Friday, August 29, 2014

My Room is (almost) Done, and I have some cute freebies!!

I feel like every year I say this, but I think this is the best my room has ever looked! There are still some additions I would like to make and eye-sores that I'm working to phase out and/or cover, but overall I'm very proud of how it's turning out for this year!

This is how I came back to it last Thursday. For once, I didn't come in ahead of time. But I always cover my shelves and keep all of my big furniture in place. The only thing I had to move was my desk/table which is pretty light. I also kept my "boards" up from last year.


Since I don't actually have bulletin boards, I bought one cheap plastic table cover (like the $1 ones in the party section at Walmart) and cut it to the sizes I wanted. Then I found this adorable chevron duct tape on Amazon to use as my border.


It's perfect! No fading, and the cloth is thin enough that my magnetic posters can go over and stay up.

Click links to find CAFE, Daily 5 Posters, Decoding Strategies, and Comprehension Strategies posters!
Yes. I have magnetic walls, which is a HUGE time saver. All the posters you see in this picture have been laminated and have those little magnet circles on the back. It makes set-up and tear-down SUPER easy, which is one of the main reasons I could wait until the day I had to report back to work on my room!

Under my CAFE board, I want to find two or three little black bookshelves. Then I can also display some great books on the top for students to have recommendations, etc. I've been checking Craigslist and may go to Salvation Army, Goodwill, and the Habitat Restore this weekend to see what I can find!

Click links to find VOICES and Pencil posters!
This picture shows more of my "eye-sores" - the rug and filing cabinet being at the top of the list. I need to get some scissors and just cut off some of those fly-aways, but I honestly don't even want to waste my cute tap on bordering that rug. It's not so bad with everything else, so I'm just dealing with it now. The cabinet just is what it is. I also want to get up to IKEA sometime to buy black stools for my table. Then I can get rid of those chairs!

I think my word wall is going to go above my desk area this year. It's not ideal, but it's really the only place big enough to put anything. Plus it desperately needs something. I may go buy another tablecloth to frame out another "board" for it! Then I may add a cute border (like a real one) to my Promethean board. I think I have a few from when I actually had bulletin boards...


I am SO proud of my new signs!! I actually made these on my own. And there *might* be a fourth sign on my desk with a certain Paramore song quoted...let's just say it kind of goes with my favorite "Life's tough. Get a helmet!" quote from Boy Meets World!


I had a cute pencil sign with this same quote that I got from Farley about 3 years ago, but I wanted a bigger one to put in these frames (Btw, thanks for the frames, Mrs. O!!)

If you want to download the signs I made, I'm attaching the links to my google drive. They're already in GIF, but I would recommend printing with a black border if you can because it was hard to cut them out to the right size.


And finallly, I have a tiny bulletin board outside my classroom. It used to have a little "Where are we" sign for my aide and I, but we always forgot to change it. This year I decided to try something new.


Did you scan it? Just in case you don't have your phone nearby or can't scan it, the QR code takes you to Reading Rocket's Parent Page. Farley posted a picture of hers on Instagram, and I instantly knew I wanted to do this! Mine definitely pales in comparison. I may change the letters to look a little better before Back-to-School Night!


I can't believe that we'll have students here on Tuesday! Good thing there's a long weekend to get some more summer in before hitting the ground running. I'm excited to start!


5 comments:

  1. I love the "Pinky Pencil" signs! I always seem to have students who want to write with the tiniest little nub and wonder why their hands hurt!

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  2. Very cool ideas!! How do you set up the scan page? That would be a totally neat display in my room too!!!
    Thanks!
    scheinbere@hotmail.com

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  3. Your room is coming together great! I really love the lightbulb rug!!!!

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  4. I love love love the classroom! I have the same containers for pencils, can I ask what the turquoise ribbon is around the two containers? Is it a ribbon or a rubber band?

    -Caitlyn
    Fourth Grade Lemonade

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