New Classroom Setup

For a variety of reasons, I am the only one of the four teachers who were at my school last year who came back this year.  My principal decided to have me move rooms just so that all of us would be prepping a new room together.  I didn't mind - I find moving to be cathartic and it motivates me to declutter and streamline things.

In the spring last year, I received a DonorsChoose grant to create flexible seating in my classroom.  I implemented it a little before the school year was over and my students LOVED IT!  I added to it over the summer and am so excited to see how the students react when they return next week.  Much of what you see on my walls came from people in the #MTBOS - shout outs to all of you who have contributed to my classroom decor!

I love my desks.  I raised, lowered, and even removed some of the legs to accommodate different seating heights.  These camping chairs were $7 at wal mart and the kids love them.  I have two groups with this type of seating.  I got the love seat for free from someone in my neighborhood.

The group with the stools have desks that have been raised.  This allows them to see over the kids on the sofa and provides a different type of seating.

I got the exercise balls as part of my DonorsChoose grant.  I had a student unpack my things as they came in and I think he accidentally threw away the plugs for these, so I ordered more over the summer.  I think some of my students are really going to enjoy these.

This is the back of my classroom.  The bulletin board by the door is a birthday board.  I am THE math teacher at my school, so I have every kid in my class at some point.  This will be a good way for us to keep track of student birthdays for the whole school.  Between the birthday board and the white board you can see a couple of my peg boards that I added this year.  I'm so excited about them!  The buckets underneath hold golf tees and yarn that the kids can use to make graphs on the pegboard.

Here's a better look at one of the pegboards.  You can also see my "Who's Out?" board (thanks Pinterest!).  I got it for less than $2 at wal mart!

So much good stuff here!  And ALL of it came from the #MTBOS!

My desk area.  The teacher desk is the only thing in my room I'm not crazy about - it has NO drawers.

My rolling cart from Target holds math manipulatives and supply boxes.  I love having all the things students need in one central location.

I'm trying out classroom jobs this year.  This is where I'll keep track of who has what job each period.  I also made badges that the kids can wear during their class period so that I (and the other students) know who has what responsibilities.