Kindergarten Classroom Tour and Visual Plans

Oh my goodness. I have not been the best blogger these past couple of weeks. I really wanted to soak up EVERY.SINGLE. MOMENT of the summer with my kiddos before starting to teach in a new district and new grade. Speaking of a new grade...where has kindergarten been my whole teaching life? Last week was my first week with the kinder kiddos and I am in absolute LOVE!!! My 23 kinder kiddos are absolutely amazing, high energy, and cute as buttons. I had anticipated early nights of exhaustion, but much to my surprise I feel more energized! My kinder kiddos are like little sponges...picking-up quickly on routines and expectations. They have Whole Brain Teaching down pat!!!

I absolutely love the environment I created for my kiddos. I didn't go with a specific theme...more of a color theme of greens and black. So excuse all of the pictures, but it is the best away to show my new home away from home.

 The first day in my classroom (blank canvas)

 Looking in from the classroom door.

One of many summer trips to IKEA.

 I really wanted to stick with my furniture theme of black, but needed a big book shelf. And this worn down shelf was not going to do! So with a little chalkboard contact paper (did you know that they make CHALKBOARD contact paper?!?!?) and chalk marker I now have...

A matching black big book shelf. I'm in LOVE and cannot wait to change the chalk with each of the upcoming months.

   Here is the front of my room. I moved the large carpet to the front to create a meeting spot. The black skinny shelf holds all of our interactive math and poetry journals. They are placed in colored bins according to what color table my kiddos sit at. I am missing my Promethean board from my last classroom, but I am hoping to get one up on Donor's Choose soon!

Directly to the right of the whiteboard is my calendar and weather wall. All of the ten frames on the "How Many Days?" is our daily count of how many days we are in school. We add a sticker to it each day. 

To the left of the calendar wall is my focus wall. We will hang our focus letter, number, and sight words for the week. 

 Here is a view of our meeting spot from the back of the classroom. 

   To the left of the front whiteboard is my Math focus wall and centers. The yellow pocket charts hold our math vocabulary and center rotations. The magnetic whiteboard hanging below will be used for centers. I am in LOVE with my new black shelf from IKEA that I found in the clearance section for $20. One of my best finds of the summer. The two green tubs on top hold math books and the black baskets hold our math centers. Each center bin has a smaller black basket that holds the manipulative needed for the center. 

   Here is a closer look at how I house my math centers.Each bin has a number card on the outside that correspond to our rotation chart so my kiddos know which center to complete. I also have a matching label on the shelf so when my kiddos are cleaning up they know where to place everything. 

Matching shelf label. 

To the left of my math focus wall is our word wall. 

 Moving to the left again is my guided reading table and desk. I was SO EXCITED when I walked into my new classroom and did not have a teacher's desk. I never sit at a desk and think it is such a waste of space. 

   This is a look behind my guided reading table. The black and green shelves are from IKEA. The large black bins hold my supplies (paper clips, staples, tape, etc.) and the green bins will be used for each of my reading groups. The metal shelf holds my word work activities.

   Here is a look from the back of my reading table across to my classroom library...my FAVORITE part of the classroom. The two black tables and yellow stools are from IKEA. 

   Here is my classroom library revamped this year in new green bins to match my color theme. The skinny bins hold my nonfiction books and the large bins hold fiction books separated by theme. This window lets in very little light and is "foggy" from the inside for safety reasons.  

 Directly to the left of my guided reading table is the other half of my classroom library. The large black shelf in the corner holds my Lakeshore Learning Listening Center and Leapfrog Tags. 

   For some reason I did not snap a picture of my literacy center shelf from afar. But is is set-up similar to my math center bins. Each bin is labeled with a matching label on the shelf for easy clean-up for my kiddos. 

    Here is where my kiddos hang-up their jackets and backpacks. I have placed paper on the wall above to hold my kiddos work throughout the year. Clothespins are hot glued to the paper for easy hanging.

   To the left of my kiddos hangers for their belongings is my writing center. It is kind of bare now until we introduce the materials my kiddos will get to use. The yellow box holding the clipboards will hold our "Write the Room" center materials.

   I love that I have a large rectangle table that my writing center kiddos will be able to use. Behind the table is my writing vocabulary wall with cards from Deedee Wills August/September Writing Work Station pack. To the left of this picture is my pocket charts for my pocket chart center with my kiddos book boxes on my black rolling cart. 

   So there you have it! My week old home away from home. Below you can find my visual plans for the classroom this week. 

Have an amazing week!