It's the First Day of School

So I promised that I would share some before and after photos of my classroom.  Too bad I don't have some Before, After, AFTER photos for you, though.  Last year, my classroom was not used, and it became a dumping ground for everyone's junk.  I nearly had a panic attack trying to figure out what furniture I needed to keep from my old classroom because I couldn't figure out what furniture in the new classroom was supposed to be mine!

I digress. 

Here are my photos:

This is the back of my classroom.

This is the front of my classroom.

This is my storage space, and students' "lockers" where they can hang coats, backpacks, and other stuff.

I LOVE those bookshelves.  I had them in my classroom directly below this one, too.  I brought that large storage cart with me.  All the stuff on the shelves in the before picture are now in the storage closet in the above picture.

That's all of my before and after photos, but I do have a few other things to share! :)

I think the "You are Responsible for You" banner is an important reminder, especially for these older kids!  I love my neatly organized arts and supplies shelves.  I brought this up from my old classroom, too.  Those cans on the top center shelf were my little project.  I just took some empty cans and hot glued some fabric to them.  :)  I'm also doing the Daily Café and Daily 5 this year. For 6th grade, I'm actually doing the Daily 3: Read to Self, Word Work, and Work on Writing.  For my café bulletin board, I have white dinner napkins to write the skills on.  Above the plates, are knives that explain what each letter stands for: Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Explore Vocabulary.

I am going to be teaching mostly reading in 6th grade.  I have my library arranged in alphabetical order by the author's last name.  This literally took me 6 hours to do.  I have laminated cardstock cards with each letter of the alphabet to show where each section begins.  In the second picture, I decided to make it very easy for students to borrow books.  Each class has a boys and girls pouch with a name card in it.  When a student takes a book, he or she writes the title of the book on the card, and uses the card as a place holder to mark where the book belongs.  Not only will this help them know where to return the book, but I will know who has what book out of my library! :)

I really love this bulletin board.  :)  In first grade, I had TONS of jobs for the kids to do.  In 6th grade, they really don't care if they get to lead the line down the hall, or if they get to be the ender and close the door.  I still have a few jobs that I need the students to do.  So I covered the top half with the classified section of the newspaper, and advertised for help.  My jobs are messenger, janitors, mail, and substitute.  Under each job pouch, I wrote how many people I need to do the job, the job description, and what I will "pay."  The purple can on the shelf has popsicle sticks with each student's name on them.  If a student wants to do a job, they can put their popsicle stick in the pouch.  The only job needing two students is janitor.  I used to use paper dollars with my face on them and had a little store every other week with all kinds of toys and things as prizes.  I don't think 6th graders will be too excited about my cheap Dollar Tree prizes.  What I decided to do is allow them a choice of pay.  They can receive one of our school's positive behavior slips at the end of the week OR they can earn a specific number of points.  Points can be used in the small store I'm going to have with school supplies: pencils, pens, erasers, possibly notebooks, folders, etc.   The substitute can earn a slip or points each DAY that the student has to fill in for a job of a student who is absent.  If no one is absent that week, I may still "pay" the student some how.

So that's it for my classroom tour.

I'm super nervous, but excited to be starting a new chapter as a 6th grade teacher!