Friday, July 26, 2013

2013 Classroom Tour

Hooray! I'm so excited to writing this post because that means I'm (99%) finished with my classroom! I did indeed decorate my classroom a bit, and I've updated several things from my classroom in 2012. Let me show you around!

First, a couple of views of the room as a whole.

From the classroom door

From the door

From the front of the room, by the bookcase

Back of the room, facing the classroom door

Now, for a closer look.

The front of my classroom.

You can see the remnants of my "Aah! School starts so soon and I have so much to do!" mind map on the board. :)

The Sacred Table - this is a new idea I found somewhere on Pinterest (as soon as I figure out where, I'll link to it). Adam helped me swipe this cute wooden table from storage at the school and this will be the class's sacred table. This table will be a place for students to go when they need a little extra help or if they have a lot of questions, and it's considered sacred because students should feel safe to ask any questions they have without fearing ridicule. I'm loving this idea. Hopefully it works out!

My homework assignment and class agenda board.



Old idea with tidier labels.


Workshop Supplies Crates - I've added a writer's workshop program to my curriculum this year for both English 9 and 10. I'm really looking forward to this and I'll definitely be posting about this in the very near future. My Writer's Workshop crate consists of red pens, extra highlighters, my little draft labels, glue sticks, and Post-It notes. My Reader's Workshop crate (which is really just for annotating text) consists of lots of Post-It notes and some bookmarks.

My old classroom rules poster. I've got a shiny new one that should be arriving in the mail next week!

A little wisdom :)

My updated (and much better-looking) information bulletin board! I love the new fabric!


Sign Out Sheet - This is an old idea that's new to my classroom. I really hate that tiny moment of sheer panic when you realize one of your students is missing and then you thankfully remember that you let them go to the bathroom. This is mostly to help me stay cool as a cucumber. It's a dry erase board too, so that's handy.


High School Word Wall - This is new and I'm excited about it. I'm giving my vocabulary program a mini-makeover (you may recall that I was singin' the Vocabulary Blues here and here). I promise there will be a blog post about my vocab mini-makeover soon too, but for now I wanted to introduce you to my high school word wall. Instead of being organized by letter like many of the elementary word walls, this one will be organized into five categories:

  • literary terms
  • writing terms
  • found words
  • words we love
  • vocab workshop words (from the vocab book)
The back of the classroom
(Still have to cover the ugly filing cabinets)
Student supply center

Homework trays


Somehow my original Absent Binder got thrown away over summer break, so I had to make another one. :(

My binder full of book reviews and recommendations
Paper, paper, and that yellow paper the kids really don't want. :P
 
Folders for graded student work... hopefully this system will work because I've never had a "returning work" system work yet. :\
My desk that I don't love
I'm forgoing the desk calendar this year and just keeping my Sanity Saver calendar at hand.



Ta-Da! My Giant Calendar! - Inspired by the link in this post! A little ribbon, some card stock, and magnet tape can go a long way! :)




Well, even if the teacher isn't quite ready for the year, the classroom is. :)

Are you sharing a classroom tour this year on your own blog? Post the link in the comments! I'd love to see them!