2019-2020 Classroom Tour

Hello! Welcome to my classroom tour for the 2019-2020 school year.

This is my first year in a portable. It is different being outside of the main school building, but I’m liking the freedom we have. I also am super productive before and after school (no one walking by my room or popping by) and I love the quiet. I do make it a priority to visit with my wonderful coworkers and to eat lunch in the staff room!

Keep reading to check out the main components of my classroom!

Math Manipulatives

I took a DMI (Developing Mathematical Ideas) class

a few years ago and one of my big takeaways was to have manipulatives available for every student. So, I organized my manipulatives into these dollar store containers and labeled them for easy access. You can find the labels for these containers here.

I also have a few flexible seating items below. The lap desks are nice for students who choose to work on the floor. The wobble cushions work on the floor or on a normal chair.

Calendar/Goals Area

The first bulletin board I have is a central information center for students. I have my calendar, goals, and a few reminder posters here. I have typed up my “I can. .“ statements and will tack them up as I teach each standard. I have also seen people laminate the goal cards and use dry erase markers to write their goals.

You can find the complete calendar set here. To make it easy to switch each month, I used Velcro dots for the dates.

To read about my Statement wall, click here.

Shout Outs

One thing I do to build classroom community is Shout Outs. I got the form here. (If you can find the original owner, please let me know!) When students see someone being kind or going above and beyond, they fill out a Shout Out. I read them aloud at the end of the day and then tape them to the board.

Planner Area

I update this area daily with our agenda for students to write in their planner. This is a communication tool so parents can easily see what we are working on in school. You can download the subject labels here for free!

The SMART seating sign is adapted from Fantastically Fourth’s Flexible Seating Pack on TPT, which can be found here. The Voice Levels poster can be downloaded here.

Schedule

This is my schedule area. It is so much easier than writing the schedule on the board every day. Right now I am putting the cards in order each day, but soon a student will be mostly in charge of it. “Schedule Assistant” is one of my classroom jobs.

You can download the schedule cards here.

I also have a small desk here for when I project onto the board. I have my students’ numbers on the plastic golf balls for when I need to choose a student randomly. They love it so far!

Community Supplies

Here I keep supplies that students are welcome to use. These are the same plastic containers from the Dollar Tree that I use for my math manipulatives. You can find the labels here.

On the top of the shelf, I have a desk organizer that contains pens, paper clips, sticky notes, and erasers. I also keep a tape dispenser and a stapler available for student use. I think it makes them feel trusted and important to be able to use these types of supplies when they need them! So far, they are taking great care of the supplies in this area!

Welcome Area

This is the door that students use in the morning. I made a simple “Morning Greeting Choice” board and it has been wonderful. I love the choice it gives them when greeting me and it is so fun! I got the fun sign from Hobby Lobby a few years ago on clearance.

Classroom Library

You can read a detailed post about my classroom library here.

Cupboards

I have four large cupboards this year that are wonderful! They are storing my students’ supplies this year. Two students share one shelf. They store supplies in a Dollar Tree bin and their notebooks, folders, and books are lined up on the sides of the bin. They are still working on keeping these areas neat, but it will come with practice!

4th Grade Family Display

        This display is currently filled with pictures from my students’ summer activities, but soon it will be updated with pictures from our classroom and field trips!

Books We Love

        You can read my post about Books We Love here. I have altered it a little bit since last year. This year, students only fill one out if they have shared a Book Talk with the class. They also have to decorate the book spine to look like the book. I am hoping that this will make it easier for students to find the books from the display.

Wonder Wall

        This is something new I’m trying this year. Basically, when students are wondering something, they write it on a sticky note and put it on the Wonder Wall. This will naturally lead us into our Genius Time this year. You can read about Genius Hour in my classroom here. I want to encourage students to be curious about the world about them and to be able to find the answers to their own questions.

Right now, we’re trying out Wonder Wall Wednesday. I will find 5-10 minutes during the day to research one of the questions from the wall.

Jobs

This is our class job display. I have put the Velcro dots on the job titles and my students’ names so it is easy to change them each month. You can find the classroom job product here.

Interrupt Poster

I saw a post similar to this on Pinterest and loved it! I put my own spin on it and the kids love it! They get the message and also think it’s funny!

Flexible Seating

I am in love with flexible seating and my students are too. When they are asked what they like about our classroom, that is the number one answer.

Well, that is my classroom this year! If you stuck around this long to read it, thank you! Please leave a comment to let me know what you think. Decorating and putting together a classroom is one of my favorite things to do. As teachers, we spend 40+ hours a week in this space, so it should be a place you love!

A lot of the resources linked here are in my classroom décor bundle! Click here to  check it out!