Tour of Room 201!

If you have been reading this blog you know that I am participating in Teacher Week over on one of my favorite blogs; Babbling Abby. I have been sharing all kinds of things about me as a teacher and my classroom. This blog is usually filled with pictures of a seriously cute little boy, but I have school on the brain since I started school this week and the last few weeks I have spent at school working on my classroom.
So, today I am going to give you a tour of where I spend my days- everyday from mid August to early June. My goal is to make my classroom an inviting place that the kids and I want to come to everyday. I try to make it comfortable, functional, organized and fun. I use a lot of lamps, pictures and other things to give my classroom a homelike feel. I pride myself on my book collection and my classroom library is one of my favorite parts of the room. It is always the first section of the room I work on and I am always adding to it. This year I have a student teacher and a co-op high school student so I needed to come up with places for them too. It is only day 3 and the room arrangement will most likely change at least a few times, but for now here is what I have done.

WELCOME to my classroom!!

This is the hallway outside my room.

My display has all my student's names on it. It is my favorite back to school display that I have done so far. Every year I have done something new. This one took the most time, and I am pretty pleased with the outcome. The kids seem to love it too! I might leave it up all year!

The view from the door.

Yes, notice the BEAUTIFUL hardwood floors. Our building is 85+ years old and I LOVE the floors.

This is the desk I made for my student teacher. She is WONDERFUL and I am so glad to have her this year. She is going to be a great asset to my classroom. She is a natural.


My student computer station.
The bulletin board shown will become my Science & Social Studies word wall once I begin with my first unit for each. Right now I just added this positive message. I use this at the end of the year during testing too when I have to take the word wall down.

Next to the computers is my classroom library. MY FAVORITE.

I have my books organized in baskets on the shelves by genre. The books on the spin rack (which I got a a bookstore that was going out of business for $10.00- score!) are organized by author.

This is a new addition this year. I picked up this tee pee at a yard sale this summer for $2.00.

It is going to be a fun place for my kiddos to read in as a reward. They already love it.

One of my bookcases. I got the baskets from the dollar store and the tags from Really Good Stuff.

Another bookcase in the library, my palm tree and my rocking chair.

This is a view of the room from my desk.

The yellow bulletin board will be for my calendar, class rules and birthdays.

The table under the yellow board is my kidney table for small group instruction.

My SMARTBOARD. Love this tool! I use it everyday.

On one side is my daily agenda and the other is a white board for my daily outcomes.

My share chair. I LOVE this and wish I could say I was talented enough to have done this myself, however I had a TA from our local college in my room one year and she did it for me! She is going to do my rocking chair and my stool next. This is where my students sit to share their writing.

A view of that corner of the room.
The red board will display quality student work.

This is the opposite corner and it is my desk area.

I do not spend much time here during the day, unless I am using my document camera. It is located here. I use it EVERYDAY, ALL DAY. I love it. It makes my life so much easier. I also use the divided shelf behind my desk to sort papers and lesson plans for the week. I make all my copies and have them filed and ready for the week. The baskets on top have things like papers that need to be graded, things I am working on and stuff like that. I try really hard to keep my desk cleaned off. I get awfully worked up if my area is a mess. :)

Another view from my desk.

OK TEACHERS -TAKE A DEEP BREATH..........

This is my CLOSET.

Yes, my very own closet attached to my room!!

You may have noticed the yellow doors in the back of the room, well those are the doors to THIS!

Many people covet my storage space. I use every inch of it. I keep all kinds of things in it and keep it full. I have been in this room the last 3 years and I have worked very hard to get it organized. It was a HOT mess when I came to it and it is getting there. It is hard to get a good shot to do it justice, but take my word for it. It is DIVINE!! I have a shelf for each subject (labeled- of course) and it houses my supplies, extra books, even a filing cabinet and rolling cart! LOVE.

So, I hope you enjoyed the tour! I loved sharing my pictures. Now, it is 11:45 and I have school tomorrow so I am off to bed. Enjoy the pictures and let me know what you think. I LOVE your comments and ideas!