Teaching With Style: classroom decor

Showing posts with label classroom decor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label classroom decor. Show all posts
I love decorating, both my home and my classroom.  When it comes to classroom decor, I have used Schoolgirl Style for the past 4 years.

It started in my 2nd grade classroom on the island of Lanai in 2013 when I used the Rainbow Chalkboard collection.  I love the bright colors and it mixed perfectly with my black fabric bulletin boards, freshly painted black bookcases, and bright colored accents.

I even used some of the signs to label areas in the computer lab! 

When we moved to Maui and I got a transfer to a school in Lahaina teaching first grade, I wanted an under the sea Eric Carle theme to match my new ocean rug from Kid Carpet.  So I combined the Bugs and the Ocean collections. 

Then, I learned about our neighborhood school (I had been commuting 45 mins to an hour each way).  It's arts-integrated, a newer building with AC, and full of passionate teachers.  I needed to be a part of it! They offered me fifth grade and I happily accepted the challenge.  I went for the Flamingo Watercolor collection to create a calming, yet fun environment.  I used the same curtains from my Lahaina classroom and I brought the ocean rug up to 5th grade, too.  The kids liked laying on it to read because it is so soft.  I also kept the same library bins, although I had to get almost all new books. I added a bunch of alternative seating options, such as pillows, a pub height table with stools,  a lowered table with stools, a elastic strip chair, and a large bean bag.

Front of the room.

Notice the READ letters on the wall from my 2nd grade classroom on Lanai and the fabric bunting on the windows from my 3rd grade classroom in Oregon!

Other corner showing the library.

I loved working with upper grades and re-learning the standards myself.  I can say that I am SO much better and more confident in math than I ever have been! Thank you visual strategies! But at the end of the year when my principal needed to move an upper grade teacher to a new section of 1st grade and asked me, I jumped at the chance to be with the little ones again.  My husband wasn't so happy about helping me move classrooms, yet again, but cest la vie.

I brought back the black fabric for my bulletin boards and wanted to mesh the Rainbow Chalkboard collection with the Watercolor Flamingo form last year.  The result was actually Melanie's newest collection: Color My Classroom! It's perfect, too, because of all the art cutouts!

Notice the library bins, READ letters, curtains, and ocean rug are back. 

I love this mail sorter.  Been going strong for 7 years now.

I brought down the elastic band chair, bean bag, and free Craigslist table from 5th grade.

Writing nook and shared supplies

Adorable tent from Target and sturdy, yet comfy cushions from Luv Chicken. 

In my fifth grade room I used the background watercolor papers to create my own cursive letter alphabet to hang.  

Well, I accidentally printed two sets!! I got permission from Melanie to give away the 2nd set, since I definitely won't be needing it in 1st grade.
 

If you are interested in winning, enter the rafflecopter below! Good luck! GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.



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Aloha! I've officially been a 5th grade teacher for 2.5 weeks! And it's going well! Today I wanted to take some time to show you some classroom set up that is working!



When I came in my room this summer, I had enough desks for 16 students, but I knew I would have 25.  Instead of begging the custodians to find me more desks, I decided to embrace the challenge and try to go for more alternative seating this year!

I ended up getting rid of all desks except one double that was set pretty short.  I got a kitchen table for free on Craigslist, pulled a rectangle table in from the hallway, and utilized the existing round table, kidney-shaped table, and computer desks for student seating.

Now, since my students don't have desks, where do their things go?

Backpacks go on this backpack cart from Lakeshore Learning.  Thank you Donorschoose! We just wheel it out to the hallway during classtimes.

All supplies are shared and go in these drawers on the bottom shelf.  The labels are from School Girl Style's Flamingo Watercolor Set.  I used the font Sweet Peony.  The middle shelf has clipboards, crayons, mini-staplers, and date stamps.  The top is where I set down my curriculum books or read alouds, colored pencils organized by color, along with loose leaf paper, tape, extra scissors, pens, and index cards in the letter trays.  

Homework gets turned in each morning to these student mailboxes.  I also use it to pass back papers, tests, and notes from the office. Thank you again, Donorschoose! I've had this Quill Literature Organizer for 6 years and it is still going strong!  

Book boxes are really important in my room!  They house independent reading books, reading journal, writing journal, and a science poetry book.  When kids finish assignments, I don't have a fancy fast finisher area, I only allow them to read or write.  They can grab their book box, get cozy, and get to work! 
Letters on my bulletin board are from the Flamingo Watercolor collection. 

I bought this booktruck from Demco a few years ago when I was drowning in text books.  I love that it has double sided storage and moves.  This year each group has a large magazine file to house social studies folders, reader response books, and spelling journals.  On top is old leveled readers that I let the kids take home if they want.  The other side is all the extra loose leaf paper, composition books and folders.
Those labels are from the Flamingo Watercolor collection, too!

Homework binders and planners go in chair pockets, just like my last year's class. These are the large Seat Sack Plus from The Original Seat Sack Company.  They are my FAV! Super durable! 
These girls are sitting at my free kitchen table! 

There are enough chairs for every child, even though they are not required to sit in them and they sit in new seats each day.  The kids are grouped into 5 heterogeneous groups of 5 for our current social studies and science units.  I'm doing expert groups/jigsaw activities for both units, so it's super helpful to have them in the same groups.  As they come in in the morning, each group decides where they want to sit and places their team sign on the table.  The table number holders are from Amazon.  I went to two different restaurant supply stores on island and they didn't have them.  I tried to buy local! Lol.  
The signs are from, you guessed it, the Flamingo Watercolor collection!

At each table is a supply caddy for supplies they need more often: pencils, erasers, glue, scissors, and crayons.  Some of the caddies are from Really Good Stuff and some are from School Girl Style.  Melanie has some awesome colors in her shop! 

So far, I'm really happy with this set up! And the kids and I can easily move tables and chairs to the side to have more space in the classroom for dance or drama.  And I'm happy to not have extra things from home all over the classroom, just the necessities! 

What are your favorite storage tips? 

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My school, the entire state of Hawaii actually, has adopted the Reading Wonders basal program this year.  My school is in full swing of implementation and we've gone through a little trial and error figuring it out.

The writing component has been the hardest for me.  I feel that my kids need a lot more than what is presented in the book.  We started the year having to teach the program with fidelity, so I started making units to supplement but that aligned.


We also need to have a focus wall.  I wanted to incorporate pocket charts so I'm not putting tons of holes in my boards or holes in my posters and cards.  You can see that I started off by hand writing my spelling cards and the essential question.  I also used the sight word cards that came with my materials, but I didn't like that there wasn't picture support or a sentence for context.

 Here is my focus wall after I made things the way I wanted them.  I still hand write my essential question just because of space.  But I like that element of non-laminateness.  That's a word, right? ;)

I'm happy that I'm able to re-use some of my old materials from 2nd grade, like my schedule cards.

And my jobs chart.

I also put up my 1-4 assessment posters to help introduce our writing rubric.  The kids were able to catch on a lot faster with these visuals of what writing looks like at each level.

My writing and Word Work materials for Daily 5 are below this wall.  In the drawers, I have various Word Work materials, such as play dough sight words.

And sight word stamping sheets.

For writing, I have staples and date stamps in the bottom bucket, and word cards in the top bucket.  The kids can practice the words on whiteboards, use them to help get ideas, or use them to help spell correctly.

I'm definitely tweaking things as I go, as I learn more about my students, and as I grow more familiar with the program.  So far, though, this is what has been working for me.  I'm a little slow to get my weekly units up, but that's only because I'm a perfectionist and it takes me forever to create things! So please be patient with me :)

If you are interested in any of the units above, here is where you can find them:
Wonders Unit 1 Focus Wall
Wonders Unit 2 Focus Wall
Schedule Cards
Jobs Chart
Assessment Posters
Wonders Unit 1 Printable Bundle (also available by week if you don't want to commit to the whole bundle at once)
Caitlin's FREE Word Work and Writing Cards
Stephanie's Flash Fluency Bundle


And here's a freebie for all my Wonders peeps - Editable Newsletters! I've only created up to Unit 3 (remember, I have to create as I go) but I'll upload the new templates as soon as I make them for you.  I hope they help you stay organized and connected to your students' parents!


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I have been so busy these past few months setting up my new classroom and teaching new curriculum in first grade! I'm here today with some classroom pics for you! We had our annual Open House a few weeks ago, so I made sure to have student work posted for parents to see.

This is the front door.  I have my Carson Dellosa Eric Carle Birthday Chart up, student mailboxes right by the door, some storage above the cabinets, art supplies and cleaning products in those cabinets.  Our Cafeteria Expectations craft, a freebie from Rowdy in Room 300, is hanging up.  I put little pieces of velcro on them so the students can open the lunch boxes to see the rules.  They loved that!  I made a bunting with an All About Me pennant.  I sent it home for students to decorate and add a photograph, then I laminated them so they will last all year.  I'm not sure where the banner is from, I found it in my filing cabinet from the teacher that left.  But there are tons of them for free or for very cheap on TpT.

Here is the math wall.  I have a calendar up with a mixture of resources from Teacher Created Resources, Schoolgirl Style, and my Calendar Starter Set.  The banner says "First Grade" and is from Schoolgirl Style's Bug collection.  I'm in love! I made the "Today is" with white vinyl on my Cricut machine.  We have 3 days to solve math problems posted: draw a picture, use a model, and use objects.  We'll add to the list as we go through the year.  You can find my Math Problem Solving Strategies here.  The number posters above the bulletin boards are from First Class Teacher Resources.  They were up in my room when I moved in.  The Number Sense Posters below the board are from my good friend Corinna at Surfin Through Second.  The big sign to the right of the board I found on Zulily.  The shelves and buckets on the left house my manipulatives and math centers.  The Math About Me crafts on the bulletin board are from Linda Kamp.  

Here is my computer station and word wall area.  I sewed the covers for the computers so they stay clean when not in use.  I found the fabric in my classroom, so they were free! I shared about my word wall in my July Bright Ideas post.  The taller cabinet to the left of the computers houses all my tech stuff: headphones, chargers, etc.  The craft on the front is Name in a Ten Frame freebie from Sam Nowak.  The magazine files on top of the cabinet hold student Morning Work folders.  We use First Grade Morning Work from A Teeny Tiny Teacher. I have some more storage (not pretty, I know) above the tall cabinets.  Inside hold all my teacher books, extra games, manipulatives, basically anything I don't want students to have access to all the time.  

Here is my teaching area.  My purple book cart holds all my extra Wonders anthologies, as well as leveled readers.  The little chevron tubs (originally from Pick Your Plum) hold connecting cubes for table groups to use.  Hanging up high on the wire that goes across the room are School Is Cool crafts, a freebie from Miss Kindergarten.  My iPads and laptops are on the poster drawer cabinet.  

Here is my front board.  I have Picture Direction cards from Miss Kindergarten, my WBT scoreboard, Daily Schedule cards in the green pocket chart, and What To Do When You Are Finished large poster on the front of the big book chart.  I don't have a whiteboard easel (and I am used to teaching with one), so I just placed a whiteboard on top of the big book cart and that's working well for me.  My teacher chair is from Walmart.  I made the alphabet posters that are up above.  I hope to have those posted on TpT soon.  The Work on Writing wall has a What Do Writers Do? poster from The Teacher Wife and posters from Lyndsey Kuster's Be A Writing Expert pack.  

Here is my favorite spot - the library.  Book bins are from the Dollar Tree and Really Good Stuff.  I made the book bin labels years ago and put them in name tag holders and attach them with binder rings.  I love this method.  I made the READ letters last year.  The 3 Ways to Read a Book poster is a freebie from Lyndsey Kuster.  The WBT rules are freebies from here.  The iHelp board is my classroom jobs chart.  The large rug is from Kidcarpet.com.  

Here is the back door and the circle table that my ELL teacher pushes in for small group instruction during reading and math for my language learners.  The folders by the door hold extra homework, notes, book orders, etc. for parents.  My take-home book library is in those white drawers on the left of the picture.  In that shelf are old leveled readers that I need to sort into my take home books.  It's a work in progress.  I made covers for all my classroom pillows last year so they are all bright colors and so they can be cleaned easily.  

I stood on my kidney table to get this shot! Here, you can really see all the clutter on the desks.  That should be solved if our Donorschoose project gets funded!  I've asked for a tall shelf to house all the book boxes. Crossing my fingers! You can also see the other side of the hanging wire across the room.  We did Miss Kindergarten's Kickin' Off A Great Year and made goals for what we want to learn this year. 

Remember that birthday chart?

Well, the kind people at Carson Dellosa are letting me give one away to one of you! Just fill out the Rafflecopter below.  GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.  

Good luck!  In the meantime, make sure to check out their entire line of Eric Carle items - there are so many cute ones! 
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Today I have a fun tip for saving ink and making your classroom oh so colorful - bright paper! My school doesn't have color printers, so everything that I want in color, I have to print at home.  It was a big shock to me a few years ago and I went through cartridge after cartridge trying to bring color into my classroom.  As we know, color can cultivate creativity and make a classroom warm and inviting. But did you also know that it can increase retention by 18%, accelerate learning by 55-78%, and also increase comprehension by 73%? (According to the Color Marketing Group).  Color is pretty amazing! 

I couldn't keep spending my whole paycheck on ink, so I started making things for my classroom in blackline and printing them on colored paper.  They still look great! So when Astrobrights contacted me about sampling their line of colors, I was so excited! I knew these would be wonderful for my classroom!

Here are all the colors that Astrobrights makes - in regular paper and in cardstock.

I printed vocab cards for Enemy Pie, from Stephanie Stewart's Back to School Bash.

I printed my math critical thinking question freebie to post around my calendar.

I printed this Juice Box Bully craft from Across the Hall in 2nd Grade's Bully Book Pack.  The great thing about using colored cardstock for crafts is that the paper fits perfectly in the copy machine! So easy! 

And here's a little sneak peek at my finished classroom! This is my math wall.  Can you spot the question discussion starters? 

Astrobrights is having an awesome back to school contest where one teacher from each state can win a $250 gift card to colorize their classroom.  You can enter through their facebook page! All you have to do is share a picture of how you colorize your classroom!  You can get more details at ColorizeYourClassroom.com.


But lucky for us - one Teaching With Style reader will also win this same box full of paper, plus a $50 gift card to Office Depot! Woot! Good luck! 




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