Room Tour and Organization Tips

The most exciting thing about opening a new school was knowing that I would get to be the first teacher in my room. Little did I know that the first time I saw my room, it would be empty! No furniture, computers, or even blinds! It was so exciting too see the furniture slowly go into my new classroom and notice changes from week to week.

Fast forward to August: I am almost ready for my newest second graders! I cannot wait to see all of their smiling faces at Meet the Teacher and welcome them into their second grade home on the First Day. Without further ado, my room! (I am trying out the panoramic scene feature on my camera!)

View of one wall from the center of my room. I have two doors, the "main entrance" is the door on the left side and the door on the right connects to my teaching partner's room.

The back of my room, looking out onto our parent drive. I love my huge windows and am so excited about all the light that will be coming in! (Yes, I did have to close the blinds for the pictures.)

The front of my room complete with my library, behavior chart and calendar.

I still have a few more things I'd like to finish before the first day, but I am glad to know that if they don't get finished, my kids will still be able to have a great learning environment!

On to a few organization ideas that have changed my teacher life:

1. Mailboxes

In a constant quest to be more organized (or at least appear that way :) ), I love using mailboxes for the kids graded papers and school-wide notes. We send all of these home in a Tuesday Newsday folder so parents generally have to look through stacks of papers only once a week. In between Tuesdays, I store/sort their papers into mailboxes so when I remember that it is Tuesday 10 minutes before we leave for dismissal, I am very easily able to give each child their papers. 

I have used both names, numbers and a combination for mailboxes in the past. All of my kids know their number in alphabetical order and quickly get in the habit of writing it on all of their papers. Until I have learned their numbers, I will post a class list with student numbers on one of the doors to my mailboxes. Also, my messenger can distribute notes to specific students without having to know that child's number. In my district, only teachers can file or handle graded work, so that job cannot be shared with my eager helpers. I do, however, let children put their own self-checked work in their mailboxes. 

2. Teacher Book Boxes

These book boxes (from Really Good Stuff) have really helped me keep all of my read-alouds sorted throughout the year. It has also been great to easily re-sort my books when I change grade levels or when we get new TEKS or curriculum units from our district.

3. Planning Tubs

I know teachers who use folders to keep their lesson plans and papers organized, as well as those who use skinny drawers. For me, the big tubs give me room to include books, manipulatives from our math lab, or any other items that are larger than a file I will need for my lesson. It has been great on mornings when I am running late to pull a completely organized tub ready for the day! We haven't planned our first week yet (we are still 3 weeks from the start of school) so my tubs are empty, waiting for all of the exciting things we will do!

4. Homework Board

This has been such a great way to organize assignments for each week! This year, I switched from ribbon to Washi tape to separate the segments of my board. I am hoping that it will be easier to erase and stay nice looking until the very last day. It is also great for when kids are absent or I have a sub. There is no question about the homework. I write up one day at a time and leave up the whole week until Friday.

I will be posting more about my classroom and management over the next week or so, as I get more things finished up. Also, be looking for a sneak peek into the Daily 5 in my room!