Woohoo, I've officially made it through the first week!
Since I spent a good 8-10 hours in my classroom each day, my goal every year is to make it feel like as "homey" as possible. Thanks to Pinterest, I feel like my room gets better and better every year, and this year I think I love my room the most I ever have. I think I might even be an elementary school teacher at heart. ;) When I uploaded pictures of my classroom last year, I didn't really include captions to go along with the pictures or links to where I got everything. Since my room hasn't changed a whole bunch this year, I thought I would spend time explaining each picture. So, welcome to Mrs. Story's classroom!
My classroom is at the end of the sixth grade hall and is, thankfully, one of the biggest classrooms in the school. I bought the "Welcome" poster above the door a few years ago (and could only seem to find it here) and a teammate of mine created signs with our names and subjects to hang above our doorway.
I found the Welcome sign to the left of my door on Pinterest (of course!) and included a roster of my homeroom students below it.
The first thing you see when you walk into my room is my filing cabinet, which I turned sideways and decorated (again, thank you Pinterest!). I just used black bulletin board paper for the background, cut out letters from our schools dye-cut machine, and added magnetic border and stars for more color.
Items like paper towels, hand sanitizer, and tissues sit on top of my filing cabinet for students to use. The printable behind the tissues can be found here.
This is a view from the other side of the classroom looking towards the door.
The "Behavior Think Sheet" is a new idea this year. Students who misbehave or cause a disruption will grab the clipboard and fill it out in another teacher's room. I will then send it home in his/her planner for the parents to sign. I found another behavior sheet that I think I might use instead here.
The black bin above the bookshelf holds my Lesson Plan binder and TKES notebook. The "Lesson Plan" printable (found on Pinterest...are you noticing a pattern?) can be found here.
The printables on top of my bookshelf came from here. That site has the best stuff and it's all free!
These buckets (I think I found them at Michael's a few years ago) are for my Story Stubs, which are ticket stubs my students can earn for good behavior or class participation. Each class is assigned a different color bucket (my homeroom, for instance, is green), so when they leave my room, they put their Story Stubs in their bucket. Every Monday I draw a ticket from each class for a prize!
The Prize Box is usually hidden in my filing cabinet, but students can choose from Dollar Store items, candy, or passes. And you can read more about the passes and how to create them on this post.
We have a great Recycling program at BCMS, and my students really do a great job of throwing in paper they don't need. I found the background on Pinterest and then just edited the format to say "Recycling."
I divided my long bulletin board into three sections and used fabric as the background of each. I bought the letters and border in Augusta last year and just love it. And I finally scored a real table this year (!!), which I plan to use for small group projects or stations.
My "Cubs Corner" section houses important information, the Word of the Week, and four big pocket folders. One contains my Current Event Templates, one holds my Requiz Request forms, and the other two will be used for any extra papers I have already given out. The passes hanging up are for trips to the girls restroom, the boys restroom, and the hallway.
You can read more about how I plan to use the Current Events and Requiz Requests in this post.
The "Current Topic" section of the bulletin board includes posters about the standards we are learning about, most of which I bought from School Days in Augusta over the years. The flipchart on the table was bought with school money in May, and I am so excited to have my students start using it (it's laminated, so they can write on it with a dry-erase marker).
The "Super Star Work" section was made by stapling pieces of black construction paper to the bulletin board and hot-gluing close pins on top.
From this angle you can see my "Classroom Library" and the start of our "World Wall."
I love reading and hope this little corner of the room is an inviting place for students to read about science. I had the black chairs from last year, as well as the colorful lamp I bought from a friend (you can find a similar one here).
I bought the green bins the Dollar Tree last year and use them to divide my books into categories. The magazine holders were extras I found in our Media Center and the fiction books on the bottom shelf were left from a previous teacher.
Each science book has a sticker in the right-hand corner, which helps students remember which bin to return it to. Also, each bin focuses on an area of science we discuss in sixth grade, such as geology, hydrology, meteorology, and astronomy.
The stickers on the books match up with the sticker on the bin's label. ;)
This might be my favorite "Pinterest"-inspired idea. I designed our "Word Wall" so that students can not only see it easily, but also track where we are in our learning. As we progress through each unit, a new flower "blossoms."
Each sixth grade science standard is printed on a piece of colored paper above the corresponding flower, and the petals (where were made by cutting a neon notecard in half) have important vocabulary words on them.
The whole idea behind the "Word Wall Garden" is that "The more we know, the more we grow!" Get it? The flower petals bloom as the students' knowledge grows. ;)
The colored crates on the cabinet are from Target and hold each student's composition notebook that I require they bring in at the beginning of the year. It turns into their "Science Journal" that we work on throughout the year and each page includes a standard we learn about, five sentences, and a related picture. I just started it last year and I really think the students enjoyed working on them!
The colored pocket folders on the doors are also from Target (love the dollar section!) and are used as a spot to put the "Ticket Out the Doors." You can read more about that more on this post.
From the door, this is the view you see. :)
I use the "Data Board" to have students set class goals for each unit test. They decide what percent of the class they think can pass, and I take an average of their choices. I then plot each classes' goal on a bar graph and if they meet their goal, they get to decide their prize (like free time, homework passes, or donuts). The "Absent Folders" hold student's handouts when they are absent, so they can easily find what they missed the day before. If a paper's been in their too long, I'll move it to the "Last Week" folder. I can't find the exact same ones I bought, but you can find similar ones here.
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I bought two of this bookshelf (and the one by my door) a few years ago at a place called Ollie's in Richmond, but you can find similar ones at Walmart. I love the extra storage they provide.
I made the crayon wreath last year and printed the printables from here.
I put Popsicle sticks with student's names on them in small buckets (I think from Michaels) and use them to call on students randomly or to determine who my "Mystery Walker" for the day is.
These are my marker boxes and the number labels are from a site on Pinterest, of course.
I found these containers when I first moved into my room and use them for various supplies, like rulers, scissors, and glue. And I found the printables here.
Here's a view from the corner by my bookshelf.
If students receive a compliment from an adult in the building besides me when they are with me (like in the classroom, in the hallway, or at lunch), they earn a star. If they earn five stars at any point throughout the year, they get freshly baked brownies from yours truly. I used this as a positive behavior incentive last year and the kids loved it!
I've collected sand from some of the place I've been (Greece, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and St. Lucia....is that illegal by the way?) and use them to teach about the weathering and erosion of rocks.
This is going back to my desk and computer area. I took pictures of my diplomas,printed them at CVS, and then hung them in cheap frames with Command strips above my computer.
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I made my "Keep Calm and Teach On" sign and it serves a good reminder every day. ;)
Someone at school was giving away this bookshelf for free last summer, so I scooped it up, spray painted it blue, and use it to show off pictures of my favorite people and hold some of my education books. One thing I use on my bookshelf a lot is a small book of creative journal topics for my homeroom class.
I made this "Weekly Reminders" dry-erase board with an extra frame I had at the house, leftover scrapbook paper, and black stickers. Any dry-erase marker wipes off easily!
My desk area contains my calendar, binders, and folders,, and my pink lamp. And even though you can't see them in this picture, most of my binder covers were free from here. Oh, and I have a bunch of Parent Communication Log forms in one of my binders....love these!
Here's another view from my desk. :)
We purchased these with our science budget a few years ago, and I just love it. I labeled each drawer either "In" or "Out," which helps me organize the papers I need to grade or hand back. A similar one can also be found at Big Lots.
Thankfully my white board is magnetic, so I could use magnetic border to divide it into sections.
There are several times throughout the year that I have to collect certain papers from my homeroom students. Instead of printing off a homeroom roster every time, I just put my roster (the same one that's in the hallway) in a cheap Dollar Tree frame and added a bow. That way I can cross of the names with a dry-erase marker. Again, it wipes off so easily and can be used over and over.
Since we are the BCMS Cubs, I found paw prints with numbers for my calendar and bought the months of the year here.
I found this 3-D map in our hallway science closet and hung it on the wall with Command strips. I've told my students to be on the lookout for recent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes that happen around the world and to tell me when they hear about one. I'll give them a sticker and they can plot the volcano or earthquake on the map. Once we start talking about plate tectonics, hopefully they'll be able to see that the volcanoes and earthquakes happen along those plate boundaries.
And here's one final picture of one of my favorite parts of the room...my inflatable Solar System! One of my co-workers had an extra one in her science closet, and I got Gaines to help me hang it this summer. You can find a similar one here.
Thanks for stopping by!!
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