Classroom Reveal- Monday Made It

Hey there!  I just wanted to pop in and show you a bit of my classroom!

We all know how we work sooooo hard to set up our classrooms so that they are a comfortable and inviting space!  To parents, it may not look like a lot, but we know the time and effort that went into it!  And it's all for the love of the children who will walk through those doors that first day!

I know this is not a traditional Monday Made It, but I do feel like I "made" the room and some of the things in it!  ;O)

I'm pretty proud of my desk space!  Well, not ON my desk, but behind it!  Y'all know I love books!  Well, they were organized, but not really cute.  Here's what it looked like before.

Sorry it's blurry!!  Yikes, right?  I mean they were organized but definitely not cute!  And then there were so many new books I hadn't found a spot for.  So, that's why I did this:

I got the bins (magazine holders) from Big Lots.  I love them!  They hold the bigger, longer books really well!  I did NOT love having to go to 3 different Big Lots repeatedly over the summer to get all of these and I'm not going to tell you what annoys me about this, although you can probably see it.  But I had to use what I could find.  I really wish they would have seasonal items online for purchase.  Oh well.  I still think it looks MUCH better than it did before.

I made those labels for them on the computer.  I really thought I was doing a good job with pictures but I didn't get close enough.

I'm not sure if you can use the labels, but I'm attaching them HERE if you'd like them for free!  It is an editable powerpoint so you can just type in there.  This is the first time I've made an editable file, so I hope it looks okay and works!

Here is the space just in front of my desk.  Please excuse the millions of pillows.  We use those during workshop time.  These amazing Grammar Morphology posters came from Kristen and Ladybugs Teacher Files and I'm so excited to have put them up this year!  I think they are going to be a great tool for my kiddos!

I made the "Parts of Speech" heading for the top of the posters.  :O)

Here is what my room looks like when you walk in.  I mean, you have peripheral vision so you'd see more but this is what my camera saw!  The board straight ahead has geography on it.  As we learn the terms we'll put the terms on the board and use string to label them.  It's our first unit in social studies!

This is what you see when you walk in my door to the left.

Here are my two carpet spaces.  The aqua rug is for whole group instruction at the board.  The zebra rug is for when I'm reading aloud.  I sit on the bench and read to them. The bench is a favorite spot during workshop time!  :O)  We spend almost the entire day on the carpet.  Really.  So when you see how their desks are to the side, that's because we are hardly ever at our desks.  A parent of a student I will have this year, who is also a teacher at another school, came in and said "Your room is huge!"  Well, it is a good sized room, but it seems huge because of all of the space in the middle.  It was strategic planning for the desks!

I have supplies in all of those drawers.  I need to label those next!

This is a picture from standing in front of my desk.  The board on the left is science (matter and the water cycle).  We will also add to that board as we go.  I feel like if you start the year with an explosion of materials on the walls, they'll never really "see" it because it becomes background.  But, if you let them help you put things on the wall, they do see it and reference it!

This is what it looks like when I stand at my kidney table.

And this is what it looks like from the front.

That crazy white space to the right is where they hang backpacks.  The wall is white because as we learn, I move posters, etc, over to that space so they are forced to look at it while they hang their backpacks!  ;O)

Here's another from the front corner!

I did make the pom poms for the tree.  Well, I mean I bought them from Party City and poofed them out.  But that's something, right?  Owls are obviously my classroom theme.  Why?  I just think they're cute!

Here is my classroom library that kids can get books from.  The bins are also from Big Lots and match the ones behind my desk.  The labels are from Kristen at Ladybugs Teacher Files. I obviously love all of her stuff!  I also have her Transitional Words Morphology Posters but I haven't figured out where I want to put them yet!  There are so many and all are valuable.  I may even put them in the hall and let them go out there during writing!

I love my window and my bench!

The day I took these photos (Friday) we were preparing to meet our students for the upcoming year at our registration.  I had these treats on the desk.

I didn't take a picture of the back after I had assembled them.  On the back is a label that says "4th Grade is a hoot!  I'm so excited to be your teacher this year!"  I made the heads with my Silhouette Cameo.  That was a process.  After some help from my friend Elizabeth at Fun in 4B and Megan at I Teach What's Your Super Power? I finally got it.  Totally user error, but it was a learning experience!

Oh, and all of this amazing clipart on my pictures is from Megan  at I Teach What's Your Super Power?  So cute, right???

So.  Here's the ONLY Monday Made It I've linked up all summer!  So sad, I know!  Make sure to go to the sweet and creative Tara's blog for more Monday Made Its!!

Have a great week!  Students come for their first day Tuesday!  I have staff development today.  I hope to be sharing some great activities we'll be doing very soon!

PS- Don't forget about the Back to School sale on TpT!!