Classroom Tour 2015

So, I know I'm kind of late to the party on the whole classroom tour thing (how is it already October?!)...... But, I just HAD to share out because I'm a little obsessed with my classroom this year.

Last year's decor theme was "There's-been-a-change-in-plans-and-kindergarten-orientation-is-tomorrow-so-get-everything-up-on-the-walls-as-quickly-as-possible," so it admittedly was pretty easy to top.

Personally, I'm not really a fan of classroom "themes." Don't get me wrong, I've seen them done WONDERFULLY: bees, superheros, pirates, the whole kit-and-kaboodle. However, I am way too particular about decorations coordinating and would probably drive myself literally insane trying to find, say dinosaurs, that were all drawn/designed in the same style (Hi, my name is Lauren, and I may be a perfectionist.... I'm working' on it, people).
As a result of the above craziness, the idea of decorating my classroom within a color scheme instead of a specific theme is really appealing to me. This year, I decided to do neon against black backdrops.  This was my first year setting up a complete classroom. I blocked off an entire week for it, thinking it would probably only take two or three full days. Boy, was I wrong. After five full days, I still felt like I needed another week (or two!). But, school was starting in two days, and I ended up with some unplanned (and admittedly, unwanted) practice in allowing things to be imperfect.
The good news is, I'm so in love with my classroom this year that I plan to keep it 90% the same for next year and only add to it. We'll see how that plan holds up 155 days from now. Alright, let's get going with the tour!

Here's my main wall. This is the carpet where my students sit. There's a lot to take in here, so let's break it down a little. 

On the far left is our reading wall. This will be filled with visual anchors from our reading comprehension and phonics lessons. Underneath our reading wall is our classroom library. My goal for this year is to change the books on display monthly to match our current learning. 

Here are my book bins. I got them at Big Lots, and they are terrific! They come in a wide variety of colors and are super sturdy. The only downfall is that they are a little pricey (about $3.50 per bin). I bought six last year and another six this year, and I'll probably end up buying another six next year! Currently, this is my organization system:

Green- books that correspond to our reading comprehension domains

Purple- FOSS science kit readers

Blue- Science and social studies books

Black- Seasonal Books

Pink (on opposite wall)- Leveled readers

Next to our reading wall is where I display our class birthdays. I got these materials at a teacher supply store. Our alphabet chart is by Mrs. Hoffer's Spot. I've divided our white board into sections using window cling borders I found at Dollar Tree. The far left will hold and display our class stars; when we earn ten, we get a whole class reward! To the right of that, I put up our volume posters. These were created by Reagan Tunstall and range from 0 (silent) to 5 (outdoor voice). My kiddos reference these posters all the time!

Now we are entering calendar territory. On the left, I have our daily schedule. These pieces were a freebie I got with my teacher points from Scholastic. The blank yellow one will be labeled "centers," and the blank blue one will be labeled "snack." My calendar backdrop and pieces were purchased from Lakeshore. The month and year labels were a free download from Babbling Abby.  My weather chart is from the dollar spot at Target (my kryptonite!)

Here on the far right is my All Star Wall. Each student has a clip and their amazing work will be displayed using said clip. I have a quick and easy tutorial on how to make this which I will link here. 

Here's the view from the carpet. I do the majority of my whole class teaching from my rocking chair (it's the same chair my mom used to rock me and my brother as babies) using my mobile easel. I made the book bunting/pennant by laminating book covers and connecting them with ribbon using hot glue. I can do a tutorial for this if you'd like- let me know in the comments!

Our cubby wall! I need to find a nice big number line to put up top. 

Here on the far left, I have the pocket chart where I keep each students stars. The stars are a part of the PBIS program in place at my school. Students can earn stars by showing that they are respectful, responsible, and ready to learn. Below the pocket chart is poster which will display the rewards students can trade in their stars to earn. 

Our math wall, word wall, and science/writing wall. Tucked in the right corner is my area where I post papers about recess duty, dismissal changes, etc. 

Whew! I tried to include everything without making this a mile-long post (I'm not sure how well I did on that front). Let me know in the comments if there are any areas I missed or anything specific you'd like to know more about!

Quick DIY Craft to Show Off Student Work!

Happy almost-March!

So today's blog post is a quickie about how I spruced up one of the bulletin boards in my classroom. To the right of my calendar, there is a bulletin board that I wanted to be our Focus Wall. Our Focus Wall would show our learning objectives for each subject and display the letter, number, and sight words we were currently working on. Well, the problem with that was I had literally 2 days to decorate my room before the start of school, and other tasks took priority. So my beautiful focus-wall-to-be turned out to be a sad, sad bulletin board with 6 pieces of laminated card stock on which I wrote our learning objectives. 

It. 

Was. 

Pitiful. 

In fact, I don't even have a picture of it. For 100-ish days of school, I looked at that failed focus wall and LOATHED it. So, last week, I decided to stop loathing it. 

I took my thumb tacks and clothespins and glue gun and made my way to Michael's. I found these scrapbooking accessories on super-sale and made them mine. :) 

I assembled the clips like this:

First, I glued a thumb tack to the back of a clothespin. 

Then, I glued the scrapbooking tag/speech bubble and glued it to the front of the clothespin. 

I wrote a student's name on the front with chalk, and voila! It took me about 30 minutes to make a set of 24, so I would say this was a pretty quick project. 

This is what the clips look like on the bulletin board:

And this is what our All Star Work wall looks like with actual all star work on it:

I love how this turned out, and I can now look at that board without cringing!

Just to clarify, my one friend doesn't have a piece of work up because I took this pic the first day I put the board up (I was just a little excited haha) and he was absent that day. All of my students are all stars. :)

How do you show off student work in your classroom? Let me know with a comment or picture below!