Welcome....Classroom Tour

 Hi, welcome to my classroom.  It is a cozy little place where we challenge students to do their best everyday.  I am currently working in a special education room with two aides in Arizona.  I am short a partner teacher at the moment.  If you happen to be looking for a job, let me know.  Anyway.  thought I would start off the blog with our classroom tour.  It is a big change from what we had going on last year so I will post it with some before and after pictures.

 This is my classroom in 2011-2012 at the beginning of the year.  It wasn't terrible.  I just felt that there was not a lot of cohesion with the design and flow of the room.  It was functional but I just wasn't feeling it.

Nothing really matched anything else.  It looked like what it was...years of piecing a classroom together as a budget allowed the purchase of items needed.  Again, functional, nothing wrong with it, just wasn't what I wanted my home away from home to feel like.  We had crowded things all over the place because I wasn't organized as I should have been and we really needed to downsize some items we didn't use much anyway.  In short, we needed a tuck and lift.

Then my previous partner in crime introduced me to Pinterest.  That is where I saw this...my inspiration.  I had found Schoolgirl Style.  I was amazed by what was done in this classroom.  I was hooked and had to make some changes.  So I started gathering and planning.  I loved the blue, green and brown, but I had a challenge in my classroom that I felt required me to change the pallet up a bit.  Those pink cabinets. 

  How to get around those pink cabinets and still be able to pull a nice, cohesive design together?  I hate the pink cabinets.  I have hated them for years.  I was half tempted to grab the spray paint and paint them brown.  Reason, however, won out.  That was permanent and probably not going to be covered by my usual ask forgiveness and not permission policy.  So I decided to change up the pallet by switching pink for the blue.  That was a painful decision for me because I love blue and am not a big fan of pink.  Definitely not a girly girl.  So off I went to plot and plan all summer.  I spent an awful lot of time trolling Pinterest saving the ideas that I was hoping to incorporate.  I even kept a picture print out of ideas in a notebook I titled "Ms. T's Big Ideas".  That way I had a reference wherever I was, even in the middle of a store or at school where Pinterest is filtered.  So after all the planning and scheming I came back to a literally blank slate.  Janitors had just finished waxing and allowed me back in.  No furniture.  So it was time to work on organizing first.  That's the best time to do that is when there is nothing else in the way.  So I started with the lovely, much dreaded pink cabinets.  

I started with this.....

and ended up with this.

Now they are organized and labeled.  I printed off the labels from a PDF file I purchased from Schoolgirl Style.  These are in the lime green polka dot package.  Loved that one.  It was so worth what I paid for it.








Next up, furniture that was all mismatched.  I had these cubbies that started off as white and blue in spots.  I gave them a coat of nice chocolate brown spray paint, outside of course.  Thankfully, I have an exterior door in my classroom and that made it super easy to get my painting done.







I took those now brown cubbies and turned them on the short end.  Now they are a tall set of cubbies that I use for my teacher books and items I need at hand by my desk.  They have been anchored to the wall so I don't have to worry about them coming down on my head, or worse, on a student.  I love these right here.  They take up much less space than they did lengthwise.  We don't need them for students.  We actually used them to keep group materials in and there was a lot of dead space in them last year.  This year they are much more functional and certainly more pleasing to look at.







Then, it was on to all those multicolored baskets in the library.  I have to say, that drove me nuts.  So I had my aides help me spray paint them.  The big baskets got a nice coat of Ballet Slipper Pink.  It was a hard call, but I was glad to get them all one color even if it was pink.

The smaller baskets were all given a nice coat of Pistachio Green.  I love this color.  It goes nicely with my pink and brown.  I have to say it looks so much better already.

 The original plan was to take all of my wonderful white plastic shelving that I have used for years to a nice chocolate brown.  That would have been a dream.  However, it was cost prohibitive at the time.  I figured for the shelves that I had I needed 30 cans of spray paint.  Ouch.  Not going to happen right away, but over time I may get them the right color.

So that took me to the next project.  I found this inspiration on Pinterest as well.  I am providing a link to the original post here.  I loved this idea and wanted a greeting like this to find my students as they entered each day. 

 So I adapted the idea to my own crazy unique way and this is the result.  It is located right beside the door as the students come in.  It is actually on a bookcase that is hinged and folds in half to close.  I used the back of one of the halves as a bulletin board space.  I didn't have time to do what I would have liked and nailed foam core to it first..next year.  We just taped the items on the bookcase, which was painted brown this year.  I am pleased with the result.

 

 Pinterest strikes again.  I loved the class norms that I kept seeing pop up all over the place.  This sounded very much like the things I am constantly telling my students.  So I decided I had to have them.  Problem.  You see the color right?  So what was I to do?  Forget it?  Suck it up and use the primary colors?  You're kidding right?  No way.










I made my own.  I used 12x12 scrapbook paper in the right colors.  I used my Cameo to cut out the shapes and letters I needed.  I put it all together and then had them laminated.  I think they worked very nicely.  I hung them over a bulletin board that I actually created out of foam core I nailed to the wall and covered with fabric that matched the new curtains I made.  You would never know this is not a "real" bulletin board.  I created the pennant banner using scrapbook paper and a pattern from one I printed from Schoolgirl Style.  The brown polka dot material I got at Joann's. 

 Again, Pinterest comes through.  I had to have my learning objectives posted.  They took up a lot of the precious space on the whiteboard.  We have a Promethean Board and lost some in our classrooms so this is a huge problem for many teachers at my school.  So I was delighted to find this one.  They took picture frames and put scrapbook paper in them.  They then used dry erase markers right on the glass to post their objectives.  This is one of those brilliant ideas that you ask "Why didn't I think of that?"  It is super simple.  Here is the blog of the original poster.  I didn't see the post there though.

Here is my version.  I did use the picture frames.  I then used a program called Printmaster to come up with the inserts that I liked.  I have had numerous visitors to my classroom who liked them and are creating their own.  So thank you to whomever came up with that idea.  We love it!

This is perhaps my favorite Pinterest find ever.  I love that this is so encouraging to a student.  I don't know how many times I have had the conversation with my students that being in special education doesn't mean you are stupid.  We talk about how others have strengths and weaknesses.  I am constantly telling them they are smart.  This was right up my alley.  How to recreate it?  The credit is on the photo.  What a smart teacher that was! 

My version, I used a small bulletin board, like you can buy at Walmart.  I bought a cheap framed mirror, Walmart $5.00.  I used the Cameo to cut out the words and put it all together.  I nailed the mirror into the middle of the board.  It works well.  I have kids who are checking it out everyday.  That makes me feel good to have them see that positive message every day.

We even organized our tech cart.  We love our Ipads.  We have a set for our students.  They have to share.  Right now we're not having more than two students per device.  We also have a small set of laptops.  Students prefer to use the Ipads.  I can get them to just about anything with the promise of Ipad time.  If you have a chance to get some, go for it.

 This is another foam core bulletin board I created over my desk.  I too need a positive message.  This one is from Christopher Reeve.  Is says, "I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles."  I see this every day as I come in to work.  It changes my attitude and helps me keep myself in check.  The pink is actually wrapping paper.  The frames contain my diplomas and certificates.  The other side is some of my heroes...my family.



I use a whiteboard film on my tables.  We teach in small groups and it is just inconvenient to always go grab a whiteboard and we're not able to set up right in front of a board.  This solution is actually better for us.  We are able to write in front of the individual students or the group.  We use it for word walls during writing, math instruction and more.  We have actually learned how to write upside down.  That's a skill that is totally useless in any other situation, but makes it easier for students.  



Ok already.  Enough with the projects.  Where's the end?  It's coming I promise.  So here is the new classroom.  Tada!

Gone is the mountain of stuff piled on shelves on the cabinets.  We have windows?  Yes.  Those are windows.  Now we have only three shelves up there, and trust me without upper cabinets, they must stay.  They are now cleaned off.  They are even accessorized on top.  Plants and bears have found homes all over the classroom.  I used bears instead of bluebirds for a couple of reasons.  I love bears.  I have bears.  I had to nix the blue.  So there ya go, no bluebirds, but I like my bears better.  See there's those curtains I was telling you about earlier.  Our board above the window now has our alphabet on it.  Much better.

Cubbies for students have all been labeled using more Schoolgirl Style.  Green for the boys and pink for the girls.  This is much neater and cleaner than what we did before with sticky labels on sticky labels.  My aides cleaned them up.  They look fabulous!

Here would be the view of the library side.  We've got our baskets in place with all of our AR books.  We have them labeled as well.  I took the chocolate brown number tags and modified them a bit so we have level tags.  We tied those on the baskets using some ribbon.  I am so much happier with the library area.  If only I could have made all those shelves brown...sigh.

This is a view from the door.  You can see that we have put down some rugs.  We used to get a nasty black ring around the tables from the chairs on the tile.  Believe it or not each of those big rugs is only $40.  I took two smaller rugs from Walmart garden center, indoor outdoor rugs that were just under $20.00.  I flipped them over and duct taped them together.  Viola, huge rug.  We love them.  We've had to get a vacuum cleaner so we can clean them more frequently than the janitors are able to.  Much nicer looking place to be.  Umm, yeah I did consider spray painting the chairs too.  Hmmm.

This is the top of one of the shelves on the cabinets.  I had blue pots.  I sprayed them brown.  Then I put some bows I made on them.  Then we just put a few bears up there too.  We like it.

This shelf contains our group materials for one table.  The group baskets are labeled with the Chocolate brown labels I modified from Schoolgirl Style.  (All I did was take out the numbers in Powerpoint so I can use them for other stuff).  It makes a big difference to be organized and be able to find the stuff you need.

This is another view from the door looking about straight ahead.  The cubbies are centrally located and easily accessible from either side.  We have students with cubbies on the back side of these too,

This is the view from my desk.  Our group tables are all clustered in the middle and both groups are easily monitored here.  We love the hanging plants.  Our Touchmath skip counting posters are up there too.

This is the home of our classroom pet.  He's a guinea pig named Emmett.  He's a bit camera shy.  The students love watching him.  They help care for him.  He goes home with me over breaks.  He seems content.  He's also in an easily supervised area.

We usually house four adults in our classroom so that is space for four adults and their necessary items.  It cuts down on some of our space, but I try to treat all of us equally.  If I get a desk, they are offered one too.  This is the view to the other corner of the room.  It usually houses one of the aides and my partner in crime.  The computer tables are there under my homemade bulletin board too. 

We keep a copy of our schedule on each of the tables in a page protector.  We've got pencil cans we use too.  We don't use regular pencils.  I can't stand the sound of the pencil sharpener so I use mechanical pencils only in our class.  One of the cans has a label, utilizing Schoolgirl Style's polka dots again, that says "Ready".  The other says "Refill".  The notebook houses my notes on our reading groups and where each group has started or stopped for the day so we can easily get started.

This is a view from my desk to the end of the classroom.  It looks so different than when we started.

This view is from the sink area to the other side.

This is one of my bulletin boards in the hall.  This one says Welcome Back.  The pennant banner is from Schoolgirl Style.  It's always tricky to get around that darned fire extinguisher.   Love the double borders on our bulletin boards.  I used brown sheets for the background.

  I have several bulletin boards in the hall.  This one says "It takes all of us to make our school work!"  There are gears on the board.  Each one has a person who we need in our school.  For example, you will find on mine, students, teachers, janitors, etc.  Just a general label, not specific names.  These were also cut on the cameo.  Looking back if I do this one again, the gears are undersized.  With the time crunch I was under, I didn't have time to redo it.

Finally, the last bulletin board.  This one, is simple enough.  We used 12x12 scrapbook paper and stapled a page protector to it so that the quotes inside them could be changed.  Then I typed the quotes up on Word and printed them out.  We can switch them out.  They are all encouragement or importance of education quotes.

That's all she wrote folks.  Hope that you have enjoyed our tour.  We love our classroom and I'm getting used to the pink.