Extreme Makeover: Classroom Edition

You may not see a dramatic change in the before and after pictures, but I feel like it is a huge difference.  I walked into someone else’s classroom, but now I feel like it is finally my classroom.  This is a great feeling since it will be my home away from home for the next nine months.

This is a closer look into the areas of my pretty tiny (500 square foot) classroom.  First, is the designated anchor chart space inspired by Jodi at Clutter-Free Classroom. I used a black sheet for the background and ribbon for the dividers.  I used the same ribbon to cover the clothespins.  I’m excited to have a space to put anchor charts at all times that are at the students’ eye level.

I created my own Whole Brain Teaching rule posters that fit with my classroom.  Since it is a Montessori environment, “raise your hand to stand” was an unnecessary rule.  I also use hand signals in my classroom for basic needs, so I used “Use hand signals to communicate” instead of “raise hand to speak.” You can see my hand signal posters below that are based on the sign language alphabet.

I love the effectiveness of the clip chart system, so I was thrilled to see this sports-themed clip chart by Cupcakes & Caterpillars.  I plan to reward students with a star on their clip when they reach the top, which allows them to earn a new colored clip after 5 stars.

My students will not have individual desks, so I was thankful to see these built-in cubbies.  This is where my students will keep their clipboards, journals, and folders.  Since it is a public Montessori school, we do not use textbooks.  I’m glad I do not need to find room for all those books, but nervous about planning all my lessons around hands-on manipulatives and real-life experiences. You can see a sampling of these materials below which are housed on eight bookshelves in my classroom, which were a challenge to arrange around.  The designated exit slip area was inspired by Erin's from Adventures in Third Grade.  I chose to use jerseys with students' numbers to designate each student's area to place his or her exit slip post-it note. 

 The final area is my reading nook.  I used two Expedit shelves from IKEA to make reading benches. The fabric drawers add extra storage for pillows and other items.