Thursday, September 27, 2012

A Look Around My Room

I thought I would start with a tour of my room.  It isn't the fanciest, but we like it.

Here is a view of the desks from the back of the classroom.


Here is a bulletin board at the back of the room that I use to hang student work.  I found these cute little lions at Dollar Tree!



This is our lunch chart.  The students find the popsicle stick with their name on it and move it to their lunch choice.  Then it doubles as an attendance chart.  And what is great is that it is on the side of my filing cabinet, so it is magnetic and I am using what could be wasted space.

Here is our word wall.  I always include all of the student's names because it is a great for back to school activities.


Here are our cubbies where students keep many of their journals and materials.  I am fortunate enough to have this nice drawer to hold them all.  

This is our reading corner...everyone's favorite part of the room. My tree is beginning to wilt after several years of use but it is lots of fun.  I made it with an umbrella and an empty carpet roll.  We like to hang different things from the tree....sight words we have been learning, stories we have been reading...

Please excuse the messy baskets on the bookshelf!  I haven't had a chance to organize my books yet for this school year.

This is our behavior chart.  We use a color changing system at our school, but instead of using cards, I like to use clothespins.  I use a yard stick that I have painted with the colors in our behavior chart. I like the yard stick because it is portable and can go with us when we go to music, pe, etc.  It also doesn't take up a bulletin board that I can use for learning space!  Our colors are green (everyone starts here), yellow (warning), red (5 min off of recess), blue (miss all of recess), purple (office visit), and gold (they went above and beyond to be good!).

Next to the behavior stick we have our mailboxes and an incentive chart. For every green day they have, they get a mark on their chart. When they reach their goal, they get to eat lunch in the classroom and watch cartoons!  I laminate my chart so that I can use a dry erase marker on it and reuse it over and over again! 

A Little About Me

I am just learning to blog, but I love reading other teacher's blogs so I though I would give it a shot too!

I currently teach first grade, but I have also taught second grade and fifth grade.  I love teaching first grade.  Every day is a new adventure!

I am also a wife and mother.  I have three boys of my own who keep me very busy!