Classroom Ready- Flexible Seating #StarbucksMyRoom

This year I decided to try flexible seating. I've been looking at it for several years and debating if I should try it. When Natalie, a friend and parent at my school, approached me about being part of a group to pilot this I knew it was time to try it!

I've been working in the room for about 2 weeks. Believe it or not, teachers start back July 25th so I wanted to make sure I was done before school starts.

When I started looking for flexible seating options I saw tons of exercise balls. I know I wouldn't be able to handle all those exercise balls rolling all over the place so I looked for other ideas. I found my bean bag ottomans at Overstock. I ordered memory foam bath mats and the isokinetics cushions from Amazon. I picked up the wooden stools at Target and the little black stools were ordered from IKEA. I absolutely love the way it has turned out!

I've used lamps for several years and I love the way the room feels like home without those fluorescent lights on.

So here is a look into my room!

I purchased bed risers for this table next to my technology shelf. It is high enough that the kids will be able to work around it while sitting on the stool or standing.

This is the shelf where all my technology will go. My Chromebooks will go on the top shelf. I have file folder organizers and the computers fit nicely in the slots. I tied each cord on the organizer so they'll be easy to plug in when the computers are replaced. The second shelf has organizers for my class iPads. I'm not sure if you can tell, but on the very bottom of the shelf are my new robots! I still have to get a large power strip for them because I have 12 Sprk robots we will be using for STEM this coming year.

This is the reading corner. I picked up the rag rugs at 5 Below. I haven't been a reading teacher in several years but the kids still love reading and I want them to have a place to sit and read if they want to.

I couldn't part with my teacher desk but I did eliminate a table and pushed the desk closer to the storage cabinets. The classroom computer is on my desk because it has to be connected to my Smartboard and document camera.

I really love this table. I used it for small group instruction when I taught math and reading. This year I'm planning to let students sit around it. I left a few chairs here in case someone wants one.

These are the wire shelves behind the table above. I eventually want to get some wooden shelves to replace these wire ones. They just don't hold up very well, but I'm about spent out for now!

This is the view along the wall where you come in the classroom. I have two desks there so we can turn them to face the classroom if they are needed.

We lowered this table by removing the legs from it. I put some rag rugs down and also got Isokinetics wiggle cushions.

This is my table with legs removed so the kids can use memory foam bath mats to sit on.

My front carpet (which is well worn) is a large place where the kids will be able to work.

I put my Target stools along the back counter.

And this table wasn't lowered because I put the bean bag ottomans here.

I hope you have enjoyed my classroom tour! I'm still planning to pick up a few other things for the room so if I do I'll be sure to share them with you.

Students Return Monday

Teachers returned to school this week and after meetings I've been working some in my classroom. I decided I wanted a math focus wall and I also wanted to add a few things.

This Daily Data board is where I'm going to have my students answer a question and vote one way or the other. Then we are going to use this data to create graphs and generate questions about the data. I was first introduced to this idea from the book Guided Math and the new 4th grade teacher, Ms. Hawk, shared how she does this with her students.



I still need to make cards with student names (or numbers) on them so they can vote but I thought we might start the first note with sticky notes.







Then I used the back bulletin board to create this math focus. We have the calendar (which will have pattern pieces on it), a place for the array of the day, prime/composite numbers, fraction bars, and measurement. I also plan to add vocabulary word splashes as we learn them.

Then in the picture below you can see the Common Core Mathematical Practices Objectives. I love these posters because they explain them in a way the kids can understand. You can find these posters here.

I also added a small poster for our brain dumps. As we learn a new brain dump I'll add it to this wall.



When a student doesn't have his/her homework assignment they must stay in for recess detention during recess time. In the past I've had student write a note about why the assignment isn't complete. I found it difficult to manage without sorting through papers on the way out the door for recess. So, this year I plan to do things differently. I found this homework black book form. I will still have the excuse written by the student but they will stay in one binder. If the student has to write an excuse he/she must move their clip from the left to the right ribbon. That way I can see if anyone has to stay in recess detention. Once the assignment is completed and turned in I'll have the student highlight the assignment in the black book and move the clip back to the left side.



You can also see the brownie points I used last year. If the class gets a compliment from another adult in the building they earn a brownie point. After the pan is full I make brownies for them.



Since I added more math stuff this year I rearranged my CAFE (reading) stuff a little bit too. I'm ready and excited for the kids to start Monday! I'll start posting about what we're doing in the classroom next Friday.

First Summer Week in Classroom

So we still have almost a month of summer left but my principal is wonderful and she lets us in the building early. I love having time to get in the room and work at my pace to get things done instead of having to rush and get it done in just a few days. I worked a few hours each day. The great thing is that if I'm not feeling it that day I don't have to work.

So I have seen several people posting about how to display their classroom rules. I did this last year and I really like it. I just used PowerPoint to type the rules and added a text box behind the text to add the polka dots (to match my colors). I glued the rules to the ribbon and then glued the ribbon to the wall. Voila!


Here is the sign I ordered from Vistaprint. I was happy with it because it isn't just heavy paper. The print isn't super sharp but it works for what I need it for. Now I just need to find a place to put it in my classroom wall. It is pretty large so I'll post once I get it on the wall.


Another surprise when I returned to school, we had some babies this summer! I cleaned their habitat and found 7 babies. See the tiny one I circled? That's one of the babies. As you can see we have PLENTY of hissing cockroaches and the sad thing? You can't even see all of the adults in this picture. They love to get under things so there are a lot hiding.



Someone asked me about my Good Job Jar so I snapped a photo today and decided to share how I use it. I give tickets out to my students when they do something good, answer a question no one else knows the answer to, post a comment on the blog, etc. We also do big word every day. I post the scrambled letters for a big word and the kids try to figure out what the word is. The first 3 students to get it right get a ticket and then they come to the Smartboard and rearrange the letters to reveal the big word. I draw tickets on Friday afternoon (this also makes a great probability lesson and I don't even have to "teach" it). We count the number of tickets in the jar and determine the probability of some one's name being drawn. As the year goes, we also find the percent.

I draw 4 tickets. The first 3 are given the choice of a homework pass or lunch with a friend pass. This year I'm going to add iPad time pass that I had made on Vistaprint. Then the last name drawn is the "lucky dog" and that person gets all the passes.


I've been seeing these cute drawers on Pinterest so I decided to make some too! My room colors are red, black, and white. Plus I love Hello Kitty so this was just what I needed. I cut the paper and then used my Cricut to cut out little Hello Kitty heads for the labels. I ended up writing on them instead of printing them because it was going to be a pain to print labels and cut them. I love my husband's handwriting but I just did it myself because I wasn't sure what I was going to put in each one.


The last thing I'm going to share is the app I used to write on my photo. Skitch is a free app that lets you write on photos or add text and shapes.


I'm super excited that I'm almost up to 100 followers. I never thought that would happen! Thanks to all my readers and those who comment.