn't work at all.  So I changed them to subject area. Much better for my way of organizing! During spring break/summer/or when I have NOTHING ELSE to do, I'll spiff up the labels. 

As a class, we agreed upon these responsibilities for our morning routine. We practiced the first step quite a bit at the beginning of the year. It is important to me that they make eye contact when saying hello to everyone in the room.

This is how my kiddos take care of attendance. It is a mimio file on a desk top near the door. They move their name to their choice like I did and attendance and lunch are complete in one step!

On the Morning Checklist above, the kiddos have to tell me where they are going after school.  Below is where they place their close pin to show me where they are headed. 

First grade is the independent zone! At the beginning of the year, I had a handful of parent do this for their kiddo. They looked at me immediately and said.....Ooops, that's not my job! 

This is the sink/storage area. Directly to the left is the main entry door and directly to the right is what I call the back door. We did the self-portraits at the beginning of the year. So stinkin' cute! 

More self portraits!

AND....My self-portrait I did with the kiddos! Oh, my you say!!  You can compare it to the hysterical picture of me as a "lady" for our Scholastic Book Fair. The book fair theme this year was Sir Readalot's Castle. Our fabulous librarian made these for us to show our book picks during the book fair. 

My curtains are Pinterest inspired as well. Love them. They add just the right amount of color!

This is one of the first anchor charts I make with the class at the beginning of the year. It helps to remind them of the 4 important parts of a complete sentence. 

Calendar area! 

 Hope you enjoyed the inside peek at my classroom. 

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Lunch, Snacks, and Recess