Since I was in need of a revamped room that was ELA specific, I had to work on pulling out all of my ELA only items as well as make sure I changed the look of things in the classroom. One of my favorite school websites to find hard-to-find items is http://www.mpmschoolsupplies.com. This website not only has great items but the prices are excellent. In the Las Vegas area we have ONE, yes one, teacher store. Luckily I live five minutes away from it but they tend to be pricey especially this time of year.
Here are some shots of my classroom so far. I am mostly done with the walls but I want to think about how to rearrange my desks and my horseshoe table. Now that I won't have one set of students all day, I don't know where I can put this table because I may not do small groups. Anyhoo, here are the shots:
Here is my pride and joy! My classroom library has taken years to build up. I have over 1,000 books and have tried to organize them in every way possible. The best way I have found is to label by AR level. If you do not use AR at your school than try organizing by genre and then Lexile level. A lot of my books have come from Scholastic using bonus points and buying the 50 books for $50 collections. This year, I moved the bookshelves to the back of the room. With so many students coming in and out (about 100), I wanted the room to be fluid and not have students in the front of the classroom when finding a book.
This accent wall holds the literary genres bulletin set and the figurative language mini bulletin board set. Both of these sets were on the MPM School Supplies website and great additions to the classroom. I also printed off the genres and will laminate them to hang on the board while teaching that specific genre. I'm excited!
This Language Arts board is from last year. I didn't feel the need to replace it. It was bright and vibrant still and all the information was still important. This board has descriptive words, parts of speech, and writing genres. I also added a dictionary skills poster. I think dictionary skills are so important in fifth grade. We have a tech based school where students can look up words by searching google but I try to steer students toward using a dictionary versus a device to find the definition.
Ooooh Kagan! I can write a whole post about Kagan strategies in the classroom and I think I will. I was introduced to Kagan strategies just two years ago but feel they are a vital part of any engaging lesson. This year, we are required to enter a Kagan strategy in each lesson we teach. Many of our teachers have not been trained in Kagan and I have offered my services to help train and share what I know about Kagan. Here are some structures on display. This is below the white boards.
This may be my favorite wall so far. It is a little bare and I want to continue to add structures on the empty spaces but I think it is bright. My theme, as it was last year, is Chevron and Polka Dot. It is fifth grade friendly and I can make it girly without excluding boys. I have to have my one pink wall though. My husband thinks this is just mean and cruel punishment for the boys but I love it. This is by the entry of the classroom and where the old bookshelves used to be. This will be a great resource for students.
So what do you think? I love setting up my classroom so that it is ready to go before I start professional development. I also like to set up all my organizational systems before professional development starts as well. Stay tuned for my next post, we have a lot to talk about!
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