Extreme Makeover: Classroom Edition

Well the time has come... School officially starts on Tuesday! (That's tomorrow, I started this post the other day but I didn't have good pictures so I had to go back to school today!)Oh where did the summer go and why do I still feel like there's so much to do?! I moved classrooms two years in a row...ugh! But I'm very happy with the results of this year's transformation and I think the kiddos I met the other day love it too.

We went from this...

To this!

View from the door

View from the other side

Front of the classroom

 Focus wall, missing a few things that will be put up as we go!

Morning message for tomorrow!

Calendar

 Gathering area, focus wall and calendar

 Library, student computers and teacher area

Word wall under whiteboard

Student book baskets

Go home chart

Student desks

Classroom jobs display

Lunch count and attendance board (my favorite!)

My desk, not too messy yet ;)

Reading table with baskets for supplies

"Welcome to the first day!"

Outside the classroom

 I hope you have enjoyed my little tour! I'm excited and nervous for tomorrow but I think it's gonna be a great year!

Be sure to check out some other classrooms here...

Back 2 School! Classroom Decor! {freebie too!}

So what your classroom says about you says a lot about you as a teacher...at least I think so! I spend A LOT of time setting up and getting my classroom ready. I love making it look inviting/warm/friendly/comfortable I do have a bit going on but I try not to go over the top too much (however many would disagree!)

 I have loved being able to make my own decor, because I can make things exactly as I want.

As you can see from the picture below, I am totally ready for school to start...

He he he okay maybe not so ready! I'll get there though!

I'll be sharing more pics as things get put away and cleaned up. Anyway my classroom decor this year was inspired by an alphabet that I saw and I made my own!

They are pretty cute don't you think?! You can find them here, they are currently on sale for 20% but will be on sale again soon...

This alphabet also inspired a few other projects including homework folder labels.

You can add individual student names! and they are FREE, (Sorry they were free for a short time) you can get them $3 and use them every year!

Be sure to check out the other link ups too!

Next Week: Keys to Success!

New Classroom Decor!

So many classroom is in shambles right now cause I had to move :( Fortunately I get to stay in first grade but moving classrooms was a must. I HATE moving be it school or home, it's so NOT fun. It could be worse though, right? But anyway I am excited to get to redecorate! So I'm loving the black and bright look so I created these new Alphabet cards

Aren't they cute?! Oh I love them! I also made new group numbers and student numbers.

I print my student numbers in various sizes for various things 1) book basket numbers 2) lunch choice/attendance magnets (about an inch and a half) 3) backpack/coat label

This is a mini pack but I'm might be inspired to add other stuff later. You can check it out on TpT by clicking the picture below :)

a little classroom tour!

just a day late...I spent the last real day of summer at the lake getting a nice sunburn... Anyway, I've have worked the ENTIRE summer and now (the day before school starts!) I'm ready to show you my classroom! It's pretty cute if I do say so myself...

Back of the classroom, taken from the door.

Close-up of our Gathering Spot, where I will do Morning Message, Days of the Week, Days of School, etc.

Days of the Week can be found in my

Classroom Decor pack!

 Number Posters at the front of the room are in my decor pack too!

My cute little group baskets for pencils and crayons, I have desks in my classroom but I'm planning on using them more like tables and the kids will not have many things kept in their desks! At least I hope!

 My genius Lunch Count board made out of pizza pans from the dollar tree, magnets with a sticky back from Wal-Mart and my students numbers from my Decor pack (4 pages printed on one page is a nice way to reduced the size and super easy!) The kids will come in, hang up their stuff and make their lunch choice (choice and cold lunch pan not shown ;)  I hope it works out!

I took most of these photos last wednesday when we had 1st Grade orientation. This was the stuff they got to take home with them that night. My principal loved the little flip book I made and so did the parents! Check it out at Ashley Reed's Store it's awesome Parent Handbook Flipbook

Our classroom Library, all these books have been leveled and covered with contact paper to help them endure hours of reading by my "firsties".

Close-up of my book boxes, the locker bins (on the left and right are from the Dollar Tree, center basket from Really Good Stuff).  All my books also got a matching number sticker on the back so the kiddos would be able to put the book back in the right bin!

 Students book baskets, also from the Dollar Tree. I just love that place!

Well what to do in the last few hours of summer??? I'm both EXCITED and NERVOUS for tomorrow, I just hope I sleep later ;)

New Classroom Decor!

I've been hard at work designing my own classroom decor this summer...little did I know that it was going to be SUPER difficult to upload/reduce/compress the file.  It took me over a week of trying different things but finally I just broke down and split my files into two separate purchases. That 100mb limit is a bit frustrating, but all in all my new product looks great! I'm super excited to go to school and get it put up and organize my room.  This past week I moved homes! Very exciting but I hate moving it's sooo much work! I'm living much closer to the action of downtown and can pretty much walk everywhere I would want to go! Even the lake!

Here's a preview of my my classroom decor pack, what do you think? Click on the first picture to go to my TpT store!

 This is my welcome sign and bunting pack! It would look so cute in your class too! Click the picture to go to my TpT store!

Ok well I have some more unpacking/vacuuming to do...I'd rather eat ice cream...or something fun! Anyway, happy Monday only 6 weeks til school starts!

Erika