Thursday, August 8, 2013

Classroom decor-round one...

Updated:  July 2015


Original decor: 2013
I never did an original Classroom Decor post of my classroom...so here goes.
Here are some older pictures.  This was two years ago when my Promethean board came down and I was waitin' for my SMART board to go up; it now sits where the green sign in the middle of the room is.  A tall 5 shelf bookcase sits to the right of the board.  The accordion wall opens and closes to my bestie's class.  We are in a pod settin'.  
I will teach 5th this year and she will teach 3rd.   
We buddy up on many things. 
Student work board. The records hangin' above the board are our class rules.
Wider view.  There are spaces for 22 students.  I have four student computers housed here.
To the left is a wireless cart that I share with the rest of my pod & gifted teammates.
We have 8 students laptops and 4 teacher laptops(checked out from the library) that are shared between 4 classrooms. 
Up close name with "Rock Electric" font.
Rockstar pictures hangin' next to student work space. 
Rockstar pictures with Ms. Rose's sunglasses and boas to match our class colors. 
Every Rockstar class needs a "disco ball".
Bulletin board leadin' into the pod.  This hangs above the cubby area. 
Cubbies.  Students keep books, binders, agendas, etc. in here throughout the day.  Backpacks go on the back of their chairs.  I have a list of student names and numbers hangin' on the wall for easy access.
Leveled readers in book buckets next to cubbies.
I have a soft spot for piggies, butterflies, giraffes, and bright colors.

My teacher chair.  I got this pillowcase at Walmart.  
It was sold individually.

Math Word Wall.  Printed letters and placed on top of colored scrapbook paper
and then glued on black paper.  A black ribbon is attached to hang words
with paper clips.

Wider view of Word Wall.

Spray painted old CD's for quotes and ended up with the below piece of art.

Quotes on the wall usin' old CD's.


Art from spray paintin' the CD's.

6 Tables, 6 Literacy Centers.  I need to change this.

Center names on CD's hangin' from the ceilin'.

Table groups and names of groups.  Kids don't have assigned seats at tables. 

Full shot of cabinets.  Writin' posters on the bottom cabinets.  
"Rockstars" on colorful plates goin' down wall.

My 1st Pinspired project over two years ago.

Some different Language Arts skills. 

My curtains and real records hangin' down in my readin' corner.

2 bookcases in the Readin' Corner.  All Fiction.

Bulletin board with fabric stapled on.  Glittered READ letters
hangin' from fishin' wire on the ceilin'.

Non-fiction books and magazines.

More fiction books.

My work space beside my Guided Readin' table.

I love butterflies.

Where I keep all my materials for the week.

Grade, Copy, File




Hangin' file for Finished and Unfinished Work.  I just walk by and scoop it up to grade.
Read about my hangin' "Have You?" here.

Math Centers. 

White Board & Dry Erase storage.

Rock Star chair I painted.  Got this from Goodwill for $3.

Mailbox area that I share with my buddy class.  Right by the front door.  
We drop papers in the basket that need to be filed.  
Big kids check their mailboxes every day at dismissal. 

CRAFT headers from Ladybug Teacher Files.

VOICES headers from Ladybug Teacher Files.

ROCK on small canvases that I spray painted.

Rockin' Behavior.  Kids move their name down the guitar if they have any issues.
I originally got this idea from here.  Thank you to Babbling Abby from the
The Inspired Apple for this idea.

Table baskets.  
I have 6 colors (pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple)



Antique window shutter that I spray painted black for a magazine rack.

If you read all the way to the bottom of this, YOU ROCK!

I haven't started decoratin' yet this year, but I will add more pictures as I do.  
 I really don't have any wall space left to add anything new, but I do have a few items.   
I take full advantage of the space in the hallway.  
This is where I hang almost all student work.  

38 comments :

  1. Your room looks awesome! If you head to technologyrocksseriously.com there is a printable: You Rock because... Print them out for your kids or someone put it in a frame and then filled it in when a student did something great! Just a thought. BTW love your art work!

    Debbie

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    1. Thank you, Debbie! I have a ton of those signs that I need to print. I uploaded a bunch! Love Technology Rocks. Seriously.

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  2. Wow!! There are SO many awesome pictures here that I don't know where to begin! A window shutter used for a magazine rack? That is genius. Everything is so colorful and organized! Do you staple student work on the space below their name? I am trying to think of a way to make a student work display. I love all your rock star touches with the records, guitar, and CD's! You ROCK!!
    ~Holly
    Fourth Grade Flipper

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    1. Sometimes I do staple and sometimes I use blue sticky tac. It just depends on what I am hangin' up. I like to display at least one writing sample a month up there. I display bigger stuff in the hallway and normally hog up the whole hallway. Lol. Thank you for your compliments, Holly! I think YOU ROCK!

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  3. Everything looks great! You have such a rocking classroom! Your kids must love being there!
    Rambling About Reading

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    1. Thank you! It's fun for sure! The first year I used the colors I was worried about havin' pink with boys in there, but they really don't care about that stuff! :)

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  4. Your room looks AMAZING! I love your theme! My favorites are the rock star pictures, CD quotes, and of course the disco ball! I bet your students love their classroom!
    Joanne
    Head Over Heels For Teaching

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    1. Thank you, Joanne. I make them take the rock star pictures the very first day. It's a pretty good icebreaker for sure. Nothing like having feathers from the boas all over the floor first thing in the morning. LOL!

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  5. I want my room to be this organized. We are working on it. Love it Alison

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    1. Thank you! XO Your room is very organized and inviting! :)

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  6. Your room looks fantastic! I love the colors and am jealous that your cubbies are dark green! Mine our white and they show so much dirt.(I have no choice in any paint color in my classroom.) I am pinning this to remind myself of some of your ideas for next year!

    Hunter's Teaching Tales

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    1. Thanks, Bethany! The green is nice not to show any dirt for sure. We are allowed to paint our walls if we want, but I'm super lazy! I thought about doing an accent wall, but I'm always fearful that as soon as I do that, I will have to move rooms. Then I would have to repaint! Lol

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  7. Your room really does look Rockin' :) I'm trying to imagine the music you might play! There just has to be music.... :)

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    1. Oh...there IS music. Lots of it...and VERY loud. We wait for the rest of the pod to exit and have a dance party at the end of the day at least once a week. I have a playlist on Grooveshark that I keep for the kids, but sometimes it buffers for too long.

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  8. You're classroom is amazing! That spray paint art that came from those CD's is so unique! Sometimes the best art is developed that way :) Also- each of your tables has a certain color box- I noticed that you have orange highlighters, sharpie, pencil topper, etc… Is that so their supplies don't get mixed up or is it for aesthetic purposes? Just curious because I have the same caddy's and was wondering how to make sure each table's materials stay with that table!
    Thanks chic!
    ~Lindsay
    Just Keep Teaching

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    1. It's really only to keep the supplies in the same spot. My kids have a home base table, but they don't stay at that table all day. We are constantly all around the room. If I have a specific assignment that I am managing, I may have them quickly highlight their paper and I can glance at the papers and colors to see who hasn't turned something in. They do have to highlight their name on every single assignment, solely for the purpose of checking to make sure they have written their names on their papers. I don't care which color they use on these assignments.

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  9. I'm in love with every bit of this! I'm properly jealous :)

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    1. Thank you Vikki! I need to wander over to LM to check out your room! :)

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  10. Alison, what a fun and organized classroom! Can I come and learn there? I love, love, love your student work bulletin board with the scrunchy border! I'm excited to see that you use CRAFT- our grade level decided to change over to that this year. :)
    Erin
    Short and Sassy Teacher

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    1. You don't have to come learn in there, but you can come hang out. We can giggle and have my kids give us pedicures! Haha

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  11. Wow! What a Rockin' classroom! I love all the records and cd's hanging around your classroom. The quotes on the CD's are a great idea! Your room is so organized and fun! I love everything about it!

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    1. Thank you, Kelly! Do you know that some of my kids didn't know what the records were? Crazy to think about, right?

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  12. Wow, your classroom looks amazing. I love how you have used your theme in all different areas and how great it works. I love the colors. Your labelled bins are great - jealous of their size :)

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    1. Thank you so much! I've been workin' on the theme for about four years, so it's been a work in progress. I had a sweet parent for three years that was responsible for helpin' decorate the majority of it. She is the mastermind and for that I am thankful.

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  13. WOW!!! What an adorable classroom! So organized and so vibrant! :)

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    1. Thank you, Heather! I appreciate the compliment. The vibrancy definitely makes me be a more pleasant person in the mornings...I'm not a morning person until I've had a Diet Coke. Lol

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  14. That room is absolutely fantastic! How much did you have to spend to get all of that! Right now I am in the process of ordering some school furniture for the classroom and was wondering if anyone here had some ideas on how to spruce it up. I was thinking maybe have the kids decorate the front of their desks with streamers and name tags but I'm not completely sold on that idea. Anyone have any suggestions?

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    1. Thank you so much, Joan! I'm not goin' to lie and say it was inexpensive, but I did make a lot of items from things that I found at thrift shops or around my house. I just got creative with it. I have added a few things here and there throughout the years, so it wasn't one big hit of money at one time. Once I had it set, I can reuse the same decor. I don't hang things on tables, only because my students move their seats all during the day. Very rarely are they sitting in the same spot. Student work is great decor for any room.

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    2. Thanks for the input rose! I am not quite sure why but thrift shops never dawned on me! Thanks for the ideas :).

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  15. I love how you use the stackable bins for storing materials you need for each day of the week. I currently use tray baskets for this that sit side-by-side on one of my shelves. I love your idea to use the stackable bins b/c that takes up much less room that would allow better use of the valuable shelf space! Where did you get those from?

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    1. Hi Ruthie...I bought them several years ago at Office Depot or Office Max. They are probably the best purchase I have ever made for my classroom.

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  16. Hey Alison,
    I love your classroom, I'm new in education, can I ask you where did you get the organizer for the week its so convenient , thanks
    Meryem

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    1. Hi Meryem, I got the organizer many years ago (17 years to be exact) at Office Depot or Office Max. It is probably the very best thing I have ever purchased for my classroom. They are stackable. I had to buy each individually, but so worth it. Maybe they still have something similar!

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  17. Our Principal allows us to paint whatever colors we want. Many painted only accent walls, but that was not enough for me.I used colorful objects as the inspiration in my classroom. I love it but many say they could not handle so much color. Each of the four walls is a different color. One is pink, one is neon green, one is turquoise, and one is purple. My trim is yellow. My air duct is orange. My daughter took several tiles down from the ceiling and painted pictures on them. They are gorgeous. She also painted flowers on the walls and a saying from Dr. Seuss on my air duct. The students love it! I too place many things around my room that are colorful! However, I am not nearly as organized as you. Our classrooms are small. We are a small K-12 school with about 650 students total. It is a great school in Sweet Water, Alabama. I teach 4th grade. I am pinning many of your shots for inspiration next year. Thanks for sharing! I love your room and your great ideas!!!

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    1. Thank you so much, Cathy! I want to see pictures of your room. I bet I would LOVE it!!! I love walking into classrooms with color. It makes me happy! It took me 17 years to get so organized, but it sure does make things much easier!!!

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  18. Where did you find the container to hold your work for the week?

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    1. I got them originally at Office Depot or Office Max. They are stackable bins. I saw recently that someone posted that they had black ones at Big Lots. I've had mine for about 19 years....so I don't know if Office Depot still sells them or not.

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    2. Thank you for responding so quickly!

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