More Classroom Pictures!

Hey everyone,

I haven't really been able to post any good classroom pictures for a while because my classroom always seems to be such a mess.  Finally, I cleaned up a few areas and snapped a few pictures :).  Here are a few snapshots of my classroom...

First... I finally got my SMART Board mounted!! I'm so excited. But, my students couldn't use it because it was too high for them to reach.  Enter my wonderful husband! :)  He's so amazing!  I told him I needed something for my students to stand on so they could use the SMART Board and I would like something I could store all of our t-shirt pillows in... In just one night he made this wonderful step/storage box.  Of course I had to paint it before I put it in my classroom :).  We just put it in my classroom so my students haven't seen it in person yet... they've just seen pictures that I took while I was painting it.

Here is my mounted SMART Board with seat crates under it... before my wonderful husband made our step/storage box.

My step/storage box under the SMART Board!  I know I shouldn't have spent so long painting it because it is just going to be walked on... but I think I put enough coats of clear spray paint to protect it! :)  Don't you just love it!!!  AND not only is it cute... it also is holding all of our t-shirt pillows that used to end up all over the room! :)

Our Meeting Area/Classroom Library...

I love my big, comfy chair... it is my favorite spot to teach lessons from. :)

 The little tape spots on the floor are assigned seats for my kiddos.  They just couldn't seem to make good choices about where they sat or who they sat next to... so I had to assign them seats.  But... the good thing is that now it is a HUGE reward for them to be able to pick their own seats. :)  So I just added another class reward to my list, haha! 

...I also painted the book shelves :)

A back view of our Meeting Area/Classroom Library.  I love our tree... I put Christmas lights in it and we light it up when we are doing our Read-to-Self time... (we always turn off all the lights and turn on all the lamps during that time... it makes it cozy and I heard that lamp lights are better on their little eyes than the classroom lights are).

Our cute sharp and dull pencil cups.

This is our Word Wall...

 These are students' mailboxes.  I used to have big, bulky mailboxes but then found this space saving solution! :)  I love them... even though they are a bit of a mess.

Here is a picture of our Word Wall and mailboxes together.

This is my flag that is out in the hallway (this picture was before I hung it) and it matches my curtains and desk skirt.  A wonderful woman made this for me along with the curtains and desk skirt.  She has now made about 90% of the flags outside teacher's doors at our school... she's just so talented!

My students really love our classroom and how bright and cheery it is.  I always tell people, I spend most of my day here, so I want it to be a room that I enjoy being in :).  My students always say I'm "crafty" (I think that's their favorite word) and should be an art teacher AND their teacher, lol... they are the sweetest.  There is nothing like showing something you work so hard on to a group of kids and having them just go nuts over it!  It's probably one of the best feelings ever!!  I have such a sweet group of kiddos!!! :)

Here are a few things I have painted for other teachers at my school... 

This was the first chair I painted... I painted it for a teacher on my team for her birthday.

This is a very special chair that I painted for the most amazing woman!  She has battled more cancer than anyone ever should yet still came to school each day with a smile on her face and ask how I was doing... I painted this chair for her in shades of pink for breast cancer awareness.  This chair sits up high so she wouldn't have to get up and down much... and it spun all the way around so she could sit in front of the board and just spin to write on it :).  This wonderful teacher continues her fight with cancer... She has had to leave school for awhile to continue fighting, but we know she is strong!  With all of our prayers being sent her way, we know God will take care of her and help her fight against cancer.

You know... maybe I should start going in to the painted furniture business...  :)  I absolutely love painting things fun colors with random, cute designs.  

Well... that's all of my pictures for now... I'm sure there will be more soon :)!

Enjoy!

Classroom Pictures...

Hey everyone,

I always love exploring other blogs that I love to see different things they are doing in their classroom.  I also love getting ideas from something cute I see on Pinterest and then "tweaking" them my own way.  I've decided to post a few pictures of my classroom to hopefully inspire others.  If any of these were your original ideas please let know so I can give you proper recognition!  Whoever came up with these ideas has been a life saver for me and my classroom and deserves recognition!  Enjoy!

Book Nooks

Our book nooks.  Each round label has a book nook spot on it (t-shirt pillow, reading buddy, whisper phone, crate seat, etc.) and each clothespin has a student's name on it.  Every other day I rotate the book nooks and the students look where their clothespin is to see where they will sit for read-to-self time.  They really enjoy reading in the book nooks!

Crate Seats

The most wonderful (and cutest) storage solution!  Not only can you store things but you also get more seats for your classroom :)... double bonus!  I love these and so do my kiddos.  I think every adult that has come into our classroom has also commented on them.  If you don't have any, make some ASAP! You will be so happy you did!

Where Are We? Board

Great idea for keeping track of where your students are throughout the day.  I always have kids coming in and out of the room and people pulling my kids for different thing.  I saw a board like this on Pinterest and decided to make one to help me keep track of where each kid is throughout the day.  It is just a while board with zebra sticky paper and vinyl letters.  The magnets are made from clear decorative rocks from the Dollar Tree, cute paper, mod-podge, and thick magnets.  Each one has a student's name on it and the kids move them to the appropriate box before they leave the room.

Calendar Area

In our calendar area we have the usual calendar things: calendar (I made mine on a white board so I could put little magnets on the backs of the dates), day of the week chart, hundreds, tens, and ones char, weather chart, etc.  My two favorite things in this area are... 

1. Our attendance chart.  Each day that we have every student there they earn a puzzle piece.  WHen they fill in their puzzle the class gets a special reward.  I made this puzzle to look like my little dog Paisley! :)

2. Our target behavior board.  Another wonderful Pinterest behavior management idea.  In our meeting area we pick a target behavior such as "shouting out".  Then each time someone "shouts out" I take one flower down (they start with 5).  The more flowers they keep at the end of a lesson, the more points they get toward a class reward.

Classroom Library

Our classroom library.  The books are organized by DRA and Lexile level.  I love how colorful it is and I love the tubs!  I found them at the Dollar General last year.  They come is large size and small size.  Books fit perfectly in them and students don't have to pull them off the shelves to look through the books.

My Desk... sorry about the mess!

Cute desk skirt made by a friend and they match the curtains she made for me too!  I then made some book shelf covers to match.

My new favorite hobby... painting furniture!  I just started painting furniture last year and loved it.  So I decided to make a few things for my classroom.  I made this little reflection chair, and I just love it :).  I also painted a chair for myself, one for Ms. Fretwell on my 2nd grade team, and a special pink chair for Ms. Ross who is the bravest breast cancer survivor I've ever met!

My pretty painted chair :).

I'll post some more pictures of my classroom later... and I promise next time it will be more pictures and less words :).

Enjoy!