Come on in and take a tour of my first grade classroom from back in my third year of teaching. This is the view as you stand in the doorway.
Here is my little DIY "where we are" information board, located on the outside of my door.
As you enter, to the left of the door is our drop-off station; This is where the kiddos put their take-home folders, drink/food tickets, & move their star over to sign in. (The stars are just wood pieces from the craft store that I colored and glued a little magnet on the back)
To your right is our "welcome" bulletin board, which is currently featuring our class jobs and birthdays. Beneath the bulletin board is my behaviour management system; I don't use a clip chart anymore (GOOD RIDDANCE!) and have switched to this ticket system which I am *in love* with.
If a student earns 20 or more tickets in one week, they get to clip their name to the "Hall of Fame." Everyone starts off with a ticket (the child pictured without was absent for the week).
Next to the welcome board is our word wall (now a UFLI sound wall) and the Word Work 2 centre.
Separating Word Work 1 and Word Work 2 is my alphamagnet "Read It, Build It" activity. This filing cabinet was just a waste of space in the past--I NEVER use it. So this year I had the idea of turning the drawers to the wall, and using the remaining 3 sides as a magnetic activity board. MUCH better!
Last but not least along this same wall is our reading centre/classroom library. That big empty space on the bulletin board is being reserved for our class-made big books. Right now my library is seriously lacking some comfortable pillows/seating, but I have been too broke to buy a carpet & pillows...stay tuned!
You may have noticed the folders on the back of the blue bookshelf above. Those are fast finisher activities. Here's a closer look. (Although they are not editable, HERE are my fast finisher folder labels, as seen here plus MORE, if you would like them!)
The back wall of our classroom is where we display all of our fabulous work.
Moving to the other side of the classroom, you will find my small group corner.
Beside that is our "math" whiteboard and "math words" bulletin board. Beneath that is our listening centre, which also houses the laptop and projector for my SmartBoard.
Here's a bigger view of this side of the room taken from the reading centre.
To the left of the SmartBoard is our "Morning Meeting" area.
Here's a closer look at our Morning Meeting area. Yes i still have one. Yes it's important. No it will not be digital!
This is just another view looking from the reading centre to the back of the classroom and out the door.
Behind the chart stand, pocket chart, and Morning Meeting area of our carpet, is our supplies station and all of my math tub activities for each month. Opposite this area is the sink.
Our classrooms are always evolving but these are some of the staples that have worked for me and my firsties. As always, take what you love and leave the rest!
Each of my tables has a coloured pompom and a chalkboard group number to make it easier to dismiss tables, call on groups, etc.
