Classroom Tour Pictures Galore!

Oh. my. goodness. I never thought I would go this many days without blogging! For as much planning and work as I did before school started, I just don't know where it all went! I started school with my kiddos on Wednesday and I've been crazy busy for the past two-ish weeks setting up my room and curriculum. I have switched from first to third grade this year, so it was a brand new ball game for me, but I'm super excited! I absolutely loved first and miss my littlest ones, but I can already tell I have a fabulous group of third graders and I can't wait to start seeing light bulbs go off!

Lemme start with a quick photo walk around my classroom so you can check out our little home for the next 180ish days of school :)

Here's my little welcome sign outside my door :)

This year my "jungle" theme couldn't be contained and I had to branch out into the hallway... pun intended :)

That adorable "Welcome" sign was one of my exciting freebie finds on TpT! Here is is closer up peek:

The colors and zebra pattern fit PERFECT for my theme. You can snatch up this printable sign from Kindergarten Lifestyle for {FREE} here. I decided to glue my circles on paper cake doilies (which are my newest quick crafting obsession in my classroom!!) With a little hot glue and a ribbon down the back, you have an instant welcome sign that is just TOO CUTE! Thank you Kindergarten Lifestyle!!

Moving on to the rest of the room:

My desk and the front of the room:

My tree! It is over my library and group rug.

I am SO excited about my newly organized classroom library! I have a TON of books, just ask my mom- she helped me organize all of them! The bins and labels make me oh so excited!

There's the door to the hallway, my word wall to-be on the cabinets and all my kiddos' desks with my Meet the Teacher goodies :)

 Student computer table, my jumbo monkey, and the bulletin board has my whole group reading focus wall on the left, writing process in the middle and math on the right.

Here's another angle of the same corner. I was strugglin because I couldn't find a map or a good place in my room that had a large enough wall space for a map. I found this great map at Joann Fabrics! One yard of fabric is exactly one full map. I used a coupon and got it for 5 bucks! I love how colorful and bright it is!

Here are some close ups!

My teacher drawers for planning, my teacher bookshelf and my birthday balloons :)

I *LOVE* these framed rules- black frames are from the dollar store and I just printed off the rule sheets with clipart from my computer.

Super Star Work Wall with glitter clothes pins. Clothes pins have two flat thumb tacks glued to the back so they stick into the bulletin board. I LOVE that I won't have to put staples through students' papers every time I want to showcase them.

Our school requires that we post our quiet signal, behavior chart colors/descriptions, classroom incentives, prize cart prices, etc. so this wipe off board filled up with all that jazz.

My kiddos' materials. I always stock a classroom resource shelf for my students who don't bring in supplies. Gotta love Dollar Tree plastic bins and fun labels! I stuck all my labels on my bins this year with sticky velcro dots. This way I can easily switch them from bin to bin if I make any changes in my organization next year. 

My writing process wall. Dollar Tree pulled through for me again! I glued flat thumbtacks (5-6 on each) on dollar pizza pans and stuck them right onto the bulletin board. Also got these little banana papers from the Dollar Tree to write my kids names on them and stuck magnets on the back. I want the kids to be able to move themselves through the steps.

 A close-up on my library bins. Ahh!! I'm loving the zebra touch this year!

Cubby book bins for my kiddos with cute lil numbers hot glued on. I found the numbers as a freebie on TpT and I can't find them again to give you the link! If you search for "zebra" on TpT and sort price "low-high" you will find so many free adorable classroom labels and printables! If your theme is zebra...it's definitely a MUST to hit up TpT freebies!

My work bins. It was absolute fate that I found these 50 cent place mats at Walmart to put underneath them because they matched the tablecloth I had bought last fall! I cut the tablecloth down the middle and sewed the ends together so I could stick it to the underside of the table with sticky velcro dots (actually my mom took the reins on this project, too!) The table is open on both sides because the other side opens to the cubbies- so I wanted to hide ALL of my stuff with a wrap around curtain.

Close up on my math manipulatives- I will have a lot more, but I haven't gotten the complete set from my district yet- these are just my personal ones. I got those green mini bins on the right top shelf at the Dollar Tree. I thought it would be a good idea to have these so the kids could take a handful or two of counters back to their seat.

LOVE this rolling drawer stand from Michaels- it was 50% off, plus my teacher discount! I don't have it filled yet, but I want to use the top drawers for my word work groups- I have three different levels that I use in my classroom every week, so this will be a great way to organize. I also am going to use the bottom drawers for early finisher activities. 

Reading group bins: $1.50 caddies from Big Lots- jazzed up with some wide zebra ribbon woven through and a printed/laminated label on the front! Love!

Not really "part" of the classroom, but this is my office supply drawer that I am loving because it is finally organized!!! I have back stock of all these supplies in the cabinet underneath, but these are quick and easy to reach from my desk. I feel like a lil Staples :)

My classroom wouldn't be nearly as organized and decorated if it wasn't for my crafty mom! I asked her to make these "hide away" curtains for my built in bookshelves. The bookshelves are great, but they are so deep, so they aren't quite functional for the kiddos to use because things get pushed so far back. I used a suspension rod just inside the front of the bookcase to hang it. Voila! 

 

That was a load of pictures, so if you are still with me after all that, THANK YOU! I hope you might see some things that might work in your own classroom. We will see how many changes I make now that the kids are back and the room is pack to the brim. So far the set up is working well for the small space we have. Does any teacher actually thing their room is BIG ENOUGH? I don't think so :)

I will post tomorrow some quick pictures of my Meet the Teacher activities and favors. Thanks for not forgetting about me after this long break from blogging! Okay it was about two weeks, but it felt like forever!!

I have so much stuff in the works, I can't wait to share it with you. I *hopefully* will be having another big Followers giveaway soon for 600! Stay tuned. Hope everyone is having a fantastic start to the year!