Your Best Classroom Resource

What is the best resource in your classroom?

Is it technology?

Is it your classroom library?

Is it those interactive notebooks?

When I asked teachers on Instagram what they believed was the number one best resource in their classroom, most of them answered with something related to physical environment.

Anchor charts.

Education Posters.

Cute classrooms are fun.  I love to see all the hard work pay off when teachers spend countless hours  making their classroom cute and all themed out.

I do a bit of that myself.

But don't forget your classroom should be a resource for your students.

The best classroom resource I have?

The four walls that make up my classroom.

Not sure what I'm talking about?

Make your classroom fun and bright and welcoming.

Add your own style and flair to it.

But do it in a way that can be useful to students.

I love me some color in my classroom.

I add a lot of color to my walls with these Math ABC posters.

They are both colorful and a great resource for my students.

I cannot tell you how many times my students refer to these posters.

"Oh yeah, that word is on our ABC wall." 

While these posters add a lot of color to our classroom walls, there is also a lot of blank space when my students walk in on the first day of school.

And it isn't because I ran out of time or money to decorate that space.

It's not because I forgot about that part of the room.

It is done intentionally to leave room for all the anchor charts we will create as a class throughout the year.

Give your students visual cues that will help them understand and verbalize their own thinking.

And of course I'm always in favor of using space to encourage students to have a growth mindset.  I believe this is just as important if not more important than content related things on the walls of our classroom.

What's on your classroom walls?

Is your classroom a resource for your students?

Leave me a comment and let me know your number one best resource.

Let's chat again soon.

Elaina

A New Adventure

Today I slept in late, enjoyed some spontaneous time with family, and soaked up a few rays by the pool.

Summer is in full swing.

And I am here for it!

But I'm also all about some planning and dreaming and prepping for the upcoming school year.

And that's okay too.

I'm excited and ready to get started.

I will be in a new school district next year teaching 7th Grade Math which happens to be my favorite of all the things to teach.  

Last year was a weird year for me as far as teaching goes. And if I'm being honest it wasn't the most enjoyable year of my teaching career.  I didn't get to do much teaching and because of that I am eager to get back into the classroom and do my thing.

So today I took the risk  of looking like an eager beaver and I contacted my principal about getting into my new classroom.  I was dying to see it.

My husband and I just got back from an AMAZING ten day road trip.  By the end of the trip I was just busting at the seams to get home and start working on all things school.

So today was the day.  I walked into my new classroom for the first time.

My first thought?

Well dang!  The current teacher has moved out yet and I can't get started.

But I've been there and I totally get it.  She can't move until her new room is vacated.

So my disappointment was quickly replaced with big dreams and excitement.

I took note of all the storage and the two mini bulletin boards.  My brain started racing with ideas of how to arrange the desk.  

I noticed that burnt orange wall.  See it?  The wall that doesn't fit my usual color scheme of black and neon?  

And then I let my mind shift and begin to explore other theme ideas.  I'm not ready to accept any of them but dreams and ideas are beginning to form.

My eyes began to see a space where students would feel loved and free to be themselves.  I began to see a space where students would grow as mathematical thinkers.  I began to see a space where students would want to spend time.

I began to see the relationships that will no doubt be built.  I began to see the growth in me that would take place within these four walls.

You see it's not about the building.  It's not about how new or how old the building might be.  It's not about a certain color scheme.  

It's about the relationships and the bonds that are formed within the space.  

That is what creates a space for learning.

This room is now mine.

Mine and and about 130 students'.  

Students I cannot wait to meet.  

2016-2017 Classroom Reveal

Today marked the 34th day of school for me.

I figure it is about time I share my classroom reveal with you.

While there are definitely parts of my room that I love...my desk  area and the suitcase and globe...I have to admit I'm not loving my room this year.

I was so excited about doing a travel theme.  I ended up doing lots of blue and green in hopes of it not being too overwhelming with colors.

Now I wish I had more colors.

There's always next year. :)

The One With The Tour

Well.  I have three days of this school year under my belt.  They've been chaotic, but good days.  I think I've got a great group of students again this year.  I'm really excited about getting to share my love of books with them this year.

I procrastinated a bit and didn't get my room finished until Saturday night.  I made sure to take pictures so that I could share with you.

You are hit with owls before you ever walk in the door.

  I made the wreath by hot gluing pompoms onto a Styrofoam wreath.

 The chalkboard owl was bought from www.zulily.com.

The welcome mat is from Lowe's.   

Sorry the pictures are dark.  The lights in our hallway were off as it was late Saturday night.

 This is the view when you walk in the door

 I absolutely love this canvas.  I found it at Kirklands for $20. It was perfect to fill this blank space that I still had left.

 Front of my room - my white board with my own two class rules and my stool painted by my incredibly talented cousin.  My rules are a pinterest find.  I even ended up using the same colors.

 I hate bulletin boards with a passion.  I guess that's a true sign that I'm not an elementary teacher. :)  I prefer to do things that I can use all year.  I am not one to change it out throughout the year.  This year I chose to use it as a place to display our agenda.  The boarder was another pinterest find.

 This is my area.  You can see my teacher toolbox there on the mini fridge.  The pink owl above it is a cork board that I found in the dollar bins at Target.  The blue owl is a picture frame.  Love it!!

 My reading corner.  I gave it an uplift with the purple paint this year.  I love this bit of color.  It really pops in my room.

 The back wall holds my bookshelves.  Each book has a color circle on the spine that lets students know the genre of the book.  The poster outlined in pink is a key for the genres.

 My sweet grandma sewed these little "curtains" to hide computer cables.  I love them!!  

 My reading tree.  You can see some close up pictures of it here. 

This might be my favorite pinterest find.  It was originally designed to display artist.  I'm using it to display different authors.  It's the one "bulletin board" that I'm excited to change out every month.  The pictures below Mr. Kinney's pictures are his "friends".  I chose to use authors that inspired him as his friends.  The middle is a few facts I found about him.  Some of his books are displayed on the right.  My students absolutely love this aspect of my room.  They are already guessing and requesting future authors.

My photo gallery.  These frames contain different pictures of owls and sayings.  I made the fabric bunting at the top.  There are more curtains.

Notice the saying above the door?  Here is a better picture.

Those letters are fabric that I ironed onto the wall.  Yet another pinterest find that I absolutely love.  You simply iron heatbond onto the back of your fabric and then iron it to the wall.  The possibilities are endless.  My friend and coteacher did a flamingo and a palm tree to iron on her wall.  It's really awesome.

So there you have it.  Thank you for touring my room.