Classroom 2016-2017

I've finally gotten some time to dedicate to blogging today. The Chiefs are killing me, so I thought I would focus my energy elsewhere. I bring you my classroom this year! Over the summer, our building went through some major upgrades - we got air conditioning!!!! I can't believe it. You never realize how much you take it for granted until you don't have it. Because of the amount of work that had to be done, we pretty much had to pack up our classrooms and say adios until around the week before school started. I got the itch to paint my classroom to give it a fresh new look. This is one of my favorite classrooms I've had so far. It's so colorful and fun. I can't wait to hear what you guys think!

Here is what you see from the hallway. I love this little bulletin board idea. I saw a variety of these bulletin boards on Pinterest and created my own to fit my theme.

  

Here's the inside of the door. Again, another Pinterest idea.

This is what you see when you come in to my room. Someone said it looks like a party in here. It is a party -- a math party! Ok, that's probably lame. But, I don't like boring classrooms. I like my room to welcoming and inviting.

I love the fact that I have tables this year. They work so much better for my style of teaching. I also love the little trash cans on each table. I picked these up at the Dollar Tree, 2 for $1. In each supply caddy, there are scissors, markers, colored pencils, calculators, and glue. We use these for interactive notebooking.

Here are a few more views from the door.

Here is my Request to Retest, Yellow Slip, and Absent bulletin board. There is a blogpost about those here.

Here is my supplied cabinet. Nothing fancy.

Here is where my students keep their binders and some extra supplies for them. My Exit Slip folders are also located here. There is a blogpost here about those.

Then we move to the front of the room where my Smart Board is located. I moved it here this year to reduce the amount of glare from the windows. I am super happy with this decision.

Off to the side of my Smart Board is my little document camera area. With interactive notebooking, I use my document camera every single day. I keep my class notebooks here and my supplies that I need for my notebook.This year I snagged an AV cart and I love this! It is just big enough to hold everything AND it's on wheels so I can move it if I need to. Great decision! Back here is also my Data Wall. You can find more information about that here.

Then there is my whiteboard. I use this to write the lesson for the day (top box), the "I Can" statement (middle box), and Assignment (bottom box). Students come in and see this and know what to expect for the day. To create this, I used Washi Tape. I also made the class banners in PowerPoint using the font KG A Little Swag (download at dafont.com).

Last is my little desk area. Behind my desk is two bookshelves that have my curriculum binders for each class and extra little binders I have for odds and ends (PBS, CTA, Sub Folder, etc.). I also have my calendar bulletin board with all of my team pictures on it, and my PBS information bulletin board. The little table is kind of my catch all table. 

I gave my desk a makeover while I painted my room. I painted the top in white chalk paint and the used chevron contact paper I got from Wal-Mart to cover the metal. I LOVE how this turned out. My desk was old and ugly and gross. Now, it's the thing that dreams are made of. Ok, that was probably extreme. But I love it. Those little bulletin boards above my computer are adorable. I got the cork boards in a 4-pack from and four different colors of fat quarters from Wal-Mart and stapled the fabric onto the cork boards. These added a little something to that area that would otherwise be blank.

I made this little tissue paper garland using some instructions I found on Pinterest. On my desk is my Fold N File I got from Thirty-One over the summer. I'll blog about this soon.

Whew! I'm tired just from blogging about this room. I really do love how it turned out, though. My kids love it, my coworkers love it, I love it...

We're already about 4 weeks into the school year and so many great things have happened in this room thus far. I can't wait to share more with you! Happy teaching!

2015-2016 Classroom Set Up

I've been patiently waiting to post these pics because I've been waiting on a shelf to get hung in my classroom. I've come to the conclusion that it never will so I'm going to go ahead and post what my room looks like. Eventually it will be hung (right?) but it won't make a huge difference anyways.

This is what my room looks like from the outside. It's almost too cute for high school but I don't care. Since we're a K-12 building I know at least the elementary kids appreciate seeing it when they walk by to go to art or music.

Here is what you see when you walk in. I kept the general color scheme from my class last year because 1) it was cute and 2)I had no more money to spend on my new classroom. Between getting married, moving across the state, and my husband's new classroom I was broke.

I love my desk arrangement. I think it works well in my small space and the kids are all well-behaved enough that it works. I bought tv trays to hold their supplies caddies for our interactive notebooks because I was really tired of them falling in the floor and not getting picked up when they were just sitting on students' desks. I think I've only had 2 fall since the beginning of the year, whereas I would have about 5 fall per day in my old classroom.

Here's the front board. Each class has a spot that lets them know what they're doing for the day and what information they should write in their planner. We give planner points at the end of each quarter to use towards any class a student chooses, so this encourages them to write in their planners daily.

Right in front of the front board is my podium with my document camera and all the goodies I need. I also keep my interactive notebooks underneath so it's easy access.

On the right side of the front wall is another small dry erase board and a bulletin board. I write my "I Can" statements and assignment on the small dry erase board and keep data information on the bulletin board. I also have some posters on that wall, including my rules posters. I made those in Microsoft Publisher.

 

 Here's a close-up of the data so far this year. I have a blog post about data that you can view here.

Here's the back table. It is a hot mess. Once my shelf gets hung above it, all of those storage containers are going on the shelf. I keep two crates on the back table - one for extra papers per week for the quarter and the other for station work. I'll create a blog post about station work soon. Underneath the table are two more crates that students can use to put their notebooks in so they do not lose them. Very few actually leave them in here, which is pretty awesome.

 

Next to the back table I have my storage cabinet and Exit Slips. This storage cabinet was full of stuff from all the past math teachers so I didn't really mess with it. Next summer I plan to paint it and will hopefully go through it and get rid of some junk.

Underneath the Exit Slips is a little desk with a bunch of file folders on it. This is where I keep the stuff I plan to pass out for that class period, whether it be notebook papers of worksheets.

 

Above all of that is my lovely place value poster set that I just love. It adds color and takes up a lot of wall space, which would drive most people crazy. But I love it.

 

 

On the left of the storage cabinet is one more bulletin board that I keep my Absent Work Filetastic, Request to Retest slips, and Yellow Slips. Underneath that is a bookshelf where students keep their binders.

 

 

 

The last area in my room is my desk area. Behind my desk are two big radiators. I use these to put my stuff on since they only produce heat during the winter months (that's right, we have NO AIR CONDITIONING IN MISSOURI...crazy!). I have all kinds of crap on them. My goal is to get that area organized one day. I also have my calendar on my bulletin board behind my desk and some more posters.

 

 

 

Here's my (somewhat) organized desk. This is the biggest desk I've ever had and I love it. It also had a bunch of crap left in it from the old math teachers, so I hope to get that cleaned out this summer sometime also.

 

 

Next to my desk is another book shelf where I keep my curriculum binders. Since my curriculum has changed from my last school to this one, I have a lot of reorganizing to do with these things.

 

 

 

On top of my bookshelf is where I keep collected papers to grade. Each class has a folder and I just stick their papers in them and grab one when I'm ready to grade them.

 

 

Last is my little computer desk. It's pretty basic.

 

 

 

For the most part this arrangement works and is functional. I wish my room was a little bit bigger but it's alright. The most kids I ever have at one time is nine so it never feels too crowded in here.

 

The calendar and letters I got from Mardel's Chalk It Up collection. The posters I found on Amazon a long time ago.





Classroom Set-Up

I finally have gotten the chance to remember to put pictures up of my classroom! Between jury duty, coaching, conferences, collaborative work, and teaching I have not been able to post much lately. Here's what my classroom looks like.

Back of the room

The objectives board

Supplies cabinet

Student supplies and binders

My desk

Exit slips

No name board where I put papers that have no name...they usually go unclaimed

Yellow slips are used when students do not have homework to turn in but want to turn it in late. I don't accept late work that doesn't have a yellow slip. Request to retest slips are used when students want to retake a test. I allow one retake per quarter.

My objectives board for Algebra I. I love my filetastics!

I sometimes put pictures of kids doing activities on the instagram board.

My deak. I bought this classroom decor pack on teachers pay teachers. It was originally for elementary, but I tweaked it quite a bit to fit my theme.

My bulletin board. This wall was basically blank. I just added black paper and a border for an instant bulletin board. As you can tell, I took these pics a while ago.

Front of the room.

Random memes. My students love these.

This is where I keep extra papers for each class.

Before school started we had a sign making party with our building. This is mine.

This is my pen holder that I love! My friend and I painted pottery over the summer and I needed something fun to keep my pens.

Thus is my version of the "copy, file, and return" system. The top tray is for papers I need to copy. Middle is for papers I need to file. Bottom is for papers I need to return to someone. It works quite well for me so I'm more organized.