*WARNING* Picture Heavy Post
Welcome to our classroom! Happy Monday my friends, I have been meaning to get this post out for so long, I don't even know when I promised to get it done. I have an ever evolving classroom that is constantly changing to fit our needs. These photos are from last week and already there are a few things different about it! I hope you enjoy tour #1, there is much more to show next time! Here you see our reading area. This library has half of our books organized by subject, except for the chapter books which are organized alphabetically by author and our picture books, which are organized by theme. Above the bench is our behaviour and volume board an a magnetic dry-erase board. Under the bench are bins of crayons, colored pencils, markers and the like. Below that is a large bin of coloring books and activity books. This is a favorite place that the children can be found, even when class is NOT in session!
Here is our work table. The kids work here everyday while we are chatting, working or playing. This seems to be classroom central. It's not formal, the kids are able to grab pillows and work on the floor, sit in the reading bench...anything like that, but they choose the table a lot. On the table is a basket of pencils, sharpeners, erasers and the like, along with oft used reference materials, counters and their class binders. Everyday it is someone's chore to clear the table top, so it never becomes a source of clutter.
Above our desk area, you will see a black shelf, this holds items that are not used very often but we still need to keep them within classroom reach. Extra counters, models we build, shapes, specimen bottles, Science supplies and the like.
The bathroom is attached to our classroom and we keep the door closed, in order to keep the air/heat inside the classroom and to keep it hidden. We decided to use the door as one of our class gallery walls.
Double duty work is shown here, where I have a shelf that holds containers of things for my use. I covered the shelf with posters and the word wall, in order to make wasted space usable. We can easily remove the posters to reach anything behind and they go up just as quickly. All posters in my classroom are laminated, to make them easier to wipe clean and write on if needed.
This is our writing wall! While at a business close-out sale, I picked up LOADS of wall chart paper that I have hung on the wall with 2 cup hooks. Once all of these are gone, I will be looking to put up a chalkboard or white board here. For now this works and we are using things we have on hand! It's also a great space for Pictionary Family Play! Below the charts I keep a bin of supplies relating to the topic we are discussing. This is Money Math for my 5 year old. I had some markers and a game on hand to play as we learned. To the left of the board is a small bookshelf that holds an entire Science series of books and one on religion. At the top is a basket for our 5-A-Day guided reading and an ice-cube tray-turned-marker-holder for instant access to an array of markers.
This little corner of the classroom is called our Daily Wall. It has things that we look at daily just for a quick review. Our daily wall consists of:
1. Periodic Table of Elements pages. These are all laminated and everyone gets one. Each day we discuss 1 element and just talk about it. This never lasts more than 1 minute and there are no tests, it's just to get them familiar with the information.
2. State of the Week! Every week we discuss a state, the shape that it is, where it is located on the large map and some facts about it. We spell the state and learn about it's capital. This never lasts more than 10 minutes. During this time we also play our States and Capitals Geography song.
3. Flashcharts Hook. This holds flashcharts that we tend to use on a daily basis. The biggie is How to Write a Book Report but there are some math ones and a Spanish Vocab one on the hook too.
4. A larger clipboard holds recommended reading lists and our word-of-the-day from the SAT Vocabulary Book can also be found here. (Not shown in this photo, because we were working on it at the moment).
5. 2 cup hooks hold Multiplication & Division flashcards for flipping through on a daily basis to keep information fresh.
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Beneath the wall is our Science/Nature exploration table. This holds anything we find while outdoors and has different trays for sorting and different things for testing and examining the materials. Below that is a storage unit that holds Math Manipulatives. (Games, flashcards etc.)
This long shelf along the wall of our classroom holds our educational games that can only be played in the classroom and must be returned to this spot. This is also another one of my bookshelves that holds reference books, phonics materials and early readers, our Religion shelf is also on the bottom of this unit. At the top of the unit are smaller word games that were too small for the top long shelf and fit perfectly there. To the right of the shelving unit is our Social Studies area, this holds a globe, relevant puzzles, flashcards and the like. It keeps it all in one place, so that when we are studying things, I know right where to find all I need. This is the easiest way for me to keep my classroom organized, I keep everything grouped by subject and all related to that are kept in the vicinity. The drawer unit under the globe is full of Social Studies and Geography maps, cards, games, and other like materials. To the right of that, you will find our 100 chart, these are displayed on cup hooks and have a variety of different posters behind the hooks so that they are easily interchanged. I LOVE decorating with cup hooks!
This small section of space holds our pocket charts and bulletin board. On the bulletin board is revolving classroom information and community events that are happening that happen to coincide with what we are learning about. A cafe rod holds flashcards that are being used at that time, a bucket of letters for spelling words and 2 more cup hooks hold placemats turned posters! They are inexpensive and super informative! Perfect for using with a dry erase marker and wiping clean when finished.
This wall is a work in progress. It's missing quite a few things (Just don't know what!!) and lacks color and punch. More placemats for State Learning along with a flashcard ring of states and capitals. Another cafe rod displays and dries artwork. This rod can expand to allow for more to be put on. A sleeve of books, puts books on display that align with what we are studying and at the very tip more Flashcharts on the Solar System and US Presidents. Above that are oversized flashcards on the solar system and above that (not shown) is a large poster of the solar system.
That's it for now! I hope you enjoyed touring our classroom and if there is anything you would like to see more of, please just ask and I can take closer photos!! Enjoy every minute my friends!
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