Classroom Reveal 2013-2014: My New Digs

Reality has set in. I start school tomorrow. Summer is really over and even though I have technically been back at work, somehow it doesn't feel real until the kids show up. I had so many things I wanted to share with you guys last week, but I was EXHAUSTED! I would come home from school and just collapse on the couch unable to formulate a coherent thought. That being said, look for some good stuff to hit the blog sometime soon.

For now, I wanted to show you my new digs! I love my new classroom and my new school. It's so clean and all the chairs are the same color, and I have 4 walls.  That's right FOUR full functioning walls AND a door! If you don't remember how...let's say "special" my old room was, check out some of my old tours here. 2012-2013 and 2013-2014

See! There's the door. I even have keys for the door. This is a big deal. LOL!

I also have a crazy long bulletin board outside my room. Seriously, it's HUGE!  I had to get creative to fill the space, but I love how it turned out. A big thank you to my new teammate, Jillian, for helping me with the tree. That's basically her tree. I just crumpled the paper. 

I'm still at a Leader In Me school, so I'm excited to keep going with the 7 Habits.

Here is the other side of the door. You can't really see the sink, but it is hiding back there. I'm so excited to have a sink IN my classroom. Woot! Woot!

My leadership roles bulletin board and my classroom bingo board.

My file cabinet has been turned into my no name bulletin board for now. The tags are hard to see in the picture, but they are super cute. I have Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics to thank for those cuties. Love.

This is the cubbie nook in the back of my room. The door to my classroom bathroom is directly across from  the 7 Habits tree. That's right! A bathroom! I have a classroom boys & girls bathroom just off my room that I share with one other classroom. This set up is a teacher's dream!

 This is the data door (aka the teacher's dream bathroom door). 

I'm all set up for our first two classroom goals:

#1) Reading at least 5 Bluebonnet Books 

 #2) Learning those multiplication facts

We will be attending attendance as soon as school starts. And then...who know?!?

The rest of my cubbies line the back wall. I'm not quite sure what those bulletin boards will be yet. I'm thinking of using it to simply display student work and projects. I love my anchor charts, but I love to display student work more. 

The star that appears to be in the middle of the wall, is actually hanging from the ceiling to mark my table groups. I'm still using the Gandhi quote because it's my favorite and I'm sticking with the IKEA book boxes.  However, I ordered them from Amazon this year instead of making the pilgrimage to the store. I may have paid more per box but I most certainly saved on gas and my buddies at Amazon Prime got them to me in 2 days flat. You can't beat that!

This is my back wall and guided reading table. Excuse the mess. Those are leftovers from Meet the Teacher Night. I love my new Writing Process status chart courtesy of Really Good Stuff. I've flipped the inserts around so that I can reveal them as I teach the steps in the writing process.

Also, do you see those windows up top?  I haven't had a window in my classroom in three years! I'm so excited to have natural light. I forgot to take a picture of the full length window that on the other side of my guided reading table. Huge window! Tons of light! I'm in love. 

I mean... just LOOK at this view. 

Beautiful, right?

 My library looks really different this year due to confined spaces. I love my new room but it is substantially smaller than my last room. I pulled books that were old and unread and made sure to stock it up with books I know kids in 2014 want to read. 

I'm also really excited about my TPT tools. Not Teachers Pay Teachers tools, but Total Participation Technique tools. More on all that down the road. :)

I made sure to stock up with magazines this year too. I've got Sports Illustrated for Kids, Zoobooks, and National Geographic for Kids.

This is my book recommendation chart and reading log bulletin board. Kiddos will keep track of all the books they read by writing/drawing the title on half an index card and putting them on their reading ring.  This way kids can keep track of everything the read for the year. I've modified this idea from The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. 

I basically have books stashed all over my room. This carousel will be great to highlight a series, an author, or other popular books. 

My picture books and non-fiction books are stashed in here. I'm rotating books in and out this year to accommodate the small space. For example, all my books on the Titanic and Mummies are at home for now.  There will be a great reveal later this year, where I will bring in my other books and take these books back out. My hope is that by changing out the books, the library will stay fresh and exciting. Kids will keep going back and keep looking for something to read. Fingers crossed.

I just had to take a picture of my phone because I actually have a phone in my classroom this year! No more walking to the office every time I need to call parent. Woot! Woot!

And finally, here's my birthday board...

Aren't these birthday balloons the cutest?  

You can download them for free from Where the Wild Things Learn on TPT.

After flipping through ALL the pictures I took of my classroom, I realized that I did not take any where you can actually see the whole room.  Not one desk has been pictured, except mine. Apparently, I was only focused on the perimeter when I took these pics, lol. Oops. I will snap a few more shots tomorrow and update the post. My walls are also looking very bare because I haven't put up any posters.

It's actually amazing how much different this room will look in a week.

So, until then...

Happy back to school! Happy teaching!