Classroom Reveal!

It feels SO good to be done with my classroom! My little firsties will be coming Thursday night for back to school night, and I'm pumped! Before I reveal my room, did you hear that TPT is having ANOTHER back to school sale? I'll be discounting my entire store to join in the fun!

Without further ado, I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin' to show off my room! Link up to show off yours, too!

Here's the view from the moment you walk in my door. Not sure who decided that those cabinets should be placed in the MIDDLE of the classroom, but we make the best of it. Good news is that the kids' stuff is ALWAYS out of sight. I have a set of mailboxes, so I use their cubbies for their Daily 5 book box. I will pre-load them with a handful of books after back to school night, because I'm starting Daily 5 Boot Camp on day 2! The posters above my sink are all book jackets, and the chalkboard posters are by A Year of Many Firsts... LOVE them.

Here's a closer look at my classroom library... I finally bit the bullet and bought that IKEA leaf I've been eyeing up for YEARS. Luckily, there's a metal contraption in the corner that holds all sorts of wires and such, so I used some UBER strong magnets and hung it. The rug is also from IKEA. Since I only have 19 students this year and about a billion cubbies, I put pillows in the few right by the library so they can sit in there. I also put out some stuffed animals if they want to read with a buddy.

Listening center for Daily 5. Got the chairs from Wal-Mart a few years ago, and the carpet from IKEA. On my closet door, I post what stories are in the listening center, and what track number they are (I make my own CD's for the listening center... read all about it HERE!) Also, our entire district is implementing a new anti-bullying curriculum, so the primary grades are all using Have You Filled a Bucket Today as a starting point. I'll keep you posted on how I use it in my classroom. Do you use bucket fillers? Please share your ideas!!

Thar she blows. A bunch of teachers in my building have fun frog themes or fun pirate themes... My theme is "borderline sensory overload" and I love it. So there.

This is supposed to be the teacher desk... In the middle of the room. I'm not using it this year, and I've started a trend in our hallway!! We're getting 2 more laptops for each room, hence the 4 stools, which are from... wait for it... IKEA! Legit $4.99 a pop. Bare cabinets will soon be sporting writing goals and anchor charts.

Also bit the bullet and got rid of my rocking chair... I'm still a little sad about it. For back to school night, I always have the kids write their name on the chart paper. It's an eye-opening experience and helps me remember that my kiddos are kindergarteners when I get them, which is still scary for me.

Starting left to right, the drawers are my writing center. Each drawer is a different option. Write a letter, post card, list, etc. Daily 5 i-charts and schedule, reading... I divided my board up into general comprehension strategies, nonfiction, and fiction. Underneath is just another spot to read and Jelly Bean, the world's fattest guinea pig in the world.

Since I got rid of my desk, this my command center. I have everything I need right behind me, and since I spend the majority of my day at my reading table, I decided to make it my home away from home.

Back to school night... I don't use newsletters, as you may have read, so I printed out directions on how to follow our class on Instagram, and the digital picture frame has Instagram pictures from the past year. I'm hoping the majority of parents just sign up that night.

I also set up a little giving tree and asked parents to take a leaf or two... Hoping the donations come flowing on the first day! The Giving Tree! Love. I can't take credit for it... Teacher friend, who has started referring to me as "Mr. Pinterest" came up with that all on her own and I stole it!

Is your room done? Link up! I want to see!!

Day 2... Check!

Hello! Today was MUCH better than yesterday. It may or may not have had something to do with the magical pharmaceutical cocktail I pounded before school and then again at lunch. Praise the lord for sudafed.

Anywho, I tried to take a few pics of some things we've done over the last 2 days, but am still stuck with my dreadful reliable iPhone 4 with a dreadful meh camera.

First day of school is always a whirlwind. I started off by giving my firsties a tour of the school that included a trip to the cafeteria with our lunch numbers so we could practice putting those pesky numbers into the keypad then walking to our lunch table. Don't ask my how 2 of my kids managed to lose their lunch numbers between the entrance to the kitchen and the checkout computer. When we got back, I read one of my favorite first day of school books, Wemberly Worried. Love her. She cracks me up. What I love most about this book is that while some of her worries are things that students might actually worry about, the majority are silly worries, which always lightens the mood of my students. We spend so much time talking about our own silly worries that they practically forget that they're supposed to be worried about school. After reading the book, I gave my kiddos some time to write about what makes THEM worry, and we made this adorable (and super easy) Wemberly craft. The writing prompt and the craft are both from this awesome FREE Wemberly pack that was made by one of my favorite PA bloggers, Wendy, from Read With Me ABC.

We also started this awesome first week of school book. Each day they write a new page for the book about what they did that day. Love love love it. It's part of this back to school pack, that's also filled with TONS of other awesome activities that I can't wait to use! Great TpT find...

Today, I started introducing Daily 5 to my kids. I'm going to try my best to follow the suggested pacing guide in the back of the book, so today we talked about reading the words and reading the pictures, as well as expected behaviors during Read to Self. Right now, it sort of feels a little like dog training, but I think we'll get there! Overall, I was impressed at how well they responded to it, and can't wait to practice again tomorrow!

Today, I also used David Goes To School to introduce our school rules, the "4 B's..." (Be respectful, be responsible, be honest, be safe.) I LOVE LOVE LOVE David Shannon books, especially the David series. My kiddos were laughing SO hard, and it was very easy to create this list of "No David" behaviors and "Yes David" behaviors. Loved the conversations we had. I wrapped it all up with this fun little David craft, that's also FREE on TpT here. Another wonderful find!!

Have you done anything fun to start the year? I'm always looking for new ideas!