My Blog Gets a Makeover and a Classroom Tour

Not many of you saw what PrimaryTeachingLove looked like before it had the adorable bunting and stripes. Let me just tell you, it wasn't very pretty. Thanks to Brielle at Studio Eleven, this little blog has gotten a makeover and is now beautiful. Hooray! Thanks Brielle!

Ok. Now, for a tour of my classroom.

My adventures with first graders are here in our happy, colorful, and friendly classroom.

This is the entrance. We have three classroom computers to the left of the picture. To the right, on the white shelf, are bins of supplies that the first graders have access to and use every day. You can also see a little glimpse of one of our bookshelves- this shelf holds bins of materials that are used for Reading, Writing, and Word Work.

Here is our rug area- we spend a lot of time here during the day for calendar, read-alouds, mini-lessons, sharing time, etc. I have 32 students in my class and despite the large size of this rug, it is hard for us all to fit when we sit here! The large bulletin board is our calendar/math board. The smaller board is our CAFE board (for those of you who use the Daily 5/CAFE). 

These are updated pictures of what our calendar and CAFE board look like. The picture above was taken at the beginning of the school year- now our bulletin boards (and wall-space!) are filling up with evidence of everything we're learning this year in first grade!

This is what the front of the classroom looks like. In the right corner is the "rainbow table" where I work with small groups.

This is our classroom library (and a small view of our "grocery store" on the bookshelf). The first graders love to read here and lay on the comfy pillows and "read" to a book buddy (a stuffed animal from the green bin).

When the best choices aren't being made, students can spend time at the "Think Spot" and redirect their thinking and actions. In the red folder are reflection sheets where students write or draw about their "not so good" choice and what "good choice they should make." Some students spend more time here than others! :)

This is the view of the back of our classroom. The students each have a cubby and hook to keep their things. I also get great storage on top of the cubbies! We talked about "pairs" earlier this year in math, so you can see all our "socks" hanging up!

That pretty much sums up my classroom! There are some spaces that I didn't show you, but I'll get to those some other time...

Next time I hope to share some stories about my little darlings and what we're currently learning about. :)

Love!