The Skeleton forms....

Shell of room done.  All the bells and whistles not done.  But that's ok.  Way ahead of the game from last year.  I'm ready to do a  show and tell.

You can get the gist of my color scheme here.  This is going to be where I will be putting my data wall.  We are a Baldrige school, and so all our data is displayed out in the open.  Yep, yep.  This is where it will be. I'll put the quality student/teacher class mission on the squares above (they are magnetic- so super bonus there) and then the other data on the foam board beneath.  I covered it in some scrap duck cloth I had and added an extra strip of ribbon from Flamingo Fabulous. The sweetie hemmed up all my cloth and stitched the ribbon border on for my built-ins.

There are my curtains.  They are hiding teacher things that kids don't need to look at all day, and will always look cluttery no matter how many shoeboxes I use.  Now my lovelies.  I'm going with a neutral brown as a base to calm the room down.  I believe I am going to use this space as my mathematics wall.  So I can put my mathematicians vocabulary here, and student samples, and anything else that might be handy.  I am not planning on putting the hundred chart or number line here, only because it's higher than the kids can reach, and those two things in particular really need to be manipulated to be of any use.  Clearly, you can see the work that is yet to be done.  Those cubbies have to be emptied for instance.  Which is a library project I am working on, but might not get finished until next week sometime.  And then on the floor is a bunch of stuff I need to put away/get rid of.  A lot of it is actually empty containers- so I don't feel too bad about it.

I'm really excited about this area.  It's going to be the library.  I'm working on a book display idea though, so I can ditch the baskets.  OMG! Ditch the baskets?  Well, they aren't holding up well, and I've noticed that the kids like to get books off the leveled display case more- and I really think it's because they can see the covers.  So I'm trying to design a little something to assist me with that. 

What's the dealio with the branch?  I'm making it into a collaborative art project.  I'm going to write the kids' names on ribbon attached to a pipe cleaner first.  Then they can choose a couple of glass beads to decorate their stem with, and we'll hook it to the branch.  The next step is that as people visit our classroom- parents, administrators, teachers, they can write a wish or a hope for the children's future on ribbons and tie them to the branch.  I'll change the colors of ribbon seasonally, so at the end of the year it'll be lots of different colors.  I'll also add special ribbons on birthdays- or major achievements.  Since the majority of my parents will not be native English speakers, I am going to ask them to write their wishes and hopes in their native languages.  That will be quite splendid, if I do say so myself.

That wall is magnetic, so things are easy to shift around.  I also have my global hello art from Hobby Lobby, but I'm thinking I'm going to center it, bring the branch down and the art up.  Still plenty of blank space- and I'd like to fill it with blank wooden letters for the first names of everyone in the class, and when their birthday rolls around, I'll take down their letter and have them decorate it and put it back up.  I am seriously considering ditching the filing cabinet.  I hate it and it serves no purpose for me.  Things just go there to die.

 

 

This is next to the library and is a short space of wall and then the computer counter starts.  I believe I will turn my desk to face the wall.  And I'm not putting anything in there except for stuff the kids use.  I thought about it for this past week, and realized that all the things I had in it last year I never took out.  Not even once.  So right now it just has band aids in it.  I'll put zip-locs down in there too now that I think about it so the kids can put their lunch money in them.  I'd get rid of it completely, but I know that will not fly.  Plus, I have to put my teacher computer somewhere.  As far as the bulletin board goes- I have decided after a convo with Flamingo Fabulous, I think I will be putting my word wall here.  But I will be revamping it from the traditional word wall where all the words are up there and staring at you.  I'm only going to be putting up the ones we are mastering at the moment- one section for reading mastery the other for spelling mastery.  And then content specific words. 

 

But what about all the other words????? Hey, chillax folks.  I always put a word wall in their writer's notebooks- so there it will be.

 

The window end of the room.  Ok, and right now, it's a bit too knick knackered. So I'm going to have to make some decisions.  I will need this windowsill for science experiments, and I have left myself no space.  I am charged with making sure those photo frames get filled with pictures of my children though.  I would like to add one of those bird houses that you attach to a window so you can see inside it- and I also want to be able to see some sort of weather station through the window since we are charged with observing the weather on a daily basis in second grade.

That blue thing with the mouse on top?  No, I will not be going crazy and decorating it.  It's blue, it works for me.  But this is where I'll store the kids' ear buds and password books in it.  And the green box in front of the printer holds my printer paper.  It's just tidier that throwing the pack of paper down.

 

Aren't my birdies cute, though?

 

 

 

The blue bins on top hold all of my PYP planner materials.  When we start a planner, I just have to pull down the box and sort through it to see what I want to use.  I also put content related books in the boxes.

 

The green circles are placemats I found at the Dollar Tree.  the have concentric circles inside of them- so I'm putting my objectives here.  I'll put reading, writing, math, and inquiry in the centers, and then other strips of paper moving outward form the circle for what we're working on that quarter.  Then you can see the beginning of the next curtain that starts my small group meeting area.

 

 

 Which is here. Generally, I meet with reading groups here, and math groups on the carpet.  So the curtains will be holding information for becoming better readers and writers, as well as any Daily Five and CAFE materials I'll be using.  Like those stripes above the board.  Flamingo Fabulous got the lines just right for me.  Love that girl!  What was she doing in my room anyway?  She got classroom withdrawl.  A horrible condition, I must say.  Good thing I was there with the antidote.

Goofy looking bear, huh?  It holds my iPad.  Found it at Toys'R'Us.  Too ridiculously cute.

 

 Carpet area.  I have two crate benches in this area.  And I've got to bring down my math manipulatives to store in the benches.  This is going to free up lots of space on my shelves.  I'm considering getting rid of the white board.  It's blocking the gray board, which is a large section that I can use for other things.  Not sure where else to put it though.  and why shouldn't I just keep it there?  Well, I've got that massive promethean board, so why do I need a little whiteboard?  I don't know yet.  Having trouble with the idea of letting it go...

I got the blue ottoman seat at Hobby Lobby.  I can store stuff inside, but a this point have it empty.  I meet with math groups at the table in the center.  I would like to move the maps.  Another idea from Flamingo Fabulous, to put it over at the window so it can even double as a shade.  Not sure if I can make that work.

 

My class mail area.  Over there with the mirror- I'm going to cover that up and put my WBT Super Improvers wall.

Last one.  I still need two more shelf units this size for my other two tables.  The other ones are too tall.  This size is perfect.  Each little group has their own moose, and I'll be putting their table supplies on the shelves, and they can also keep their folders and what-not here.  I will either put their individual book baskets on the bottom shelf, or have them keep them in their cubby.  Undecided.

Oh, and over there by the door, that's where I'm putting my science/nature/research/sensory table.  Two chairs will fit there so it can be a center, or a retreat.  I'll use the board behind it for vocab and tasks.

So, whatcha thinkin? What else does this skeleton need?