I am sure you have seen all over the blog world...
Teacher Week '13. Today's topic is my big FAT Classroom Reveal! This just might be my most favorite topic because I love looking at everyone's rooms. There is so much thought and creativity put into each of these rooms. It really is pretty amazing! Alright my friends, let's jump to it.
Here is the view from my door.
I am big into Whole Brain Teaching so I MUST set up my desks so that students sit in pairs. My students do not keep any (NONE, ZIP, ZERO) school supplies in their desks. We share all supplies. The fancy pencils with the nasty plastic wrapping around them, yep, those stay at home. Mini pencil sharpeners? No thank you. Whatever supplies my students need for the day, they are given. The buckets on their desks have pencils for all students as well as a couple for occasional lead breakage.
This desk holds both my lap tops and Ipad. As you can see they were being charged when I took this picture so they are outta sight! This is also where I put my job BB because it doesn't have to be totally accessible all the time. Do you see those two signs on the left? Those are from
The Teacher Wife. They are cute and simple, which is perfect for this 2nd grade world I live. To the left are my kiddo's cubbies. I'll spare ya on that one!
Next up: My classroom library!
As you can see, my book bins are not labeled yet. Since I am a newbie to the 2nd grade world, I really need to sit down and label all my books and my bins. My goal is to do this by Thanksgiving break! The taller shelf stores all my picture books, and the shorter shelf has all my chapter books. The kiddos choose a book by pulling the whole bin out and doing a little bit of some book shopping. On that black BB you will see the Daily 5 listed out. Those cutie patootie signs can be found
here.
This is our work on writing station. The basket on the table is full of fancy writing utensils. You will note that there are 3 prompts the students can choose from. From there they look at the background paper and go to the folder that matches. This is where the copies of the writing prompts are housed. Eventually the board will just have the prompts on them and not writing paper. My kiddos need to get used to regular intermediate lines before we break out the composition notebooks!
Next up: My Read to Self areas
O.K. I am going to need you to look super extra close to the file cabinet on the picture on top. You'll see something blue leaning against it. Well, actually there is something green too. They are beach chairs! My kiddos love to pull those out to find a special place in the room to read to themselves. They can also choose these stools or the comfy chair! I love that there are special little perks for every little center we have in our classroom.
The picture of the bins in the bottom picture are my math manipulatives. Well, minus the base ten blocks for each student. My goodness do those take up some space! They get their own separate entity in my classroom.
This is where our calendar is located as well as all those supplies we share! Student helpers distribute the supplies in bins every day before school starts so that I can just grab them from the side table and set them on each of the student tables. No more playing with randomness in your desks, kids!
In the two pictures above, you will notice my teacher desk. Well, kind of. I don't actually have a teacher desk, but I needed some place to put my hook ups and computer for my active board. So, at the end of the day is the only time I really sit at it... this is when the kiddos fill out their behavior charts for the day and meet with me to discuss how their day went.
The bottom picture is my read to someone center. In the blue bin there are little mats for the kiddos to sit EEKK on and read their leveled readers (from our reading series). I have found this is the best time to get in leveled reading time! There are also some check for understanding cards, and little comprehension sticks I made back in my student teaching days.
You will notice I have two small group tables. The one that is rectangular is for me to meet with small groups. The circular one is for a special education assistant that comes in for chunks of time throughout the day. She pulls a small group as well, and I want my kiddos to view her as just as much of a teacher as I am!
Do you see that blue pillow way back there? That is my chill out center. We all can benefit from a little moment away right?
If you are sitting at the rectangular small group table, you will see my students clip chart. Stephanie, over at
3rd Grade Thoughts, has a very similar teaching style as me. So, I went ahead and snagged this free clip chart from her blog. She even included her Super Improvers rank board. LOVE. I also really like how visitors to our classroom don't see our behavior chart as soon as they walk in. They really have to look for it. Don't want to put this type of stuff on display sometimes! Ha!
Alright, my friends. That is just a small glimpse into my classroom. Now, humor me and link up. Remember, I love stalking great ideas for the classroom!
Go ahead! I dare you to link up!
