Sunday, July 29, 2012

Updated Classroom

Spent some more time in the classroom these last few weeks and it's finally starting to come together. I'm really happy with how the walls turned out--I had no idea it would make such a difference! The whole room feels brighter and cleaner! I took tons of pictures!

Here's my classroom library. I really have a problem with books. And to think that I started last year with NOTHING. I spend a lot of time at garage sales and Goodwill. Thank you to my mom for scoping out garage sales with me!! My leveled library labels are from Ladybug's Teacher Files. Various other labels are from Lakeshore's Library Label kit, Kindergarten Kindergarten, and Kindertastic. (can you tell that I started the year by reading Kindergarten blogs?)

Classroom Library
Huge Word Wall!!
View into my library (love my rainbow curtain!!!)


View to my desk area
Kids' book boxes


Here's some of my alphabet cards (from Open Court). I added the labels on top (okay okay I know some of those "diphthongs" aren't actually diphthongs... but I needed a nice label to put on top so there!)


My student work display wall. I'm loving how it came out! I put their pictures in the middle of the flowers with their name. This year I used laminated scrapbook paper as a backing instead of just plain construction paper. 

Student work display wall
I'm super pumped about this media cart I found at the district warehouse. It's SO PERFECT for my projector, document camera, DVD player, and laptop! It is so dang handy!!! The backside of it was pretty ugly so I covered it with pretty contact paper I found at Target.

Media cart with contact paper lookin' fab!
Other side of the cart
Here's my "Math Closet". I redid this at the end of last year when we got all of our new curriculum stuff. Our district is using Math in Focus beginning next year, so I had lots of new stuff to store! I used shoe boxes from the Container Store and labels inspired by KinderTastic. I love this closet but most of my colleagues think it's "just sick"  :) 

Math Closet and Daily Schedule
Inside the Math Closet

I am realizing now that I forgot to take a picture of the front of the room and my cubby area, so I'll have to do that next time I go in. Enjoy!

My Take on Crate Seats

Yes, two posts in one day. I actually might do another after this...

I finally got around to making those awesome crate seats that have been floating around blogland and pinterest for the last couple of years. I am SO happy with how they turned out!!


Love them!!!

After searching for the perfect crates, I decided to use these Itso cubes from Target. They're a little taller than regular file crates and I thought it would work out better for my 2nd graders (I taught a 1/2 split last year). They're nice and sturdy, but are a little more spendy. I used 2" foam (I bought it already cut into squares with Joann coupons over a few weeks) to make them nice and comfy. After reading about Kerri's crate seats after year 1, I decided to go with the vinyl fabric as well. I got it for pretty cheap with a 50% off fabric coupon at Joann's. I was actually pretty unenthusiastic about these seats until I added the scrapbook paper on the outside. Now I love them! I used some of my favorite school papers and the 12x12 paper fits EXACTLY into the sides of the Itso crate. I used four different designs on each seat so they're extra fun and colorful. I am so pleased with them! Here's another view:

And here's the view with my desk:


They match of course! I love my little red table and now I love my little seats to go with it!

Hope you like my take on the crate seats!

Bulletin Board Organization

I have been searching for a new way to organize my bulletin boards, posters, decorations, etc. I tried so many different things and never really found something that worked for me. When this was the TGIF deal on ReallyGoodStuff.com, I bought it to try it out (regardless of the bad reviews). It worked out okay but was hard to actually store because it's big and wide and you can't really stand it up on its side without everything falling out. I tried shoe boxes filled with little things, big posters stored standing up in two different cabinets, ziplock bags.... I feel like I tried everything! This summer, it was my mission to solve this crisis! I came across this bulletin board organizer and this border organizer and gave them a try. I actually found them at Michaels, so I could use my 40-50% off coupon and my teacher's discount on them! Lots of Michaels stores are also doing a deal right now where teacher's supplies are "Buy 2 Get 1 Free"! I've slowly been stocking up on these each week with coupons and various deals. 

Let me say... I love them! 

At first, I didn't know how to store these either. They're too wide to fit in my cupboards and kind of big to lay down. I wanted to find a way to hang them from the side of my file cabinet (since I have this corner of unused space, which bugged me) but command hooks were a little out of the question because the bags got pretty heavy. I found a great little wire shelf (well actually my mom found it!) at Big Lots and it fits perfectly in my little unused corner. I hung my bags with S hooks and ta-da! Perfect bulletin board storage at my fingertips! 
Here you can see my little crack of space. It's actually less space because I have the file cabinet moved over. I have extra corkboards, whiteboards, and an easel stored behind the wire rack.

Here's a look at my bulletin board bags. I have 5 of them and I divided up my posters and sets into different bags by subject area. My current bags are: Calendar & Welcome Sets (for all my beginning of the school year type stuff), Science, Literacy, Math, and Seasonal. 

Here's my border storage. Aren't these just the coolest?! They roll up into a neat little package! No more rolling, folding, paperclipping, or rubberbanding borders. I have 4 of these border storage things, each organized and labeled. I have Holiday, Stars, School & Kids, and Patterns. Can you tell I have a thing for stars?

Another thing I did was that I organized my small anchor charts, bulletin board accents, and other miscellaneous wall things into a file crate. I put each different piece into its own file with a label. This sounds crazy but it is SO much easier to find things! I just had to clear out a little space in a cabinet for the file crate. Here's what it looks like (it's not pretty or anything but works great!): 

Lots of things I've found in the internet are here... I have Hope King's PSA bulletin board, Cara Carroll's Calendar math helpers (I made to go along with her awesome calendar binder), lots of Daily 5 anchor charts, and anything else I printed out in hopes of using. 

I'm really pleased with how it all came out and I'm excited to find things quickly! 

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Up and Running

Well, the site is finally up and running! It took me a long time to get the lumpy clouds to match up (and it's still not perfect) but it's good enough until I make a new layout.

Looking forward to finishing up projects in the classroom and getting it all ready for the school year! I can't wait to get my class roster (even though it'll probably change 50 times after I get it). I'll take some more finished pictures of my room when I go back in this weekend :)

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Classroom Setup, part 1


I've been spending a lot of time in my classroom these past two weeks getting things set up and ready for next year. I know it's a little early, but I'm a little bit crazy and I can't sleep at night if there's lots to be done! I had to put my initial set up on hiatus because of a trip to Alaska (which was fun!) and a painting adventure. I decided to paint my walls this summer and nothing could be set up until I finished that.
Here is a little bit of what I've done so far:
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Here's the front of my room, sorry for the blurryness. The alphabet above the whiteboard is new for me this year, but I wish I had done it much sooner! I'm so glad they ended up fitting :)
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I LOVE my new window treatments! My mom and I saw these lei's at Hobby Lobby and decided we NEEDED them! I bought 3 leis and cut them to make strings. They also had garlands instead of leis, but the leis were half the price! I love how this turned out! I just hope it stays up with my painter's tape.
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Front right corner of the room showing the easel and more of the phonics. My school district uses Open Court, so these all belong to that curriculum.
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My sink and cubby area. The welcome bulletin is a work in progress... well everything is a work in progress at this point!
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My library area (which is a construction zone atm). I love how this is turning out. I'm going to try and put my IKEA leaf in the corner, so I hope that works out. I have a problem with buying kids' books...
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And finally, my desk area. You can also see my many Target bins... I still need more! Hopefully I can get enough to use as the kids' book boxes (I used the cardboard ones from IKEA last year, but they were so mangled). I think this area of the room will change the most as the summer goes on. I'm still waiting for another file cabinet as well.
Well, there you have it! My work so far! I'm very pleased with how it is coming out and I know I'll be spending more of this weekend in there! Thanks for reading :)