Don’t even stress if you are worried about your classroom. As someone with anxiety, I am always worried about what people will say about my classroom. My
Let me tell you- STRESSFUL.
Can I just tell you that my very first classroom was an absolute disaster? You don’t even have to read the article- you can just look at the horrible pictures.
Galaxy vs. Teal
If I am going to be straight up honest with you, I was going to go all in to a theme. I wanted my 5th grade classroom reveal to have beautiful galaxies, and teal, and purple everywhere.
The truth
I never installed the galaxy theme in
Had I gone with the galaxy theme, I would have had to change everything in my classroom because my entire theme was based around teal.
Yes, I am that crazy.
That means I would have to create brand new bulletin board signs, new decorations, new name signs, new welcome signs, and y’all- that was not happening. I did not want to spend a ton of money on a new theme. I decided to keep my black
5th Grade Library
I LOVE my library. This part of my classroom has easily become one of my favorite sections in the room. Seriously.
Please, please, please, do not think that I bought these books all in one year. It took me years and years to purchase all of these books.
Creating a Library
Creating a library takes time. Please do not think that this collection happened over night. It took years and years to collect all of these books. I have spent hundreds of dollars on my library. Check your local listings for garage sales or a Friends of the Library. Each book was like 25 cents and maximum was a dollar.
How did I sort my library?
My district has a mandatory library for each of the classrooms in the district. According to my district where I teach, all of my books MUST be sorted by the levels of the readers and the topics of choice.
- Topics
- sort the books by genre or topic. The bins are sorted by genre or topic and this includes Harry Potter, USA, Biographies, Roald Dahl, and weather, just to name a few.
- Levels R-Z
- I sort some of my books by level (R-Z bins that you see in the 1st picture )
- Last Name: See the colored tabs on the books? These labels were created by the
amazinggggg Molly Maloy and you can find them on TeachersPayTeachers.
I Can Statements & Goals
Unit Goals
Do you have to implement I can statements? We sure do! This bulletin board is easy for us to swap out the different goals in each unit. The sleeves are Amazon and I have had them for about 6 years. For only $12.00, they really have done an amazing job!
I can statements
On the marker board that I have a little space on the board that tells the students all about what is going on for the day. It contains the I can statements, the page to rip out of their text book, and any upcoming dates that students need to know.
Each letter stands for something:
- M= Math
- R=Reading
- W= Writing
- S= Science
- Dates= Important Upcoming Dates
Turn In & Pencils
I have 4 bins to collect work from the students. Students always place the classwork in the “I’m done” bin. In the second picture, there’s a pink bin. All assessments go in there. In the blue bin, we place our scantrons. It’s pretty simple and very efficient for me.
You can see the pencil bin, and let me tell you, I never ever worry about pencils. My pencil captain makes sure it has pencils and will come and sharpen as needed. It really is a nice and easy way to maintain pencils. The drawers are from Ikea and were about $6.00 for a pack of 3.
Desks, desks, and more desks
I only have 21 kids this year. Which is fantastic! Unfortunately, we are practically on top of each other. I do have a set of 3 desks together as a flexible seating option. I kid you not, this has been a HUGE hit.
My desk
This will probably be the first and only time that my desk will be cleaned. Seriously.
What is your favorite part of your classroom?
Hugs & High-Fives,
Ronnie