Teacher Week '13: Classroom Tour

I'm super excited about my classroom this year! My classroom decor was inspired by a room done by Melanie @ Inspired in Style using the Dots on Black Collection from Creative Teaching Press. Here's a quick look around the room.

I think my favorite part of the room are the positive affirmations that line the ceiling. I debated over buying them, but I'm so glad I did. They're made by a company named Foster Mind, LLC, but I bought them for less here.

I'm really excited about the fact that I ditched the student desks and swapped them out for tables. I love that there's less furniture and I think the arrangement will make collaboration in the classroom much easier.

Here are a few of the details.

I like to think of this area as the command center. This table is just to the right of the door as students walk into the classroom. The bulletin board has a calendar, classroom officers, tutoring schedule, reminders, QR code for class website, and hall passes. I love the hall passes! You can find them over at The Brown-Bag Teacher, where Catherine shares her rationale for making these awesome hall passes. Just under the bulletin board is where I have chosen to put supplies for student use, a file box for absent work and for turning in work. Love how the shoe organizer gave me room to add more to the table and still have room to put handouts for the day at the front of the table.

Just to the right of the command center are my students' time cards. This will be my first time doing a classroom economy. I got the idea from a session by Dia Collins at CAMT this summer. Hopefully, I'll post more about this as I get the system all figured out. Each student has a time card, where they will keep a record of their class attendance and I will make notes about participation and behavior. Students will get paid for their work in class and be able to spend their money of various classroom supplies and privileges.

Meet Abima, our UglyDoll/class mascot! I never would have looked twice at Abima if I hadn't seen a pin that led me to Jennifer @ Teaching with a Smile and he was on sale, 50% off, at my local teacher store. Abima is hanging out at the top right hand corner of my word wall and will make announcements for the class as well as recognize student birthdays! Isn't he a cutie?!

Alright, last detail is over my desk. We were ready to give these frames away after we put some new things up in our guest room. They were sitting on the floor and I decided to take them to school with me and I'm so glad I did.

Of my six years of teaching, I think this classroom is my favorite! I hope my 6th graders love it as much as I do!

Okay, I'm a day late for the link up, but I had to put the finishing touches on before doing the blog post. Better late than never! Head over to Blog Hoppin' if you'd like to tour some more classrooms!

Also linking up with:

Flying High in First Grade

Surfin' Through Second

The Applicious Teacher