Classroom Pictures...Revealed!

These are pictures from last year's class. Why last year? 

Well, here in Canada we don't go back to school until September and usually can't get into our rooms until the last week of August.

Plus...this year I will only be teaching for a grand total of...wait for it...9 days! What?

That's right, I will be going on mat leave with my second child nine days after the start of the year. So setting up a room and starting the school year is going to look very different for me this year.

Here is what my room looked like when I walked in after the summer last year.

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 that summer), 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. 

My bins started here on the back table but didn't stay there for very long. A few weeks into school I had to move them to a shelf at the front of the room as I gained 6 extra students from a split class for all my Science and Social Studies class and they needed a place to sit. 

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 did not stay my Math focus board. I ended up using my Math Huddle board a lot and then hung my anchor charts over the shelves in my room in an effort to gain extra wall space. 

You can head over the post about using Command Hooks for my anchor charts here. 

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.

Once again I loved the extra space pushing the teacher desk against the wall gave me. The only thing I would change next year is to put it closer to my u-table so that I could still access the drawers and filing cabinet easily. 

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. 

I love having only 2 helpers, but I ended up moving these 2 hooks very soon as the calendar was actually behind my chair and a big pain to switch everyday. I moved them over beside our daily schedule. 

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

When I return to the classroom full-time...in September 2014 (!) I am planning to purchase a set of Ladybug's Teacher Files Genre Library Labels. I just love how she organizes it and can't believe I've never thought of it before. 

I also want to buy ALL new bins from Really Good Stuff. 

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.

Still need more age appropriate books. 

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

Loved this! Loved my Book of the Week. Can't wait to do it again.

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 liked this but it took up too much room...I made it too big. Something to remember for next year. 

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. 

This was the inspiration for my Must Have Monday post about Command hooks. Click here to check it out. 

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 the best thing I implemented into my Mat teaching last year. Click on the Math Huddle category to the right to check out more posts. Now if I could just get the process of Guided Math the way I like it. 

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

I might create the Sterilite drawer organizer I've been seeing everywhere for next year and save table space. 

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 from last year....there will be NO pictures of this year's room as it will just be too sad!

I'm heading over to link up with A Class*y Collaboration's A Class*y Cruise.

 Hope to see you there!