Attention to Details

Do you ever come up with a new idea for your classroom, and wonder why it took you so many years?  Today I am going to continue the walk through of my classroom by zooming in on different details throughout the room.  Most of what I'm showing you is common sense and is most likely already in place in your own room, but visuals always spark new ideas!  

I have a fantastic Lakeshore Communication Center that is meant to house book boxes on the bottom and serve as student mailboxes on top.  I purchased it because I was eager to switch from book baggies to book boxes, and I loved that transition.  Since I don't have desks in my room, I prefer to use the mailboxes to store student books by table.  I am a labeling queen, and I struggled with how to label the mailboxes without damaging the shelves.

I started with a simple binder clip:    and printed my labels on regular mailing labels, but changed the text direction so I could use the labels vertically.  It ended up being a very easy task!

How to label shelves or mailboxes using binder clips

Each column is labeled by text book.  Each row is labeled by table name.

Below are some additional close-ups of my room.  For those of you who aren't yet addicted to Pinterest, I highly recommend you check it out!  Pinterest has given me many ideas for ways to upgrade my classroom environment. 

An updated photo of my writing center

Writing tools, accessible to students for more independence during Writer's Workshop

Ikea buckets and velcro make perfect pencil holders!

Important phone numbers posted for substitutes

Classroom Rules
(Free from mrsriccaskindergarten.blogspot.com)

I like to seat my students heterogeneously, but during writing it's easier to conference with small groups if they are seated homogeneously.  When students return to their "writing seats," the table leader grabs his group's bin from below.  Each group is named after a favorite author.  The bins hold their personal word walls, writing folders, and any other resources that group needs during writer's workshop.  The sign above the bins will have the students' names to show which group they are in.  This will change throughout the year.

Writing Groups

Another Pinterest find!

What little tricks have you learned this year that you don't know how you lived without?

Where is Everyone?

Last night was our "meet-the-teacher family orientation."  After having the same class for two years, it was great to see many of my students at their second grade tables.  I'm going to miss that group!

I had spent the last few days adding some finishing touches to my classroom and preparing a PowerPoint presentation for my new class.  I was so excited to meet them!  We started off greeting all of the families in the cafeteria and then bringing up our individual classes for a tour of the room and introduction to the grade.  I don't know if the turn out was more shocking or disappointing.  I have 24 students on my roster... only ONE parent showed up, and he didn't bring his child.  My last class had great parent participation, which is rare in the city.  Fortunately, the one parent I met last night is an active member of the PTA executive board, and as president of the School Leadership Team I know him well.  It will be great having his child in my class.

Below is a picture of one of the favors I prepared for the parents.  I also had lollipops for the students (none of which were given out).

A favor for parents who attended my Meet-the-Teacher event

As promised, here are some photos of my 2012-2013 classroom.  I had a vision of blue and green with pink accents.  It turned out to look like a lot of pink!  It's hard to believe I used the least of that roll of paper.

Note:  Our first two days after Labor Day are teacher planning days, and we will have from 12pm until the end of the day to finish setting up our rooms.  I will be using that time to put away the extra clutter that hasn't found a space yet.  You'll see some of that in these photos.

My classroom library, meeting area, and Smartboard.

The calendar wall will also have a birthday board and class jobs.  The class job chart is being laminated and the birthday board can't go up until I have student photos.

Close up view of my renovated cabinets.

Remember these ugly chunks of metal from yesterday's post?  You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find contact paper in this area.  After looking through several stores, we finally found some at Staples.  It only came in three primary colors, none of which matched the colors of my room.  After my dad and godmother completed the task with this shade of green, we took a trip to Ikea.  What do you think I found there?  The small filing cabinet isn't done, but already it's a huge improvement!

Literacy Wall

This side of the room includes my leveled library.  We use Fountas and Pinnell reading levels.  Every book in my library has a small label on the top left hand corner of the cover that matches the label on the bin it belongs in.  This helps keep my library organized all year.  Above the leveled library is my word wall, and to the far right is my writing center.  The extra bins you see in the middle hold student lunches, my listening center, and my printer.

Close up of the word wall

I found these word wall letters on another blog, and I LOVE them.  They look like they were made to go with my polka-dot border.  I do wish, however, that I would have enlarged them slightly before cutting out all of those circles.  I was so jealous of all of you Cricut and Cameo owners as I sat there cutting!   Unfortunately, the blogger who provided this freebie did not include a credits page in the PDF file, so I can't remember where it came from.  Please comment if you would like me to add a link to your blog here!

We're Mooo-ving Up Reading Levels!

Click, Clack, MOO!  When I finish my running records, I will post student names or photos here.  As students grow as readers, I will need to remove levels A and B to make room for levels M and N.  Last year one of my students was reading above a level N!  It's still crazy to me how many reading levels students jump in first grade.  Posting reading levels is a tricky thing.  I know at this age students need a visual reminder of their current reading level when changing their books, but it can also be embarrassing for students who get stuck at a low reading level.  What are your thoughts on this?

Lockers and Guided Reading Table

If I could change one thing about my room, it would be these salmon-colored lockers.  They're loud, they compartments are too small for backpacks, and they're ugly!  In the back corner I have my teacher area and guided reading table.  I decided a year ago to get rid of my teacher desk, as it was a trap for junk and took up too much room.  Behind my guided reading table you will find a small student desk with items such as my pens, stapler, and tape.  The wall above that has the class schedule and a very small bulletin board for some personal photos and pictures my students draw me.

You are the reason I am here

I had to do a little photo-shopping to fit this long board into one shot.  This narrow bulletin board is what you see above the lockers.  The message was inspired by http://theinspiredclassroom.blogspot.com/.

Math Center and back wall

These banners hang throughout my room.

Writing Log

 My dad had this miniature log from some yard work he was doing and put it to great use!  Not only is this an adorable display for writing tools, it will be a great visual when I teach the -og family- my students never know what a log is!

To conclude my "after" shots of the classroom, I have to share an "after" shot of my helpers.

All worn out from the classroom setup

The poor things were only in town for two days, and I had them hard at work the entire time!

I hope you enjoyed a tour of my room!  I will update the photos as the week progresses.  I welcome any feedback to make the room more effective.

Good Bye

My summer vacation is officially over, which means I had to say good bye to this...

Babysitting my beautiful nephews

Photos taken by KitKat Photography

and this...

Weekly beach trips with my dear boyfriend

and hello to this:

My bright, stifling classroom with no AC.

As you can imagine, this is how I felt:

(I had to include a sad pug on my blog in honor of my beloved first co-teacher)

Fortunately, I had some wonderful helpers to make the work easier, faster, and more fun!

My AMAZING godmother and father drove all the way from Buffalo to help!

Check out my next post to see the results of all of our hard work!