My Classroom is Done...and I Have Pictures!!

Done!!! And ready for Tuesday!!

Here is a series of pictures, and I do mean series....of how my room came together. Warning- this post is very picture heavy.

Here is what it looked like when I walked in after the summer.

Everything on one side.

And nothing on the other...

Yes, all my stuff is piled up behind all the furniture in my classroom. 

Here is a round about tour of my room, starting at the back of the room. 

 In an effort to make my room more "numeracy rich" (as I learned about while reading Guided Math), I downloaded the Math Alphabet Posters from Bridget over at Little Lovely Leaders...and they are super cute!!

These are the bins I will use to organize my student's notebooks and work. So far I have them labelled for Math Journals, Reading Journals, Science and Social Studies. I also want to create a label for a Homework bin. 

This is my Math focus board. You can start to see the first hints of my Suess theme which I decided upon in the summer. I LOVE it. 

This is the set of Math Problem Solving Posters I created last year that I love. I think it's good to have a resource for students to refer to during their Math lessons.

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This is the view my easel on the edge of the carpet area. You can also see my teacher desk in the background. Last year, I faced my desk away from the class and loved the extra space it gave me in the room. As I hardly ever sit at it I figured I didn't really need all the space it always took up.

You can also see the number line I put up over the windows. Another attempt at a numeracy rich classroom.

This is my classroom calendar board. The 2 hooks under the calendar are where I will put the daily helpers. After trying classroom jobs for many years, I moved to just having two daily helpers last year. It was so much easier to keep track of then changing a million jobs every week or so. 

Here is my classroom library. I changed the book bin labels...again!! Why do I do that every year? 

I was a little worried that I wouldn't have enough books for a Grade 3 class. After 6 years in Grade 7 and 8, I really had to cut my classroom library in half, less than half a few years ago when I moved to Grade 4. But it turns out that I think it's okay...okay, not great, but okay.

This is my Power of Retelling board that I posted about earlier. I am very excited to get it going with my students. 

This is my agenda board. I've put it close to the carpet area this year so my students can sit on the carpet to complete their agendas each day. Plus, more Suess fabulousness!

I hung 3M clips on a wall last year for chart paper and LOVED it! It was so great to be able to stand and write during shared writing and brainstorming sessions without having to be cramped over in a  chair by an easel. This year I have the easel on one side of my carpet area and the chart paper hung on the wall on the other. 

Brillant? I think so!!

So here is the main area I plan to be in when I work with my students. As I pushed my desk against the wall, my u-shaped table will be my command centre. From here I will be able to do guided reading, math workshop and conferences.

In real life it didn't look that messy to me, but here in the picture it does...looks like I have more work to do. 

This is my Math Huddle board. A teaching partner of mine organizes his math lessons this way and it made a lot of sense to me, especially after reading Guided Math. I will definitely be posting more about it soon!

This is my Daily 5/Literacy Workshop Board...and yes, there are only 2 bulletin boards in my room!! Gasp, I hate it. But I digress, this is where I plan to post the I-charts as we make them and any anchor charts that go with our current unit of study.

Class supplies. I decided to organize my markers by colour after seeing a similar idea on....where else, Pinterest!

This is our daily schedule board. I created labels and put magnets on the back so I can easily change them. I also created some blank ones that once they are laminated I can write on them for days when we have an activity that doesn't fit into our normal routine, like a field trip. 

The view of the whole room from the back door. 

Whew!! I hope you enjoyed the tour of my room. Now, to lesson plan ...I guess we need to have something to do in this fabulous room!!