Originally, I was going to break it all down for you and explain my shopping choices. Then, I got distracted by looking at classroom set up ideas. Now, I already know how I'm decorating, so I'm not entirely sure why I got distracted. Maybe it was all of the pretty colors?
In my distraction, I decided to reminisce a little and share pictures from last year's 2nd grade room. This way, you'll be able to appreciate the finished product of this year! These were all taken after the first day of school and things were changed as the school year went on and I learned what my students could handle.
This is a shot of the classroom from my desk. My first year of teaching, I had desks. When the year ended, I asked for tables and I have loved them ever since. Group work is a big part of my class and I love the space that tables allow for group projects.
This is another shot of the room. You can see my writing table set up with one of the benches my dad made to the left. You can also see the white shelf which held my small group materials. (I worked with small groups at one of the round tables in the back. It was designated the "teacher" table and was used for small groups and management of materials throughout the day.)
This is a shot of my behavior chart and the board. The teacher area is to the left. Since this was taken after the students left, you can see where we were already listing things on the board. The colored drawers at the bottom of the board were used to hold student supplies. There is one per table and they are located around the room to prevent multiple kids from being in the same area when they retrieve supplies. These will be getting a face lift this year since they have survived 3 years of students. I highly recommend Sterillite drawers if you are looking to organize something. They are very durable.
This is another shot of our room. You can see some leftover jungle décor on the door of the bathroom. The measuring giraffe was just too cute to get rid of. He didn't survive the taking apart of my classroom this year though. :(
This is the back corner of my room. You can see my lovely computers, which the students used frequently. They even took on the responsibility of turning them on in the morning and shutting them down in the afternoon. I strongly believe in including students in the management of a classroom. The back corner held two more benches which were used for my reading corner. The students absolutely loved these benches! (So did most visiting teachers.) The bulletin board is empty because it was used to display student work. After one day of teaching routines, I didn't really have anything to put up there yet.
This is the front of my room complete with a focus chart (which I plan to utilize even more this year) and the Smart Board. This is where we spent a lot of time gathered to read or learn on the Smart Board. You can see our classroom mascot Mischief sitting on the stool near the chart. She earned her own place in our hearts this year!
The last view is my teacher area. I basically created myself a small, but necessary box in the corner. I had trouble with students getting into my space during my second year of teaching which led to this set up. However, this year's group actually used my computer quite a bit for research and projects and we encountered no problems. Then again, I learned a lot during my second year and I saw a huge improvement in my management skills during my third year. It made everyone (students, parents, administrators, and me) happy! I have never had so many thank you's and compliments from parents as I did this past year.
You can see bits and pieces of my pirate theme scattered throughout the room. This year, I'm expanding on that and you will see nautical and pirate items throughout my room. I'm super excited to create a super cute room this year! The ideas just keep coming to me for this year's classroom.
