One week to go!!!! My classroom so far.

Ok, so a while back I posted my before pictures and said I would update them, but I haven't, because I'm a VERY slow worker. What would take a "normal" person a few hours to do might take me all day. I don't know why, I just sit there and think . . . a lot. Example - it took me 5 hours to put up 5 bulletin boards. Only the fabric and borders mind you. Anyway . . . here is a glimpse of what I have so far. I'm actually pretty proud of myself because the majority of the mess is gone and I'm much farther ahead than other years.

Very proud of this. My new centers area where groups will come to turn in their work, pick up materials, journals, and practice workbooks. As you can tell, my groups are red, yellow, and green. Unfortunately, I've spent so much money I can't even shell out $1 to buy the missing yellow tub :( Maybe later on.

A parent last year (great parent!!!) donated this chica tree but later in the year. This year I'm going to use it starting day 2 when we begin the alphabet. We'll place each letter we learn on the tree and when we complete the letters we have a chica chica bum bum (yes I spelled it right, in Spanis :) celebration!!

I struggle with this part every year. My library. This year I bought the pretty blue and green bins, but could only afford 10, so this is where my small library will be. Currently my trash area as well. Not even my broom (sadly "disappeared"). I still need to wash the rug and pillows that will bo here and label the bins. You can check out my labels here. They're free :)

This is how I left this corner yesterday . . . . and today the custodian took all of the chairs out! Yay! So now (in 3 diff. pics) it looks like this . . .

Students' paper cubbies. I have to have cubbies for my now 50 students because I teach language arts to my class and my partner's. These only hold 24 each, so @ each end one student from each class will have to use a paper tray. The trays in the middle are for students who come from the office with papers to send home. I will hopefully train teach them to place them here instead of interrupting me :)

My "I don't know what to call it if you have an idea please tell me" area. This is where students will turn in homework and thursday envelopes. Of course, missing a tablecloth (needs to be washed).

Listening center. Unfortunately, I've never been able to implement a listening center because I only have one set of books with tapes/CDs. This will be my next donor's choose project (hint-hint). I think I'm going to ask parents to record them this year because I really think it's important for the kids, especially my English only students, to listen independently.

My new teacher's desk. It was donated to our school this year along with the chair. I love it because it's small. My previous desk could have been 2-3 times larger. The only reason I have a desk is because I have the after school program in my classroom every day until 6 pm and therefore need an area to work. They use all of the tables.

My writing BB. I place students' monthly writing assessments here each month using the clips that are there (sorry for the fuzzy pic). I don't take any of them down until the end of the year so that I can easily put them together and send them home as a great memory! Oh . . . and one of the few unsorted piles of 'STUFF' left :/

The beginnings of my literacy centers (like may do's). I've tried many times to incorporate this into my teaching, but have always resorted to the easy playdoh, white boards, blocks, etc. for students to do when they're done, but I really want them to do more enriching activities. Wish me luck! Still need to create a way to give them a choice of what to "play" but in an orderly fashion.

Student cubbies. Had to buy the white wire one on the left because the pink one only hold 20 backpacks and I will have 25 students.

Finally this is in my office. Super easy and organized :) Yay for me. Just pushpins in the wall and black binder clips holding everything up. Easy access to borders, sentence strips, b-day crowns (which I pre-write their names on and place them in order to make things easier), and anything else that lends itself to hanging.

Ok, that's all for now. It might not look like much, but if you knew me, you'd be very proud of what I've done a week before I have to be done. Stay tuned for the final pics. Definitely by next Friday because that's when we have our ice cream social to meet our new kinders!

Check out Teaching Blog Addict to see some great classroom pics!! They're even sorted by grade level!