A Quick Tour

Well, we had a whole week in the classrooms and they are all looking really good!  It's hard to believe that school is starting in just a few days, but having the classroom set up makes it seem very real.

I thought I would show you all around a little bit.  I will start with the most important part of our class - the library!  This year I expanded the library to separate fiction and nonfiction.  My first and most important goal every year is to help kids find books that they are going to love and then give them time to read them.  Having access to a lot of good books is definitely the first step.

Right next to the library are our computers and word wall.  This is where we'll keep all those interesting words that we find when we read and write. We will be using the computers for listening to books, research, and math practice.  We are also supposed to be getting some iPads for the school that we might be able to borrow.

 Here is a zoomed in picture of the front corner.  I mostly took this one to show you where all those summer projects I was working on ended up.  I don't know about you, but I think they look much nicer hanging up where they belong than they did on my apartment floor.





Above the windows we have 4 bulletin boards.  I have two of them set up already.  One has all our reading strategies with helpful hints and reminders about what each one means.  It also has my reading motto, "Reading is thinking!"  The other board is a reminder of the West School values and expectations.  The school-wide expectations are something new for this year and we are going to be doing a lot of work with them.

Pardon the mess that was still going on in this picture, but it's the only one I have that shows how the whole room is set up.  This is how the room looks from the door.  We've got the desks up front right near the SmartBoard (because we'll use it a lot!) and then a big meeting area with an easel for morning meeting and mini-lessons.  The desks are starting out in groups like this, but I change them around pretty frequently depending on what we are working on and how the class is cooperating.

The bulletin board by the meeting area is going to be our literacy board.  This is something I am really excited about starting this year and I am sure I will explain more about here in the near future.

This last photo is just one more project that I worked on over the summer.  I love that the binders fit into it so perfectly and there's even room for more! It is also a very handy place to keep those tools that the kids always seem to need (but I can never remember where I put down.)  

I think one of my favorite things about summer vacation is that it gives me a chance to think about all the things I can do better for the next school year!