Classroom Reveal

It's time for my classroom reveal! I've been hard at work and I'm excited to call it done! Now I can focus on my first week of planning. This is a record for me! I officially start back on Monday and students start on Wednesday.

So here's my 2013-2014 black and white classroom:

The view from the door as you walk into the classroom.  I'm in a portable so I am lucky to be able to staple any where on my walls. 

Looking towards the front of my room and math area as you walk through the door.

We'll start in the back corner of my classroom. Our little cozy classroom library. The black and white banners above the window are going to be for our self-drawn portraits on the first day of school. We'll leave them up all year.

My leveled classroom library. I have the books sorted by reading level and color. Each book has a colored star sticker that matches the color stickers on the boxes so students *hopefully* put them back in the right spot.

 Our futon with lots of pillows for students to use and our staff fridge and microwave.  Above the sink I've added a board to display the book covers of the read-alouds from this year. We're starting with David Goes to School.

Student/staff computer area.

This is view of the back corner from the front of the classroom. Right next to the library is our Guided Reading area.

Leveled Guided Readers that have taken us years to collect.

 My word wall that I *promise* to use this year. My interactive Word Wall books are ready to go and so are my new word cards.

The teacher/staff area.

My teacher desk. The only time it looks this neat! Before all the fun begins!

I've added some boxes for my staff this year. That way when they have down time they can help out by doing projects or making copies. I have two sign language interpreters and one signing instructional assistant for the classroom.

My student progress notebooks right beside my desk. I'll blog about these soon.

One of the only sets of cabinets in my room! I have our Classroom Economy earning and fines displayed here. Up on top of the cabinets are my seasonal centers, seasonal books, and other things that don't fit into the cupboards.

The front of my classroom where we use the ELMO document camera. I am starting the year with 9 students and several of those students are mainstreamed all day.

Our new polka-dot inbox for student work.

On the front board I display all of our literary elements, vocabulary and other activities from our current read-aloud.

 The front corner of the room is a small group work area and where I have moved our Fairview Learning board and centers this year.

Fairview Learning rotations are a huge focus in our classroom from 12:40-2:30. Student binders are up top, their reading vocabulary boxes and FV cards on the left. On the right, numbered 1-10 are the centers materials. You can read all about our FV program here.  

 This Fairview Learning Activities board helps us all stay on track and know which centers have been completed and which are still remaining for the week.

My sight word storage. I have a file for each of the Adapted Dolch Words as we teach them. The folders have word cards, the signs, and activities to help learn the word.

Student mailboxes. A simple file box with hanging files.

My math instruction area. We're starting with money this year which will help tie in well with the classroom economy moving to coins.

Math center activities on the bottom numbered 1-8 and student books and materials up top.

The view of my morning meeting/calendar area that I blogged about here.

The board as you walk in the door will be used for displaying student work.

So here's my home away from home. I spend enough hours here that I like how I've created a calm and organized environment for my students to learn. They are going to be so excited to be back on Wednesday! I'm not sure I'm ready for the alarm clock!