Classroom Pictures!

I’m Known as the Teacher With the Balls…and I’m Okay With That  

I have a classroom full of stability balls. With only 30 minutes a day of recess and one day a week of P.E., I felt like my kiddos didn’t get enough time to move. And that’s what kids are built to do! They need to get their wiggles out!

The kids love them! And I feel like they have stayed more focused throughout the day. They are constantly moving, so their bodies aren’t craving the need to wiggle.

I really love how versatile they are. They can lie on their bellies or lean back while they read.  Some sit on their knees and use their core muscles to keep balanced. I know what you’re thinking…they must fall a lot. But they don’t, surprisingly enough !

Sure, at first, they are excited to be sitting on the balls and they bounce a little too much, which gives me a little but of motion sickness. But they get used to them after the first few days and they sit nicely on the balls and gentle bounce.

I am really excited that the rest of the third grade teachers are going to try doing this in their own classroom next year! There are also other awesome teachers in our building who are trying out alternative seating.

New Year, Smaller Space 

I have a book problem. There. I said it.  Out loud. For everyone to hear. I won't spend $30 on a new pair of dress pants that I desperately need, but I will drop $$$ (I won't even say the amount out loud) on books for my classroom.

Having said that, my classroom space is getting smaller and smaller by the minute! In order to remedy this problem, I have to do some rearranging of the ol' classroom.

Here are some before photos:

This was the beginning of last year, so it's still neat and tidy and doesn't have that "lived-in" look yet.

This year, however, I have twenty or so (and by "or so" I mean more like 30) book bins to add to my lovely little library.

After pictures will follow shortly! Rearranging my room takes a lot of think-time on my part. I have an over-analyzing-everything problem as well.... :)

The “After” Photos

After a day of rearranging, I was able to negotiate more room in my itty-bitty little room. Here is how it turned out!

This area is my desk area...minus the teacher desk. There is just no room for one and I don't sit down much anyways. My black crates hold my lesson plans for Reader's and Writer's workshop as well as my spelling curriculum. It's so easy to pull out what I need when I need it. :)

 

I used to have a my carpet area here in front of my white board, but I moved it to make more room for more book shelves, if and when I'll need them. Let's face it though, I'll need them... 

     

I had to section off my library and I think it turned out very cozy! The green and blue bins are all of our chapter books. They are organized by genre. The blue bins are my new bins that overflowed onto my air conditioning/heater unit.  I also moved all my bean bag chairs over here and I really like it! Our magazines are now hanging off of the back side of the bookcase because I had to use EVERY inch of the space I had!

        

This is the picture book section. I added two new bookcases and created an L-shape to make it like a living room of sorts. I put our two butterfly chairs in the middle and called it a day! 

   

 

In the past, I would hot glue my tags onto my baskets but by the end of the year, they'd be all over the floor. So this year I am trying zip-ties. I have high hopes for this idea! I've also included this picture so you can see how my library stays organized. All the kids have to do is match the stickers up! Easy Peasy! 

  

    

I moved my semi-homemade book boxes over to my coat rack because they were getting destroyed on my big bookshelf.  This will help with the flow of traffic and will protect those really tall books from getting squished!

     

New and improved carpet area! I added fabric to my giant shelf that houses all my teacher materials so it looks even more neat and tidy!

 I just reorganized these little shelves. I want to cover them with fabric eventually like I've done the other one. I don't know what it is but I hate looking at these shelves. Maybe it's because it's not as uniformed as I would like.....I'm finicky like that. :)

      

Here is the view of when you first walk in. It all came together nicely!