Back to School 2014--Classroom Tour

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This week I am participating in Blog Hoppin’ Linking Party. 

Today’s topic:   2014 Classroom Tour

As you walk in my room, you walk right into my reading center.  I moved it here last year and I loved it.  It is along the lockers and that way my first graders can spread out and read. 

This year I put my desk in the center of the classroom.  I do not spend a lot of time at it while the children are in the classroom however I wanted to be able to have more room for my reading table. 

We have a little science area, I am trying to find more things to explore.  The material I don’t want them to explore with I keep behind the curtain.

All our math supplies are on this shelf.  I like the students to be able to help themselves and put things away as well.

We have a little prayer basket for intentions.

This is our writing center.  Most paper supplies are on this shelf and the extra markers, pencils are in the color cups.  This works well for when you cannot find your own supplies.  Children can easily find what they need and get back to work. 

We have mailboxes for return work.  I am lucky enough to have a volunteer to file all the papers for me.  She even puts them in the students’ folders.

This is our large group area.  I move the book stand during calendar.  I also have some of the calendar elements on the smartboard. 

This year I moved my reading table to the corner and I put the word wall right in front of it.  My hope is that it will be a great resource when I have small groups of students writing. 

I have a new to me computer desk.  What I love about this old desk in the drawers.  The drawers provide more space for organization.  

This is a view of the classroom from the front of the classroom.

My Favorite Ideas from this School Year

My Favorite Ideas 

of 

My Year Back In First Grade

1.  My absolute favorite idea this year was the REWARD COUPONS.  My students would earn five bonus stickers on their folders and then they would pick a surprise coupon.  It was the highlight at the end of the day.  The students wanted to know who earned a coupon and then they would all stand around to see what coupon the student would pick.  It made the end of the day fun and exciting.  I plan on two new coupons for next year:  1.  Pick any book in the classroom to take home to read.  2.  Pick your own reward!

2.  One of my favorite art projects this year was the self-portraits and rainbow names the students made at the beginning of the year.  I hung them above the lockers and it made the back of the room colorful and the students loved having their pictures hanging up all year.

3.  The poetry notebook was something I worked on all year.  I was searching for new poems that went along with our curriculum each week.  At the end of the year I had the students add a self-portrait they made for a religion lesson and decorate the covers.  We moved our poems from our 3-prong folders into 1-inch binders.

4.  Each week I had the students record the books they read in class.  The reading log started out with them telling me if they liked the book and transitioned into the students making a text connections.  I loved reading how they connected to the book.

5.  Our school participates in the Accelerated Reading Program.  Each week the students picked one book that they would focus on one book for their independent reading.  They practiced at school and at home.  At the end of the week they wrote me letters.  We started slowly as I introduced the different parts of the letters.  At the end of the year their letters included:  title, characters, problem, events, and the author purpose. 

6.  Each month I tried to put together Challenge Activities.  Many of my activities came from Doodle Bugs Teaching and Moffatt Girls.

7.  I was looking for an easy no fuss Mother’s Day gift and this is what I found on Pinterest.  I think they turned out adorable and I will be doing these again next year.

8.  At the end of the year I found another great idea on Pinterest.  I took pictures of the students by the classroom door the first day of school and the last week of school.  I used photo shop to add some of their favorite things next to their photos. You can see that Grace grew a few inches next to the door.

9.  At the beginning of the year we made a giant map of our community.  It was one of my favorite activities.  So many parents and teachers gave positive comments about the map.  

10.  I loved my reading area.  I moved my room around towards the middle of the year and I loved how I expanded the reading area.  It gave the students room to spread out and read.   My students love sitting at the table and chairs and reading to one another.  They also love the red benches.  I think the reading center always had students in it.  They even begged to read during recess.  Really I am not joking!   

Classroom Tour 2013

Welcome To My First Grade Classroom

First I must apologize for the dark pictures.  Our school is getting new lights, hopefully soon.  I am still working in the dark. 

This is my bulletin board outside my classroom.  My theme this year is ladybugs.  

As you walk in the room the lockers are on the left and on the right I have three file drawers.  

This is where I hide the guided reading books in organized pocket files. 

On the top of the file drawers the students hand in their work and I store birthday gifts and reward gifts.  

My reading table has benches from Ikea.  I have an art project planned with the kids to make them cute the first week of school.  

 If you look to the front of the room you will see all the desks, I have 25 students this year.  

On the right side of the room is the cabinets where I store all the art supplies.

Behind the art supply cabinet in my teacher command center.

On the wall next to the teacher desk is my wall of pocket charts.  Here you will see my unfinished pockets, Rainbow Behavior, and the Daily Schedule and Calendar.

In the corner is the computer/ipad center.  This year I will have the children take the ipads to the big blue bench or the carpet area.  The ipads are stored in the white basket on the desk.  

This is my large group area.  

Right behind the large group area is my Religion table.   I love the handmade Blessing Basket I found at Whole Foods.

Next to the large group area is the writing center with my painted red chairs.  I have the Word Wall in the front of the room so all the children can see our No Excuse Words.

On the other side of the writing center is the math center.  The math center is very compacted. 

I have a very small word center ....

and a little science center too.

The last center in the classroom is the reading center.  The little red ottomans have storage inside them.  

As the children leave the room they will see three things: 

• Our daily reminder board
• Hot Lunch Tickets
• Ticket Out the Door

If this is your first visit to my blog here are a couple of my cute project I made to help keep my classroom organized.

Here are some cute projects I made....just for fun.

Thank you for visiting, go to Blog Hopping to see more classroom.  

Science Center

My First Grade Science Area

This has been a very busy week for me.  I worked every day from 7:30 until 4:00 on my classroom cleaning and organizing.  My first grade room is starting to look good.  I am spending a lot of time working on the little details of the classroom…..oh I forgot to tell you all my work is done in the dark.  Our school is getting new lights and it will take a while to get new lights in all the classrooms. 

Anyways, I have gathered a lot of books about topics that relate to science and put them in a basket in the science center.

A couple of years ago I purchased this wonderful box of science tools from Lakeshore.  I love it.  It is an easy way to keep everything organized and it is already labeled!  I highly recommend this product.

This year I purchased some more science materials from Lakeshore, a science experiment box and a container of magnets.  I cut apart the box it is arrived in and reorganized it so the children can access the supplies.    I plan on doing the experiments with the children during the school year. 

I have an empty counter area now however I hope we will fill it up with hands on science things we collect through the year. 

On the shelves below are the other supplies we have for science and our textbooks.  

Please ignore the wires laying around the pictures they will hang across the room once the lights are back up.  

I just purchased this amazing book to read to my first graders about who a scientist is and what tools he uses the first week of school.  It is a great book.