Word Wall and Organizing Student Supplies

Alright we are in pretty good shape!  Got a bit done on organizing the books in the classroom library.  I have a plan at the very least and that is a good start.  Printing labels to mark all of the books accordingly tonight!

Today I worked on getting the students book boxes and individual math manipulatives organized in a way that they are easily accessible.  I decided on having a small shelf at the end of each table group to house these supplies.  I also included a bin for extra pencils, glue and scissors, etc.  as well as a clip board on each shelf with phonics, sight word and math resources (kind of like mini anchor charts).  The students will keep their take-home folders and their own pencil boxes in their desks.  I also was gifted some denim chair pockets so the students can keep their individual whiteboards, math notebooks and science notebooks in their for safe-keeping.  LOTS of supplies to keep track of so hopefully these organizational systems will help the kids and I to be successful with everything!

The other thing I have finished is my word wall.  I used to have my word wall up on an actual wall, but the last few years I have given up a bit of my whiteboard so I can have my word wall there instead.  I LOVE IT!  It is totally worth losing a little whiteboard space.  It makes the word wall much more fluid and easy to color code.  I can put content specific words in one color and sight words in another.  I can also use varying colors to discriminate between consonants and vowels as well as use a specific color to identify word endings for students.  So easy and so helpful!  I will have to post what this looks like a bit more after the year starts and we are adding words to the wall!!!

Starting to Look Like a Classroom!!!

I am so stinkin' exhausted!  I worked my tail off today, my biggest accomplishment being that I have all of the bulletin boards ready to go.  Now to just get the rest of the classroom cleared out and organized so I can get kids in there to teach.  Let's fill those bulletin boards with some cool anchor charts of things we are learning!  Getting excited and nervous for September!

As you can see I am trying something new.  I have organized the bulletin boards by subject matter.  I have seen some teachers in intermediate grades try this and have a lot of success so I am giving it a whirl.  I will let you all know how it goes!

Next big undertaking is labeling all of the books and the book bins accordingly.  That may have to wait until I return from Kauai though...unless I am feeling REALLY motivated tomorrow by some miracle!

You Can Never Have Too Many Suggestions For Good Books, Right?

So, one more for all of you!  This one is just a fabulous read for a teacher's soul.  Reassuring, kind, funny at times and very positive messages overall.  It is a great one to maybe end a school year with or start a fresh year with.  My hussband Matt brought this book home for me just a day ago and I am already close to done with it.  I found it very captivating.  I may have to read some of his other books!

Progress!

Pretty productive day today as far as the classroom goes!  I started the nitty gritty going through all of the materials that were left by the previous teachers.  Lots of great stuff fortunately, so I will need to find some creative ways to store and organize all of those goodies.  Also, have the student desks generally arranged and some areas for whole-group and small-group instruction ready to go(ish)!  This is where the fun part of setting up the classroom begins!  Looking forward to the next phase where I am not just going through box upon box!