Panoramic Panorama

I went in for a few hours today after making the new front of my desk. I used my Silhouette and the Paper Bannner font on dafont.com to make my name. I loved that the font came with a cheat sheet of how to make banners with different designs. I, of course, opted for one with chevron-y look. I wish that I had added more color to the banner, but knowing that I'd add border, I decided to KISS (keep it simply simple). Here is the final desk. The lighting makes it a little hard to read, but I love it. 

Now, for the actual classroom. I've shared photos of particular areas of the room and I've shared storage. It makes it a little difficult to see the big picture. I took a few minutes before I left for home to take panoramic pictures of the room from different vantage points. One was near the door, one by the window and one in the middle of the room. I hope that these provide a clearer picture of the place that my students and I will call home. 

Please feel free to leave me a comment!

Classroom Reveal: Part 2

Thanks for coming back to part 2 of my classroom tour. I'll now take you into the working parts of the classroom. 

My banner is up and ready for Meet the Teacher next Wednesday. I hope parents will use it as a photo backdrop. The curtains are from Wal*Mart and I absolutely love them. 

This is one of my favorite quotes and favorite things in my room. I'll compile my favorites in a later post. I'm thankful for my Silhouette Cameo. The colors of vinyl are absolutely beautiful. It makes a great focal point with an even better reminder!

The large bulletin board is TEKS Target Practice. It's a spiraling review of the different TEKS. The blank wall will be filled with anchor charts as we get to them.

This little guy is our treasure chest. I rescued it from someone's curb. I love curb shopping! 

My students will use the BUILD banner for moving their clips to the center they'll be working on. 

These are our computers with crate seats. My construction paper is color sorted in one of these.

Our iPads live here. We are getting 5 more per classroom, so I need to find another one of these wire organizers.

I keep a right and left hand on our big poster wall. They refer to it so much. After one of my kids in my first class told me that's the best thing he learned, I'll always have them for reference.

 

This section will tell my Table Captains what center their group will go to.

Our Math Word Wall contains all of the vocabulary we will use throughout the year. I'll pull the cards and move them to the main board as we use them.

No Name paper holder!!! I don't use this often.

The inside of my door. Note the "vertical" and "horizontal" on my door frame. Have I mentioned that I love my Silhouette?

Lanyards for my helpers. I have a line leader, two journal helpers, and two bathroom leaders. They're always so proud to wear these!

Germ Juice 

My calendar and objectives. 

More posters

My chair! Here is the "before".

Small group table with bucket seats. Actual buckets! These were icing buckets  from Wal*Mart. I just added a cushion to the top from old pillows. 

And my trusty light. When it's on, my kids know to take care of their business because I'm not even there. 

Aussie Pouches for student desks. With little storage space in the desks, they house their folders and material boxes without me having to get more shelves or having them fall to the floor. 

Each desk group has a colored caddy to hold their communal supplies. Each group also has a Table Captain responsible for their papers. In the back you can see my desk. It is currently undergoing a face lift. More on that to come!

I still need to get in and take better pictures of the whole room, as well as a panoramic picture. Here is my view from the door!

 

Classroom Reveal! Part 1

I'll be going back for teacher in service next week. Which means that this is my last week of summer break! When I got my keys on Tuesday, I decided I needed to get my classroom set up quickly so I could enjoy my last week of freedom. There really is nothing like falling asleep without an alarm!

I'll be starting my third year at an amazing school. Thankfully there have been no classroom or grade level changed. That allowed me to start prepping for the new year before we ever wrapped up the school year. My first year I had a garden theme going. The kids loved it, so it continued the next year with a little chevron here and there. But by the end of the second year, I was ready for something new! Only one phrase can truly describe my current classroom theme: CHEVRON ALL THE THINGS! :)

But first, I had to get my keys. This is a little more difficult than my first year, just because we now host summer school on our campus. This delays our amazing custodial staff in the floor process. They strip the wax from the floors and then wax it for that new school year glow. They do such a great job! So, alas, I got my keys and was ready to roll. Because of the waxing, shelves must be empty and everything left must be easy to move. Here is what I walked into. 

The easiest place to start was to move the desk, and then arrange my furniture. One tip that has really helped me is creating a classroom floor map. It helps me visualize where I want things to be and allows me to get a feel for the layout. Once my furniture was set, I could start going through boxes. That led to a few hours of cabinet and drawer organizing! 

Organizing...It calms my soul. My classroom this year is probably the most organized it's ever been. Here is a look at all the containers that are helping me with that. 

My trusty teacher tool box! This guy holds so many of my essentials. I love having a spot for everything rather than having to rummage through my desk. I recently changed out the labels for it.

This is right behind my small group table. I'll be using the chalkboards and dry erase boards during math intervention. I love the banners!

I like having the kids' work sorted by day. I can then, go into the day's bin and pass it out. These ice containers are great for that without having to spend lots of money on the typical book box. Thank you, Wal*Mart!

My library is very different this year. Rather than being self contained, I'll be teaching math to three different groups. I debated getting rid of my library, but I opted to minimize. Reading has never hurt anyone! This can always be an option for those early finishers. I decided to use the built in shelving the classroom provides. That saved some space. A lot of space.

This wall has the paper sorter for my home room class. That's where I put their graded papers in the mailbox. It also has math manipulatives in the twin rainbow drawers and the bookcase. Here's a closer look.

The crate bench has seen better days, but it holds books, so I don't dare part with it! The storage seat holds clipboards.

Here are more manipulatives and some turn in trays. The blue trays are split into three, one for each of my classes. I also have a tray for Daily Folders and Graded Folders. My kiddos will drop those off as they enter in the mornings. 

This container has math games and flash cards inside. I Modge Podged paper and flowers into each clear drawer. And yes, I just used Modge Podge as a verb.

My pencil buckets are a couple of my classroom favorites. I'll post more on that later.

This will house their BUILD center games. I'm excited it try BUILD this year! Homework trays for each class are also here.

Each class will have their interactive math journals in their colored bin. And their graded papers will go in the corresponding drawer until they're passed back out.

Thanks for joining me for my very first blog post! I will post more (including some of my favorite things!) later. 'Til next time!

Intro

Welcome to my blog! My name is Erika and I'm from the great Lone Star State. I've been happily married to my high school sweetheart for seven years. Our four dogs are our babies. I enjoyed crafting and teaching. I'll be starting my 3rd year teaching at an amazing school. I'm creating this blog to share my love for crafting and teaching. My first post will be  the big reveal of my classroom this year. I can't wait for you to see it!!