My Home Away From Home

As the new school year quickly approaches, I am working on getting my classroom set up just right. Over the past two years I have changed the arrangement of my room MANY times, never feeling like I had the right fit. My rocking chair has been in every corner of the room, but I think through trial and error I have found the setup that works. 

I made some big changes for the new year--trying out some new ideas that I am excited about.

The "clothesline"

Our custodian Mike was kind enough to install a wire clothesline across the length of my room. This is something a few of the other First Grade teachers have that I have been eyeing since my first year. It is a terrific way to display student work since wall space is limited. For now I am displaying the color songs that I will be teaching the kids during the first month or so of school, but eventually they will be moved aside and replaced by writing examples and other student work.

Desk Arrangement

Previously I always started off the year having the desks in groups of four. This year I am trying something entirely different. I discovered at the very end of last school year that a sort of U shape fit nicely in the classroom allowing ample space in both the library area and the carpet time/calendar area. The kids will still be grouped (indicated by colored shapes on their desks) but the groups are not separate, except for the one in the middle. Along the back row, the kids will be facing each other as they typically do in groups, but along the sides, the four desks are in a line which will make "heads together" work a bit more challenging.  I am interested to see how the kids do with this seating arrangement. My class last year liked it a lot, but a group of students getting ready to leave First Grade is VERY different than a group of students just arriving. 

Bookshelf
After redoing my husband's office space at home, I had an extra book shelf that I decided to bring into my classroom. I had an idea in mind of how it could be useful and it fit perfectly in the space I was imagining. It is just the right height to slide under the white board. The compartments are also exactly the right size for the anthology books that go along with our reading program. Each unit has a different anthology and students use them daily as the books include stories related to our weekly themes. Previously I kept these book on the back ledge near the window, but having students get up to retrieve them often took more time than it should have. I think the close proximity to our carpet area will be a great change. The bookshelf also make a great ledge for storing my CD player as well as my teacher manual when I am teaching.

Computers!!!

Computers in our lab are being replaced this year, so teachers were able to request the old lab computers for our classrooms. I had one computer last year and I am thrilled to now have three! Now I can actually utilize a computer station for reading activities and math games. One computer was great, but three is even better! The computer was never in use without three or four additional students standing around watching the child who was using it. Now more students will be able to have turns. 

           

Calendar Area

The calendar area is mostly the same with the exception of getting a facelift. I find it necessary to redo the design every year because I still have not found the perfect arrangement of all the necessary calendar activities. I did add a new weather board with many different weather icons. There is an area for weather reporting as well as an area for graphing the numbers of days we have experienced each type of weather. (I hope there are enough spaces for RAIN). Our first science unit is on weather so I would like to extend the use of our weather knowledge into calendar as well.