Classroom Set-up Day 3-6: Almost there!

I've been working hard on making sure my room not only looks and feels good, but that it is organized and functional. I'm not 100% done yet. I have a few more labels to make. I have some more decorations to put up. I've ordered some borders and name tags that I am praying get here before school starts!! I have centers to set up, but I thought it would be a good check-in because I'm *almost done and if kids came in right now, at least the space would work :)

First, here's my classroom door. It is so important for students to see their name on the door the first day of school. It makes them know that this room will be their home and that they are welcome!!

I also think it's critical to post visible procedures. It helps make sure everyone remembers what the procedures are (including me, oh how easy it is to forget!) and is on the same page about what is expected because they can see it! Parents, visitors, and substitutes also love posted procedures. You'll see my procedures posted all around my room but here is my "Good Morning Procedure"

Oh, here is my hallway space for student work too. I simply laminated scrapbook paper, hotglued thumbtacks to clothespins, and voila! A durable showcasing space that allows quick and easy putting up and taking down of student work. Plus it looks cute :)

Here is the view you first see when you walk in my room. I love having lamps, fake flowers and other homy things in my room :) I also have an adorable Box-Top complete with scissors to trim those bad boys and a basket with lunch count forms and school hall passes. Notice the cabinets below are labeled, so important!!

 Turning to the left is our check-in table. That big, ugly box will be used to put student mail in. I plan to spray paint it a cuter color; just imagine it being purple because that is the plan :) The cookie sheets and gems are used for students to make their lunch selection. Later in the day if they need to use the bathroom or go to the nurse, they move their gem from the lunch count cookie sheet to the bathroom cookie sheet which I'll show you in a minute. I made the gems and the little signs. I'll post about how I did it soon. You can also see our recess equipment. I strongly dislike the color and look of these two containers, but they were what was left by the old teacher so they'll have to do for now.

Turning to the right you'll see this! Line-Up and Bathroom Procedures, lunch menu, bathroom passes and check-out system. When they need to go to the bathroom, they move their gem from the lunch count sheet to the check-out sheet. 

Here's a close-up of the check-out cookie sheet! Students put their gem on the place they are going (bathroom, nurse, library) and then I can visually see who is gone and where they are. When they get back, they remove their gem and place it back on the lunch count sheets. Easy-peasy

 Here is the sink area next to the check-in table. The pencil sharpener is here. Check out my "Good Morning Procedure". It explains our pencil sharpening procedure. We only sharpen pencils in the morning. I call kids up in small groups, I sharpen the pencils, and their job is to make sure they have 3 sharpened pencils to last through the day. It works well and then no lesson or work time is interrupted with the sound of the sharpener. Those totes have shared supplies for the tables including crayons, glue sticks, scissors, etc. . . I don't keep them on the tables because I have found many of my students are either distracted by them during lessons or they get filled with un-necessary things so we only grab them when we need them and then put them back on the counter when we are done. I know the wall looks boring, I have an back-splash tile art project we'll complete the first week of school to brighten it up. I also have no idea what to put on that little shelf, any ideas? The curtain is hiding our emergency kit and ugly plumbing. Again, all the cabinets are labeled with their contents. This helps me, the kids, visitors, and substitutes easily find materials.

 

Next to the sinks are the student cubbies. Look how clean and organizes, two of my favorite things! I have four open spots that are ready to go for last minute students. They'll store their reading books, dictionaries, and library books in the above cubbies; backpacks and jackets in the below cubbies. I'm planning on doing Amy Lemons Mathematician Craftivity from her Getting Started Unit and will hang those up on these cabinets. I can't wait to use that lesson. It will really emphasize that we are mathematicians plus it will be so cute, I can't wait!! I'll make sure to post how it goes!


Around the corner is my math manipulative area. It is critical for student independence during math workshop that manipulatives are easy to access and are labeled. I made these math tub labels with real pictures to make getting and putting away math tools easy. You can find them in my TPT store by clicking here!. I've also put math books in the math area because I believe a good classroom has books everywhere, not just the library!! Not only does the curtain hide geoboards, calculators, and other math things that the kids won't be using on a consistent basis, it adds to the homy look and feel of the room.

Here is my small group table. Please ignore all the student materials; I plan on passing them out and setting up desks the first day. I have a 1-220 chart on the well as well as a number line. The colored tubs are for me to organize materials for the week. I have a Monday tub, a Tuesday tub, etc. . . I also use the hanging file container for daily paper materials. I also keep files for things we access constantly like book logs, pre-write webs, classroom economy money, etc. . . It's hard to see, but this is also where I keep my "Ducky Helper" chart. I got a genius idea from a team member about classroom jobs!! Essentially instead of having 20 different jobs for 20 different kids which, for me, is a nightmare to remember and manage, you simply have 2 helpers each day that do everything. I laminated the ducks and am planning on writing student names on them with a whiteboard marker. This will be the first time I do this so I'll let you know how it goes!! The "Ducky Helpers" bulletin board set is from Scholastic and is a traditional job set if you want to go that route too. Plus it's less than $5 so that's great! Purchase it here The number line can be purchased from Amazon I used the little frogs that came with it to make my door decorations (see above)

Next to this area is my listening center and anchor chart area. For some reason I didn't take a picture of it, oops!! I'll update it later :)

Here's the view from the back wall facing the front. On the left is our calendar, Counting the Days pocket chart, ABC chart, School-Wide Behavior Matix, and student computers. I also have my chimes and a cute apple decoration hanging here. Above the board is my Happy Birthday display. I still need to put tissue paper and student gifts in the monthly bags but you can find the template plus Happy Birthday writing paper and learning centers with my Happy Birthday MEGA Pack . On the right is my Writing Center. I got the "Writing Center Starter Kit"  from A Cupcake for the Teacher. Get it here I made the Writing Process pencil and got the "What do Writers Write" pencil from Teacher Wife. You can find it on her blog here for free!! I've also put writing books, clipboards, tape, pencils, and various kinds of writing paper to start the year off. We'll add more supplies as the year goes on. You can also see my "Announcement Procedure" poster hanging by the clock. I told you posted procedures are super important to me!!

To the left of the board is this counter. I have my schedule and turn-in bins. See the procedure posted! Students highlight their name, date-stamp, and place in the correct subject bin. Of course each bin is labeled. I have a reading, math, word work, ready to publish, and other bin because who knows what the year will bring and sometimes you just need an other bin :)

 Here's a close-up of my schedule cards. They're not in the right order yet nor do they have the hands drawn on the clocks because administration is still finalizing schedules, but they are laminated and ready to use. You can find them in my TPT store here

Now for my favorite part of any classroom, the library!!! Maybe I should have started with that? Anyhoo, don't judge my bulletin board because, remember, I am waiting for borders to arrive in the mail. Hopefully they get here before the first day of school! I have my CAFE menu ready to go as well as a "WOW Words" section to put those juicy words we encounter. You can grab my CAFE menu headers for FREE here! I got that rug from Marshall's for $20, what a steal!! On the left are some stuffed reading buddies and fountain. Hanging on the wall are genre posters from Beth Newingham and you can grab those for fee too here! I get lots of questions about the spinning book case on the left. I got it as a gift from an old mentor teacher and have no idea where you can find something similar. If you do find a retailer, let me know! I plan on painting both bookcases in my free time (can you hear the laughs in my head as if I have any free time?) We will meet here for class meetings as well as whole group reading and writing workshop mini-lessons. I plan on just pulling over my teacher chair and easel from my small group area. I sill have some pillows and other decorations to bring it, but it's almost done!

Here's a close-up of student book boxes. I got the book boxes, covered just the front with cardstock, Mod Podged the whole darn thing to make it more durable, and then use mounting adhesive to attach the student numbers. P.S. I love Mod Podge and if you haven't yet discovered it's amazingness, please do!

I organized my library by theme and made labels to go on each tub. I just hot glued them on. I love hot glue just as much as I love Mod Podge! I'm in the process of making little stickers to go on each book with the same picture as what is on the book tub so students can easily put their books away. I'll post that as soon as I finish it.

 

 My desk is in the corner. Here's what I can see from it. Almost done!!

Classroom Setup: Day 1-3: Don't worry, I'm not done yet either!

First getting into room. Furniture is a mess and what they heck is all the stuff hanging from the ceiling!! I had my work cut out for me!

I've been working in my room for 3 days. You see, I had to move rooms again. The first room was the room of a retiring teacher who left a lot of things that I had to clean out. Then I switched grades to 2nd grade (yay!) and so I moved into another room of a retiring teacher who left a lot of things that I had to clean out. The second room was not as bad as the first room and I did get a lot of goodies from them, but let me tell you; my process has been slow people. 


I finally have cleaned out all the cabinets and put things away. The insides of the cabinets are not 100% organized but hey, at least stuff is put away. My library is sorted, a HUGE project that feels so great to get checked off. I still need to label bins and put up a bulletin board, but the books are sorted by theme and placed in tubs so that is a win. 

Library Before: Lots and lots of books to sort!! Yay for big classroom libraries :)

Library During: Books are sorted!! I need to get another rug and a few more storage totes for the books stacked on the shelves. I also want to put paper on the book boxes so they aren't so boring white and label the bins and put up the bulletin board, but at least the books are sorted!

There are still piles of garbage, recycling, books to surplus, and things to donate, but furniture is in place and arrangement is another HUGE project that feels good to get done. 

Furniture mildly set up, look at all the garbage and so many things to donate/toss!! See those cabinets and three filing cabinets in the back? They were FULL of old lesson plans and materials. Although you can't tell, I spent HOURS cleaning them out and getting them all organized. This will be a huge time-saver once the year starts.

I also finished my attendance/lunch count board. It has sections for all of our different lunch choices. We have quite a few options for lunch at my school (hot, salad, sandwich, yogurt, or lunch from home). The board also has sections for kids to move their magnets to when they go to the bathroom, nurse, library, or work with another teacher. I'll post more details on how I made it soon. I'm not sure if I love it on the door yet, we'll see how it feels once everything is done. 

I did manage to tear down all the posters and signs the old teacher left on the walls. Like this thing

Touch Points are a good resource, but this just takes up too much room and doesn't look as crisp and professional as I like my displays to be. I also pulled down all the things hanging from the ceiling. If you look at the first picture, there were table flags and some clips to hang work; I didn't like the cluttered look of it all. I also was able to put up one of my displays, the calendar!!

 The adorable Frog Calendar set is from Carson-Dellosa and can be found here!

I'm hoping to go back in soon to keep working. Check back for updates!

Bee Themed Classroom plus Bee themed Nametag FREEBIE!!

 After finally getting my classroom somewhat organized Moving into a Messy, Chaotic Classroom, uggh!), I decided to take a break and make some fun but useful items for my classroom. Besides my Happy Birthday Bulletin Board, my most favorite thing so far is my Good BEEhavior Chart. What I love about this chart is that is allows students to easily self-monitor their behavior with a visual reminder. I also love the bright yellow color and the fun, whimsical theme of bees which I've incorporated into my classroom decoration theme (post about classroom decoration/organization to come in late August when I can get back into my classroom, yay!).

How it works:
1) The first week of school I will have each student make a clip with a pom-pom bee on the end. I call them over to my teacher table during free choice time.
2) All students start each day on Ready to Learn.
3) When they show good behavior, they get to move their clip up. It is critical that students do the majority of their clip moving. If the teacher is always doing it, the student will not make the connection between their behavior and the chart.
4) If they are not showing good behavior, they are asked to move their clip-down. Again, it is crucial that the students move their own clips.
5) Clips can be moved up and down all day in my classroom. This allows students the incentive to correct behavior if they know they can clip back up.
6) I have a system of rewards and consequences that go with each level. I have a detailed description of this system in my Good BEEhavior Classroom Management Pack 

In this pack is all the printables you'll need to implement this system as well behavior tracking sheet for student folders, rules posters, name-tags, writing paper, 3 different calendar cover-ups, and good behavior certificates! If you are using a bee theme in your classroom or are looking for an updated management tool, I think this will make a cute and useful addition!! 

                             

As part of my excitement for this unit, I have uploaded my first FREEBIE! These adorable bee themed nametags for your student desks. Just click on the link below to download. Enjoy and Happy Day!

Bee Nametag FREEBIE

Moving into a messy, chaotic classroom, uggh!!

Clutter Free Classroom

I like a classroom that is colorful, clean, and organized. Nothing that isn't useful. Everything in labeled bins. A well-organized classroom is a well-run classroom. I had two separate classrooms in my old school building and both of those rooms I have moved into were empty when I moved in. I know, I know. Lucky ducky me. I loved moving into empty rooms, being able to simply envision my space and move my stuff in. I have a few pictures of my previous classroom, they're not that great because I wasn't blogging yet so their purpose was really just to demonstrate student work, but I want to prove how much I love colored coordination, labels, and everything in it's place.

 On the right you'll see color-coordinated, labeled math manipulative tubs. All on one shelf, easy to access. On the right is our art supply station, again there are labels on the shelf and everything has a specific place. The anchor charts and posters  on the wall/board are all relevant to what we were learning about. The plants, light, and carpet make it feel homey. By the way, these kids are building castles with plaster of Paris bricks they made, a great project for our medieval unit!

 In the back is our classroom library. All books are sorted by theme and labeled. Even the clock is labeled! The fountain, flowers, and pet frogs on the right add to the cozy feeling. These kids are working on a math partner game.

 Here is a close-up of math tubs. In the back are bathroom passes, a bathroom sign-in/sign-out sheet, and a label for the lightswitch. All labels are in English and Spanish.

Last one of my old classrooms. You can see the writing center in the back with labels on the shelf for dictionaries, thesauruses, pencils, etc. . You can also see this classroom library. In the far back of the picture you can see labels on our construction paper drawer. Yes, that big pile of messy papers is the re-use box. Kids can use this paper for whatever they want during free time and although it is a bit messy, they knew that the mess better be contained on that shelf. Oh, and those are pet birds. Noisy and messy, but fun class pets. The tubs under the table were the students project tubs. Each student had a tub that they would put all their junk in. These kids are working on a 2d shape project; I think they were designing a castle with 2d shapes and then graphed the number of each shape used.

Although I loved it and knew it was out of the ordinary, I never realized how grateful I should have been for an empty room until this year. At my new school, I have moved into a quite messy, chaotic room. I worked at this school as an interventionist last year (no classroom for me, only a little desk in the corner of the computer lab, roaming around to different classrooms) so I spent some time in this classroom each day. Here is how it looked last year.

Look at the messy tables!! The counter is covered with a mis-match of different piles of paper and non-matching tubs. There is also a pile of boxes in the right corner (what's that about) and the "book case" on the left side in not labeled and partially covered with step stools and more boxes of who knows what.

White board looks un-usable, filled with an assortment of things. Random bins of junk scattered around the room. Nothing is labeled. Counters are crammed with piles of things leaving no counter space. Boxes and boxes full of things. Clutter, clutter, clutter! How could the teacher, let alone the students focus in this mess! I'm not trying to be overly critical. I get it, teaching is hard. There is never enough time so I understand how easy it is to not spend the time in the summer it takes to set-up a really great, organized classroom or the few minutes each day making sure everything is put away, clean and organized. However, I am a HUGE believer in the theory that classroom environment greatly impacts student learning and all that time invested into your environment you'll get back ten-fold. Think about how many minutes you and students waste trying to find things or how much money is wasted buying things that you have actually tons of shoved in the cupboard that you simply forgot about? What about the minutes students are not learning because they are distracted by their environment? While this teacher was very sweet, she didn't agree that environment impacted learning and she was retiring (aka mentally checked out) so this is what the results was. She even admitted she was a *bit of a hoarder and cried a bit when she threw some stuff out (I should mention, this is what was left AFTER she had already taken a few truckloads of things home) She was *nice enough to leave me some of her supplies too like. . .

 Drawers full of random things. Colored on Popsicle sticks. Hundreds of used Ziploc bags. About 15 interoffice mail envelopes that are usually kept in the main office. I can't even list all the things left because, well, that would take about an hour and a girl can only complain for so long. This is only one of the drawers. I didn't have the time to take pictures of all the drawers. There were 12 of them. All full of things. Sigh.

 A cabinet full of more random things. Again, I only took pictures of one of the cabinets. There were 8 cabinets to go through. She loved to store things in old cardboard boxes. While I admit this frugal, the lack of uniformity and the amount of dust that collects in cardboard boxes without lids means that this option does not work for me. Double sigh.

See all that color coded bins and fabric in the far left corner, that's my stuff, can you tell :) I've used the color scheme of light blue, lime green, and yellow for a few years. This year I'm introducing some other colors too so we'll see how that goes. Anyhoo, she also left me additional totes, art supplies, math manipulatives, and a classroom library. Actually this was all really great district stuff so I was grateful for that!! I spent 12 hours, yes TWELVE hours cleaning and organizing. She left two cabinets full of old curriculum, like curriculum that was typed on a typewriter, so I took the time to go through all that making sure I kept useful things. I filled up 1 1/2 of those big, blue rolling recycling bins and filled I don't even know how many garbage bags. I donated two boxes of books and a cart full of teacher supplies (borders, posters, tubs, etc. . ) I also went through 2 packs of Kirkland Signature wipes because there was dust and dirt everywhere and I didn't want to put things into/onto dirty shelves. I still have tons to do. I haven't organized the library. I still have stuff to put away. I have to make labels and put up displays, but I feel like I at least have a somewhat blank slate now. This is what I was left with at the end of the week.

 See that box on the ground and that table full of junk, those things got donated. My bulletin board stuff is being organized on the ground in the back.

I also threw away all that random stuff you see on the counters. I LOVE empty counters with only labeled, meaningful things! Anyhoo, I can't go back in to work until August so I've been slowly acquiring some more tubs and bookcases so that once I get back in, I can start putting things away and making it look pretty, I love pretty. I've also been working on those crafty projects like my Good BEEhavior chart and my check-in/check-out system. (posts on these projects coming soon!!)

I'd love to hear everyone's classroom set-up experiences and organization ideas. I know I've been scouring other blogs to get ideas on organization, especially those in conjunction with the Clutter Free Classroom Linky Party, but I'd love some more ideas!! I'll also make sure to post pictures of my classroom set-up as soon as I can get back in and my projects as I complete them. Happy day!

Jenn
Fun and Fabulous in First Grade