Classroom Set-Up for 2012-2013

I've been setting up my classroom over the past couple of weeks.  I was so excited to put all of these great Pinterest ideas that I've found over the summer into place in my classroom.  I'm super excited for the beginning of this new school year which will be the beginning of my 11th year of teaching!  Check out the progress of my classroom below. 


This is my Writing Wall.  Color words are at the top of the wall.  They are so cute and made by Frog Street Press.  The "All Aboard the Writing Express" poster came from the Dollar Tree.  "Using My Writer's Eye Glasses" posters are super cute and can be downloaded for free below.  I only have five of them posted currently because those will be the initial writing expectations.  I will add others as they are taught throughout the year. Surrounding them are my parts of speech.  The posters were purchased from the Dollar Tree and the colored cards were made by me.  They are posted on small sheets of chart paper.  Words will be written on the chart paper based on a specific color (nouns~red, adjectives~orange, pronouns~yellow, verbs~blue, adverbs~green, and conjunctions will be purple.  I label words in sentences daily in specific colors in class on the whiteboard.  I'm a big grammar fan!    https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxLChuvLvJqGMTIxYzA4MGEtMGNlYi00M2YwLTliNTAtZmRjM2RiNDBjMWJk/edit


This is my Reading area.  The "Bananas about Reading" poster was purchased at Dollar Tree.  The "Primary Genre Posters" that are around the window were downloaded for free.  I will post that link later.  The lamp and easel are for my "Spotlight on Great Writing" idea. Someone's writing will be displayed on that easel.  This of course was a Pinterest inspired idea.  :)  I love it!  http://pinterest.com/pin/217580225717876967/

This summer, I read the Daily 5: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades and The CAFE Book: Engaging All Students in Daily Literacy Assessment & Instruction by Gail Boushey & Joan Moser “The Sisters.”  The Daily 5 is a student-driven management structure designed to fully engage students in reading and writing. 
The book is about helping students develop independent literacy habits, so that teachers are free to work with small groups or have individual conferences.  Once the Daily 5 has become a habit for students, teachers use instructional time to present daily focus lessons on comprehension strategies, writer’s craft, phonics, and other components of their literacy curriculum to the whole class.  This book is also about developing shared awareness and instructional routines with students, through specific, focused teaching, while balancing students’ need for choice and independence. 

Whereas the Daily 5 established the core structural environment and the capacity for independence to meet the needs of our diverse learners, The CAFE Book provides the technical expertise necessary for individual students to receive exactly what they need to improve as readers.   

My Daily 5 and CAFE Board are on the same bulletin board.   The Daily 5 anchor charts can be found at http://castlesandcrayons.blogspot.com/. The stamina anchor chart can be found at http://mrskincaid.blogspot.com/2012/06/building-stamina.html. The 3 ways to read a book anchor chart can be found at http://mrsrichardsonfirstgrade.blogspot.com/search/label/daily%205.  My super cute monkey CAFE headers can be found at http://littlepriorities.blogspot.com/2012/07/cafe-headers-freebie.html. I fell in love with them! Above my CAFE board are author's purpose charts.  They can be found at http://mrsgilchristsclass.blogspot.com/2011/07/authors-purpose-charts.html. Below my CAFE board are monster themed charts for the 4 types of sentences.  They can be found at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/4-Types-of-Sentences-Posters-FREE. Every one of these downloads are FREE!  

This was before I added things above and below the board. 

 

This is my Calendar Bulletin Board.  It contains my lovely Number Line Hotel from Think Math.  It is used for daily counting.  Daily, we discuss a pattern on the calendar.  I do "Days in School" with straws, ten frames, and tally marks.  Daily, we quickly review the days of the week and months of the year.  I love my greater than/less than gator poster below the board.  :)

I am SUPER excited about doing "Bucket Filling" in my classroom this year!  My display is below my whiteboard.  This picture is the left side of my display.  Our classroom Social Contract for Capturing Kids' Hearts will be to the right along with students' signatures.  I'm using 2 small pieces of chart paper for that.  I found free bucket filler stuff at http://seusstastic.blogspot.com/2011/05/are-you-bucket-filler.html. The book is called Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud.  It's a fabulous book! Those are library pockets with a bucket (made with construction paper) taped onto them.  I found the bucket pattern on Google.  The next picture is the right side of my display. 

This picture is of the whole display.  Have you filled a bucket today? :)

RTCA staff will be "bucket filling" this year as well.  I just finished this display this evening (12th) outside of Dr. Carson's office.  Hope the staff will be as excited about this as I am.  They'll learn all about it during Professional Development this Tuesday, August 14th.  :)

Student work will be posted here on the wall to the left of my writing wall.  It'll be right above my computers.