Tuesday, September 1, 2009

My Classroom ~ A lil Tour

I thought I would take you on a lil "tour" of my classroom, since many of you know how time consuming it was for me to get it together. =) This year I changed classrooms and was able to upgrade to a much bigger classroom within the grade level hallway. For the last 4 years I have been just outside our grade level in a classroom that was originally designed for the school literacy specialist. Since our school pretty much outgrew the original design after the first year we were open, we had a few classrooms that were smaller than the others. This year since we originally only needed 5 first grade teachers, I was able to move back into the hallway. With the new move, I decided to update a few of my things, you might remember this post where I posted a few of my new creations. Well, here they are all put together in a whole classroom:
(I apologize in advance for the blurriness of several of the pictures. Don't know what was going on with my camera.)
Here are a couple of overall views:

My desk area:



Class Library:


It only took me 7 years to find a great way to organize my class books. =) Before, I would just have my tubs labeled and expected first graders to always put them back in the exact same tub as they got them from...which really only happened about 60% of the time. Well at the end of the year last year, it donned on me that I should color code the books with the tubs for a super easy way to make sure the books are back in the correct tub. If one happens to be out of place, its a quick and easy visual to see if it is out of place.

Listening Area:

Last year we had a really big push to use graphic organizers more, so I found this really great flip chart that has several graphic organizers. The kids can actually write on it and wipe off, but I'm not sure I plan on having them do that. I like it in the reading corner because after they read a book they can try to mentally complete the chart in their head or I can always bring it out and have them do it on paper.

This year we have a school-wide "bathroom checkout" policy. Here is our little bathroom checkout that I made on the side of one of my filing cabinets. I mod-podged the bathroom passes and attached a super strong magnet to the back of a traveling clock so they will be able to write the time they leave for their restroom break. It has worked out wonderfully!

Our beginning of the year empty word wall:

We also have had a big push for "science" within the last couple of years so here is my dedicated science portion of the room. In the top tray it has a few science tools that they can explore with along with a TON of non-fiction science books on the bottom.

Here is our mailbox/miscellaneous area. It holds extra school supplies along with our weekly readers/dictionaries and my gifted students store their binders above our mailboxes.

Above my whiteboard, I strung a clothesline apparatus to hang up their "good work" from the week.

Perfect lil cubby to store our clipboards:

I saw this "Sound Check" idea in one of our kindergarten teachers classroom and I loved it! So far it works out really well also. My students are so sweet, they already tell each other "sound check"



Using the side of a file cabinet for practicing their spelling words:

2 Big Hits: Reading Wands and Pet Palace Fridays. This is one way I have reused my old collection of beanie babies. Every Friday the students get to pick out a "pet" to have for the day.

Calendar Area:

Bottom Half of our calendar:

Back of the Room:


This area isn't completely done yet. On the left hand side I still need to add their birthdays.

The red tables were super cheap from Ikea and they fit perfectly here. When we do group work and stations, I pull them down and place them in two different locations throughout the room so the kids have a lil fun table to do their groupwork.


One of my previous students brought this back to me from a summer trip to China. It is my name written in Chinese and I love it! It has Beijing scenery around it.

This is my guided reading area. I don't have it completely organized to the way I want it yet, but hopefully eventually it will get done the way I want it:


This is a window that leads to another first grade classroom:

Well that was a tour of my classroom. Hope you enjoyed it! =)
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11 comments:

czstout said...

Your class room looks super huge!!!! Great work Christie :) This brings back memories of helping my sister get her class ready for school back in the day! She's a pro now and doesn't need help anymore :(

Jenna said...

Hi! Thanks so much for commenting on my blog!!! Too funny about your little guy not liking his ripped jeans! I LOVE them :)

Your class looks awesome! Hope you have a great year :)

Jenna

Xazmin said...

Love your classroom! It's beautiful and bright and looks like a lot of fun!

Anonymous said...

I love how organized everything is. Very cute classroom. Your name in Chinese is very cool!

Jennifer said...

Hi Christie!
Your sweet mom shared your blog with me and I'm so glad!! Your are certainly creative. I've loved reading about your sweet Brayden. He and my Preston have done SS together. :) And I especially loved seeing your post today on your classroom. What a great environment for your firsties to learn! Hopefully we'll get a chance to meet in person sometime soon, but until then I'll be sure to keep checking your blog.

Heidi Boos said...

Now, I REALLY MISS teaching!!!

Your room looks amazing! I love all of the little touches you made to make it your own. Your students will have a fabulous year.

Diana Ferguson said...

You did an absolutely fabulous job on your classroom!!

Made In The South said...

Wow, I love your room. It is so bright. What kid would not want you for a teacher? I was a para for three years and I know that it takes alot of work and money to get a room ready.

aunt gigi said...

Great Job Christie! Makes me wish I didn't switch rooms so often so mine can look that cute again!

Casey said...

Love your room! So cute and bright for the kids. Hope you are having a good start to the year!

Michelle @ Delicate Construction said...

I love your room! I teach preschool and I am always looking at any classroom that will have me! lol It is always so interesting! I am glad that Heidi mentioned you so I could check it out!

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