Classroom Tour!

I've been a fan of teacher blogs for a LONG time. I'm so excited to finally start my own, because I'm finally a real teacher! I have just started my first year teaching 5th grade at a wonderful school in Oklahoma. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to keep up with this, but I'm looking forward to sharing and learning from others!

I guess the best place to start is with a classroom tour!

 Here is a panoramic shot of the whole thing standing in the doorway. It looks a lot bigger all stretched out like this!

Here's one of my cabinets with my Classroom Jobs and Daily Schedule on it. I printed the schedule cards and cut everything else out on my Cameo! I'll be putting my students' pictures in the job squares.

Here is my back counter. I'm bummed because the glare from the lamination makes it hard to read my nice posters and month circles! But the poster above the sink says, "I'm Done! Now What?" I made it and printed it at Staples.

I made all of the month circles and had them printed at Staples as well. I love the chalkboard look, but definitely don't want to use that much of my own color ink! I have since hung my students' pictures on the ribbons. I took their picture holding a cute chalkboard with their birth date on it. 

(Sort of like this, but they are holding the chalkboard underneath their face. That's me by the way!)

Here is my desk area. I took these pictures before school started 2 weeks ago and man, my desk hasn't been this clean since then! Yikes! The hanging chevron file is from Mardel. I put copies and class sets of upcoming work by subject in each file. 

I painted the cork boards just using painter's tape and acrylic paint. I love how it came out!

You can sort of see my teacher's toolbox there under my lamp. It's been so handy so far, especially for tiny things!

Here's my desk from the other side. This is the teacher part of my meeting area. The chair and easel are from Ikea. The posters with numbers are to check for understanding- made and printed at Staples. 

View of my meeting area. Rugs are 2 medium sized rugs from Ikea. I couldn't find a black and white or non-primary themed classroom rug, and these were just $20 each! Love it. 

The posters above the Smart Board are the Rule posters from Hope King's Desire to Inspire package. Darn laminating!

There's my half circle table, which I love for conferencing and small groups, and my white board. I don't plan on using it for much besides our daily agenda. Everything on the white board was cut with my Cameo. Shout out to my awesome sister for hot gluing magnets on them for me!

Here is my pride and joy- my classroom library. I worked SO HARD this summer leveling and labeling all of my precious books. My mom is an elementary school librarian, and she's been graciously collecting books for me over the past 5 years. That plus books from used book stores, donations, and from my own childhood, and I've got lots for them to choose from! 

The clear book buckets are from Ikea. I had a hard time deciding what to use for my books, but these are PERFECT. They are sturdy, and not too big, so they won't crack when kids pick them up by one end. 

The white magazine files are my students' book boxes. They've since colored them to match their personality, and I added colored labels with their numbers. 

Here are the Desire to Inspire posters from Hope King. I love how these look, and can't wait to reference them throughout the year. 

Here's the side of a filing cabinet turned Where Are We? board! I used sparkly ribbon from Hobby Lobby and painted wooden circles from Michaels. This has been so helpful! I love being able to see where everyone is at a quick glance. 

Well I'll leave it at that today! Like I said, I took these before school started 2 weeks ago, and it looks so different with 23 kids in it! I'll be updating with some more pictures soon!

-Lydia