The Reveal!

I survived my first day of my sixth year of teaching. Last week was crazy...12 hours+ at school trying to wait until the renovations were done, painting, and then putting my room together. I'm still missing my tv, clock, and haven't found the cord to plug my phone in, but otherwise am thrilled with the results. Take a look :)

This is the view from my classroom door. It's hard to get the whole thing in the picture.

Right inside my front door. Did I mention that I love IKEA? I bought all new furniture for my room for less than $500. Those pink boxes I just had to have, but they don't really have anything in them yet :)

I have a lot of very involved parents in my classroom this year, so I decided to create a little basket of things for them to do if they have time to volunteer. This way they can just walk in and have something to do without worrying about interrupting our class. We'll see if I remember to keep it filled.

I took my cue from many of you this year and got rid of my teacher's desk. This corner serves to house all the things that my desk usually would. The boxes (from The Container Store) hold all of my math and reading task cards, math centers, Reading A-Z books, student records, copies, etc. I also have my teacher toolbox (which I haven't finished), and a place for students to turn in their work. Right next to this area is my table for group work which I forgot to take a picture of.

Here's my effort to make parent/teacher/student communication better. This is my tiny version of Schoolgirl Style's organization station. I'll stick extra notes for parents here, weekly newsletters, a place for students to pick up their work if they were absent, book orders, calendars, etc. Hopefully it works. I'll keep you updated...

This is the huge bulletin board right inside my front door. The black paper is where I'll post student work to display. I wish you could see the ribbon holding them up. It's turquoise rick rack and the papers are held on with tiny bright pink clothespins. I'll have to take a closer picture, cause it looks so cute. Thanks to my helper for three weeks (a college student doing her elementary school exploratory) for putting both of the boards together :)

Love my new reading corner. So bright and clean looking

All chevron decor from the pictures is from here:

I have two white boards this year. My main one is blank - my side one is for my reading center. Here I have space for my anchor charts for reading and writing workshop, and a place for me to write what we're doing each day for my students to copy in their planners.

Here's what the whole thing looked like before I filled the book boxes and finished the board. $20 IKEA rugs anyone? :)

My book boxes hold notebooks/journals and binder for reading/writing workshop, reading books, and individual whiteboards for each student.

Anyone done the bucket filling? I bought this neat unit that has everything I need to get started.

That's it for now. After being at school for 12 hours, folding laundry, and making this post, I'm ready for bed :) Hope you have a great week!