Classroom Pictures 2015-2016
This is my 6th year in my classroom.   I can hardly believe after my first few years of teaching that I actually have stayed put for that long!  It seems like I moved every single year for 4 years… because, well, I pretty much did, ha!  The one time I moved right next door just about did me in.  Was it really necessary to pack up a whole classroom to walk five steps????  Anyways, here’s my little home away from home!

This little reading area is always a classroom favorite.

Math manipulatives and teacher resource bins
Lockers, Math Station Cart, and Reading Area #2… which I’m realizing wasn’t picked up before taking pictures, ha!  And, my clock needed a battery so I took it off the wall.  That was the only way I could remember to actually send a friend to the office for a battery, ha!
Here is my Spanish word wall and Spanish alphabet… along with the rest of my book bins.  42 book bins (because of my two classes) take up a lot of space!!!
Another view of my locker area.  Do you see our pet snake??  This is the girl’s class pet.  My homeroom named her Lizzie and the other class named her Sparkle.  She watches over the students and chooses a girl to sit with each day :).  That blue basket from Hobby Lobby is where my students put their take home folders in the morning.  It’s sitting on top of our math station cart for now.  The pirate activity came from Babbling Abby HERE!
Here is the front of my room where we gather for stories and whole group lessons.  We also use this as Reading Spot #3!
Number Word Pennants, Number LineSubject Labels, Chair is from Kroger, Pillows and Rug from Big Lots
To the side of my room you’ll find my English alphabet and English word wall directly above my main classroom library.

I keep class pictures on my back cabinets.  I still have pictures up from last year… hopefully I’ll be able to change those out soon!  We also use this space to file papers, get markers, place unsharpened pencils, and keep up with our AR points.
Sometimes your classroom is the perfect place to keep high school keepsakes like your cheerleading megaphones, ha!
This big jumbled mess is my teacher area and small group table.  I still have a lot of organizing to do, but I need to recover from the first week!
Here’s the view from my area.  You may be able to see the boys’ pet snake over near the tree.  My homeroom named him Hornhead and the other class named him Lightning.  He doesn’t have sparkles and thinks that girls have cooties.  The boys think he is ridiculously cool!
 I get a lot of questions about table caddies.  For now I keep crayons, pencils, and erasers in my table caddies.  Now that I have Seat Sacks I can keep all of our white board materials in those.  After years of students using scissors incorrectly and not closing glue lids, I decided to hoard those at my teacher table instead of keep them at the student tables.  I keep a bucket of scissors and a bucket of glue near my table so that my students can get those when needed.  It actually works really well and our glue is no longer disappearing in a matter of seconds!!  I will eventually add highlighters, sticky notes, and a few other items to their table caddies, but they will have to be earned!!
Classroom Pictures 2014-2015

Hey y’all!  I’m not going to call this a BIG Classroom Reveal because it’s anything but that.  I more or less gave my classroom a *tiny* facelift… moved some things around, stuffed junk into cabinets, changed out a little bit of fabric and called it a day.  This will be my fifth year in my classroom, and it’s definitely evolved over the years, but my layout works for me, so I stick with it!  

This is my cabinet area (obviously!).  I stuff those cabinets full of junk that I pretty much never look at… because, well, I don’t want anything to fall out if I open those doors.  So, they stay closed for the majority of the year and I “look” organized 🙂  They house things like TEs, books, craft supplies, construction paper, etc.  I also have about 100 bottles of Germ-X in there 🙂
Decorative Bag Idea:  Cara Carroll, Shapes HERE, AR Posters HERE, Flower BB set from DJ Inkers, Cheer Megaphones:  PRICELESS 😉

I have my Daily Five charts ready to go!  I used Velcro dots to hang the paper so I can easily take it down while we are going over procedures!
 This used to be my student library, but I wanted to change that around.  I divided it into three sections:  Listen to Reading, Student Book Bins, and Math Manipulatives.
 My rug and pillows are from Target and Wal-Mart on the cheap!  We use the stuffed animals as reading buddies… cuddle up and read a book to your favorite furry friend!
Subway Art:  Hope King
 Until I’ve taught my lesson about choosing “Good Fit Books” my students will rotate through these books.  I placed 8 books in each book bin… these are books that don’t fit into a category in my student library!
When you walk into my classroom, this is what you will see (droopy paper and all…sigh)
Here’s my English Word Wall, English Alphabet (read about making your own student generated alphabet HERE!), Writing BB, and student library!
Vowel Glue Bottles:  The Teacher Wife

 I narrowed my categories down to start the year.  As the year goes on I will switch out book bins so that my students always have new books to read!
Library Labels:  Reagan Tunstall
Writing Pencil:  The Teacher Wife, Writing BB:  A Cupcake for the Teacher, Word Wall Letters:  Mardel

When I’m sitting in small group or at my computer, this is the view I see!
 Above my lockers I used wrapping paper.  It goes up really well and stays nice all year!  I will put student work on the empty side 🙂
School Responsibilities:  HERE, Clock Numbers:  HERE, Locker Numbers:  HERE

I decided to put this annoying wire shelf back together… it was painful and awful, BUT it works!  The chevron bins are from Wal-Mart!  I’m going to house either station materials OR student supplies here 🙂  I’m going to use the cookie sheet for important reminders and info!
Bathroom Pass Idea:  Erica Bohrer
Here’s a little peek at my Spanish area… I have a Spanish word wall, Spanish alphabet, and Bulletin Boards for Spanish vocabulary.  I also wanted another little reading nook, so I bought another rug from Wal-Mart and placed it in the corner 🙂  I’ve never known what to do with that small space, but this seems to work!
 I can see my kiddos cuddling up with a good book here!
Group Jobs:  HERE, Color Words:  HERE
 This is the front of my room and our meeting area.  I put all of my math resources down low so that my students can easily access them.  I also put thematic books on my white-board tray that my kids can read from when they finish work early.  I change these out every few weeks, and new books always bring a level of excitement to the classroom!  On my board I write our objectives, table points, and spelling words for the week.

Number Line:  Scholastic, Number Words:  HERE, Hundreds Pocket Chart:  HERE

This is my small group/teacher area.  Tomorrow I will go into a little more detail about what I keep over here 🙂  Ignore that saggy paper… it’s driving me crazy, but obviously not too much because I have yet to fix it, ha!  On a side-note… I can staple into ALL of my walls, I buy fabric and wrapping paper from Hobby Lobby.  My room is super easy to put together because It’s pretty much four walls with lots of space!  I don’t have a window, but I do have a skylight that lets in a TON of natural light… my room is NEVER dark because of it 🙂
Classroom 2012-2013
Hey y’all!  I’m here to show you my 2012-2013 classroom!  Now, before we begin, I have to tell you that my classroom is totally a ‘work in progress!’ But if anyone gets that it is you because YOU are a teacher!  My campus has been closed ALL summer, so when Monday rolled around last week I was very eager to get in and start working!  
Here is my English Alphabet(my students will create the pictures/words to go with each letter), English Word Wall, and Writing Bulletin Board!  You can find the pencil poster {HERE} and the Writing BB set {HERE}!  I used fabric from Hobby Lobby on all of my boards 🙂  And, I can easily staple to any wall in my room, PTL!
 Now on to the front of my classroom!  I have my Spanish Alphabet, AR tracking board, objectives for the day and my calendar will go on that blank BB once I figure out how I want that space to look!  You can find the number words {HERE}.  I found those pillows at Target!
Closer look at my AR tracking board… still need to add some accents and student clips so they can move along the ribbons as they earn AR points!
 Here is my Spanish Word Wall and computer table
 I have an obsession with buying children’s books, do you?!  I have actually cut back quite a bit this year so that my students can choose more easily, and I want to showcase some books/author studies throughout the year!  I used Hope’s Subway Decor that you can find {HERE} and {HERE}
 Closer look at my book bin labels that I got from Reagan Tunstall!
 Next up… student lockers!  Above the lockers you will see our school responsibilities.  I sent the images to Wal-Mart so that I could make them poster-size!  The clock numbers you can grab up {HERE}.  My locker numbers are from {HERE}.  The birthday cupcakes are from {HERE}!  The star paper is actually wrapping paper!!  The paper and lanterns are from Hobby Lobby!
 I am so glad that those cabinets have doors because the inside is just a mess, y’all.  You would probably be like…. this girl has a blog?  She can’ even organize cabinets!  BUT, those doors hide all of my clutter 🙂  I was inspired by Cara Carroll last year to make my cabinet decor!  After I got rid of my ladybug theme I needed something cheap and quick to put above my cabinets SO those bags were the perfect solution (found at Hobby Lobby)!  You’ll also see my Daily Five charts that I have ready to go!  I used velcro dots to stick ’em up so that I can easily take them down to fill out with my kiddos!
 Closer look at my bags!
 View of my room from the sink (I’ll have anywhere from 20-22 students I think!)
Table caddies are my life saver!  Seriously, I don’t deal with student boxes and keeping up with individual supplies!  We share everything!!  The Table Numbers come from my Chevron Unit!
My table caddies aren’t quite full yet, but you get the picture of how I store their supplies.  The baskets and caddies are from Really Good Stuff!
 View of my room from the door…
 View of my room from the computer table…
 View of my room from my teaching table…
 I got rid of my teacher desk a few years ago and I haven’t looked back!  There’s so much less clutter and so much more available space!  The reading posters came from A Cupcake for the Teacher that you can find {HERE}!  I will post pictures of my family on my Mrs. Lemons board and my laptop will go on that student desk if I don’t need it for a kiddo!
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 Here’s how I organize my teaching supplies and materials (All of my labels come from HERE).  My binder holders can be found HERE and the plastic bins are from the Dollar Tree!
 And, here’s my wall of “unfinished work”  I need the classroom fairy to visit my room and make it all go away 🙂
WOAH!  That was a lot of information, but I don’t want to leave out any little part!  I am hoping to have everything finished in the next week or so if life goes as planned 😉  

28 Responses

  1. I love the letter style you used on the LOOK WHAT board above your kid's lockers. I love how they are extra large. I love the patterns and bright colors. Where did you get them?

  2. I LOVE your classroom and your blog. I am new to the blogging world but I am learning more each day. My blog is mscardenskindergartensuperstars.blogspot.com. I am moving to second grade this year and your blog is a huge inspiration.

    Thanks
    Kathryn

  3. Hi! My name is Sam Larsen and i am thinking of becoming a second grade teacher also. Im only 18 so i have a while before i actually get there but i just had a few questions it you wouldnt mind. What is the best part of being a teacher? Does it ever get overwhelming? And Is it hard to find a job being a teacher?

  4. In love w/your classroom!! I'm a first year teacher and I have yet to figure out a better organization system that works for me! Budget is limited so I don't have much storage for my classroom… I fully enjoyed seeing your pictures and reading the info above each. What are the gift bags for? Just decor that says “Second Grade”? I have so many questions right now, as I'm desperate for help, but I don't want to overwhelm you just yet (heheh). I'd appreciate a response or you can email me here: grisel(dot)blanco(at)gmail(dot)com. Thanks SO much!!! New follower!! (:

  5. I love your black chevron alphabet that is on your wall and the fact that your kids make the alphabet. Where did you get the template for this? I would love to buy it!! Thanks!

  6. Hi, love your classroom and ideas! I teach 2nd grade dual language (Spanish side). Does your partner have a blog as well? My partner loves your blog!!!

  7. I absolutely LOVE your classroom. I am a second grade teacher in my 2nd year. Where do you get your resources? Do you download on teachers pay teachers? It's so nicely put together.

  8. I love everything I see in your classroom! I'm getting ideas of how I can transition my kinder classroom into a second grade classroom. It'll be my first year teaching second grade after 4 years in kinder. Thanks for sharing!

  9. I was wondering how your chair pockets are holding up and where did you get them? I am desperately looking for something will hold up!!!:(