Room Reveal 2014

I worked summer school two days a week this summer and stayed late on those afternoons to get my room in order. Teachers in my district start NEXT WEEK (yikes!) and my room is ready!!! I'll probably tweek a few things as the week progresses (I always do...) but for now here's my room!!!

Lunch Selection: Students grab their card and place it in the lunch choices each morning as they enter class. This is a quick and easy way to do a lunch AND attendance count. 

Lunch Boxes: Had to fancy this table up with some cheetah printed duct tape. 

How We Go Home: This really helps at the beginning of the school year. AND they are easy to move when someone changes transportation. 

Fact Tracker: Students take addition quizzes weekly and receive a 0 sticker when they pass their +0 quiz, a 1 sticker when they pass their +1 quiz, etc. 

Math Manipulatives: Our school has so much stuff to use with math!!! These are just a few things that are available. We use manipulatives DAILY in math instruction. 

Calendar Math: Students add to their math journal as we complete the activities together. Date, birthdays, how many days we've been in school, weather, 100s chart, clock/money, the essential question for our lesson, vocabulary, and problem of the day. 

Listening Center: This center is where the students listen and respond to the actual Social Studies book lesson for the week. 

Activity Center: This center changes from week to week. Most of the time we create some sort of Arts and Crafts type activity that lends itself to our Social Studies theme that week. 

Star Club Tracker: We use clips on this chart to keep up with who has passed their 100's quizzes. 

Mr. Potato Head: Everyday that we have more "Oh Yeahs!" Than "Mighty Groans" (see Whole Brain Teaching below) we add to Mr. PotatoHead. When he's fully put together, we have a party!!! 

Birthday Board: Each student receives a pixie stick balloon for their birthday. I print the birthday on the balloon so I don't forget anyone! 

Daily Schedule: I take out the slip as we finish each activity so my students know exactly what's happening next. 

Social Studies Center Assignments: Students rotate through each center once a week. 

Computer Center: Students watch a United Streaming video based on our social studies topic for that week. They take notes as they watch and add their notes to the fact chart. 

Computer Area: I try to keep this as compact as possible. No teacher desk=more space for the kids. 

Reading Center: Once per week, students self select books here, then respond to reading in their center log notebook. 

Reading Buddies: I tried to stay with the jungle theme and included giraffes, lions, tigers, and cheetahs. Oh my!

Leveled Readers: Students self select books on their "just right" reading level once a week. They take two home every night instead of reading the same old story out of the basal all week long. 

Word Study Center Assignments: We rotate daily to practice our spelling words and grammar focus. 

Word Study Supplies: From top left: roll and write, stamps, play dough, word study journals (empty for now), markers, wiki stix, small magnetic letters, large magnetic letters. The rest of the shelf is art supplies: pipe cleaners, glue bottles, glue sticks, clothespins, envelopes, 3D letters, stamps, and writing boards. 

Small Group Table: The shelves behind this table have everything I need for my small groups. Journals, dry erase boards, magnetic letter pie pans, dictionaries, etc. 

Math Centers: Fact practice, two games that rotate out as we complete each chapter, computer, and reading. These are choice activities for those early finishers. Students who don't quite grasp the lesson for the day come to small group with me. 

Restroom/Kitchen area: Complete with mini fridge, microwave, and a box of extra snacks (which I need to fill up...)

Writing Process Tracker: Students move their clip through each step in the process. It also helps me to know when they are ready to meet with me. 

Writing Center: Writing Center and Writer's Workshop are two different things in my class. Writing center is a place that students go to once a week to write about our social studies topic. Writer's Workshop is DAILY practice with writing on topics the students choose. We add to/change/and take away from this board as needed all year long. 

Extra Supplies and Pencil Sharpener: I keep all kinds of stuff in here. Tape, thumb tacks, pencils, sticky tack, ERRRRRTHANG. I spray painted it brown to match the room. 

Cubbies: cause who wants to trip over book bags all day???

Meeting Area: We meet here several times a day for good morning time, share time, mini lessons, and Junie B. Jones at the end of the day. 

Jungle Jobs: I spray painted the clothespins white and wrote the job on the clothespin. This way I can switch students' jobs if I need to. 

PBIS Matrix: We go over our school wide expectations the first week of school and refer to them daily. 

Whole Brain Teaching Commands: Do yourself a favor and go watch this lady! She is ahhhhhmazing. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o2Q5jzBU3II

Recess Bag: One of the jobs in my class is to carry our recess bag. It has tissue, "hanitizer", a first aid kid, my sun glasses, and the line up stick inside.  

Student Tables: The caddy in the middle holds everyone's pencils, scissors, glue sticks, and crayons. The students will get their homework folder, unifix cubes, and "First Grade is a piece of cake" treat at open house. 

Entrance Wall

Front Wall

Window wall

Back wall

And that's all folks! Questions, comments, feedback appreciated!

Welcome To the Jungle

No, this post isn't about Axl Rose.

I always TRY to put something cute on my door for Back to School night. This year my theme is "Mrs. Chilton's Cheetahs are WILD about Learning!" This was a very simple, yet eye catching, addition to my door and my theme!

All I did was tape a looooong strip of bulletin board paper to the inside of my door frame. I cut vertical strips after it was hanging securely. Then I used the same paper to dye cut the "Welcome to the Jungle" title over the door. I can't wait to see their faces when they step through the "leaves" and into our room! What kind of things do you decorate your door with?

Revive!

My students have always been "Mrs. Greene's Goodies", but I've never quite had a classroom theme. I'm a minimalist at heart and my CDO (that's OCD in alphabetical order) likes to keep things CLEAN. This year, however, I was so inspired by the trillion and one ideas on pinterest that I decided to create a full on classroom theme. Since I got married in April, and am now Mrs. Chilton, I decided on Mrs. Chilton's Cheetahs. JUNGLE THEME SAY WHAT!?!?!? I wish I'd had enough foresight to take before and after pictures, but I didn't...boo.

Anyway! Project número UNO on the docket was to REVIVE my old, blue bookshelf. I rescued this thing 8 years ago from the trash pile. You can kind of see it in the background of the picture below. (I hope I blurred the faces well enough!) Functional? Yes! Beautiful? No way! So...in keeping with my jungle theme, I spray painted the inside of the shelves (it took 3 cans of "Saddle Gloss") and covered the outside with decorative duct tape (3 rolls of leopard print). I was so proud of the outcome! What are some of your REVIVAL success stories?

Those Ratty Crayon Boxes

It's summer and I'm looking for some things to do from home that will help get my classroom ready for the next school year. In my classroom, we share everything (including sniffles and sneezes, but that's beside the point). We have tables instead of desks, and we share the materials in the middle of the table. Crayons, scissors, glue, pencils, it's all in there and we just grab what we need when we need it. By the end of the year my materials caddies are pretty beat up with crayon and pencil marks on the inside and outside. But, let's get real! Am I going to replace all 10 of them every year? No way! I'm cheap, and I'm on a teacher's budget/salary. Here's all you need to return them to their wonderful, preowned glory every year:

•Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (knock off brand works just as well)
•Goo Gone

Yep, that's it. Spray some goo gone on that magic eraser and start scrubbing! Actually, you don't have to scrub hard at all. I like to stick them in my dishwasher afterwards to get all of the slimy Goo Gone off of them.

And that's it! Just like new!

Lunch Choice

This little bookshelf is right beside the entrance to my classroom. Every morning I greet my students at the door and tell them today's lunch choice. (Tomorrow is Chicken Nuggets or Grilled Cheese Sandwich...yum!) Each student pulls his or her own card (made from blank index cards and peel and stick labels) and places it in the basket that corresponds with their choice. I also have a bucket in the middle for students who brought their lunch. This is a quicker way to add up the lunch tally AND as a bonus, it's also how I take attendance. If a student's card is still in their pocket, it means they are absent.

Colored Pasta

I use colored pasta as math manipulatives. Around different holidays, you can find different pastas! You can also use fun pasta like SpongeBob or Princesses. All you need is: dry pasta, food coloring, rubbing alcohol, Ziploc bags, paper towels, a drying tray.

First, put the pasta in the bag. Add 1/8 cup of rubbing alcohol for every 1/2 cup of pasta. Add as much food coloring as you want, depending on how dark you want the pasta to be. Shake the bag around until all of the pasta is colored. Drain the bag in the sink and dump the pasta onto a paper towel covered tray to dry. It usually takes about 2 hours to dry one bag of pasta.

Story Map Idea

Use poster board and pieces of construction paper. Cut to fit each element. Put it all together and LAMINATE. Use post-it notes to re-use for each story.


 Thanks to growingkinders.blogspot.com
for this GREAT IDEA!