Teacher Week: Classroom Tours!

Wow! Day Four already?! Today is the much-anticipated Classroom Tours {or at least I'm pretty pumped about it!}. The placement of this day was strategic, as I knew my room had to be ready by Thursday for Open House. I hope that you post your classroom pics too - whether it's ready to go or not! I have learned so much by touring other teacher's classrooms - online and in person. This should be fun :)

I had to move rooms this year since I am teaching 1st grade and now reside in the former art room (art will be on wheels this coming year). My room is huge. However, it's wonderful and daunting all at the same time. Wonderful because I have an incredible amount of space to work with and daunting because, well, I have an incredible amount of space to work with! Trying to figure out the best arrangement has taken me a month, and I was rearranging and moving furniture in and out until about 9:30pm tonight. To see the before pics, see this post.

Okay, so this is the view when you walk in the door. I finally have desks. As of only yesterday. And they are all the bad ones (i.e. unbalanced legs, different heights, peeling desktops, etc.), but beggars can't be choosers! We added three new teaching positions for this coming year, so 90 desks are MIA right now, lost on a freight truck somewhere.

This view is standing at my desk. We are a green school, so our ceilings are angled to accommodate as much natural light as possible. You can't see the windows at the top of the angle.

This is standing in the corner opposite of my desk.

Here is my front whiteboard and bulletin boards. I think you can click on the pic to expand it if you want to see up close. Should be fairly self-explanatory, and I'm sure if you're a primary educator you have a similar looking set-up somewhere in your room. {Sidenote: I hate Calendar Math! I know it's a necessary component of early education, but the monotony of doing it every day bores me to tears. This year, my students will complete a calendar binder for morning work that we will discuss later in the morning during a student-directed/taught activity.}

This is the wall opposite of the door. Though it appears I painted directly on the wall, I did not - I painted it on a roll of IKEA paper and then hung it up with Velcro dots. The bulletin board divided into 4 blocks is where I will post "I Can" statements (learner goals). Most of the posters you see glue-gunned on the walls are just for fillers for the beginning of the year. Anchor charts will eventually go in their place.
Here is where a fraction of my books are camping out while I await cubbies (2-3 weeks away still!). I will eventually put them in the cabinets above the cubbies and house more organizational-type stuff on these bookcases.

Below are two different shots of our whole-group meeting area. I wish I could put a colorful carpet down here, but I cannot due to lice, bedbugs, and potential vomit. {Let's just say I had a small carpet in my room last year that a student threw-up all over during reading centers. I had to get rid of it and the stack of Dr. Seuss books he was reading...}

This is my current Word Wall wall, and the future location of my cubbies!

Here is my sink! A bonus from moving into the art room as only the kindergarten and preschool classrooms have them in room! Initially they wanted to remove the sink, counters, and drawers and put my cubbies here but they thought better of it (thankfully!) and I get all this extra storage and A SINK! Yay! This bare wall is the future location of my Word Wall bulletin board. I know it looks messy right now, but the counter is full of student supplies (folders, books, planners, etc.) that will disappear after the first day of school.

And, lastly, the bane of my existence: the tech corner. Besides the fact that I HATE exposed wires, this corner just looks blank and lonely. My mom and I just rearranged this particular area tonight, so there's still work to be done here. I'd like to hang a dry-erase board above my desk and hang up my ceiling tile art too, but it is not a priority right now!

So that's all I've got! I can't wait to see your rooms! I haven't had the time to get around to everyone's posts due to time constraints, but I've been visiting several a day. You all are so inspiring! But what should I expect? You're teachers :)

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