"It's a jungle in there"

               As I set up my classroom over the past couple weeks, I could hear both adults and a few students in the hallway saying, "It's a jungle in there!" I was thrilled that my jungle theme was drawing people into my room. The theme sparked conversations with other teachers about themes they used in their classroom in the past.
            From my new teacher academy training, I saw an example first grade classroom. I loved how the teacher had labeled every box and she had made signs for content area stations within the room. After multiple days, every box in my room was labeled whether it was a container of pattern blocks, a basket of Clifford books, or a box of markers. I had designated specific areas of the room for math, science, social studies, reading, and writing. My science and social studies shelves are very small, but I hope to expand those areas in the future when the students begin conducting their own experiments or they start designing projects that fit into those content areas.

Within my reading area, I made an author study bulletin board.  I hope to focus on a new author every month. We will read several of the author's books and create anchor charts to display in the classroom. The students will be engaged with authentic writing activities where they will model the author's style. Eventually, the students will discover their own writing style from absorbing the craft of another.

 

I hope that you all are enjoying my blog thus far. 

If you have any questions about my room set up or where I got specific items, feel free to post a comment on this post and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible.    

P.S. During the creation of this room, I'm pretty sure that I became best friends with the paper cutter, the copy machine, the laminator, my scissors, a stapler, my animal print duck tape (let's face it; everything is better with duck tape), and a few glue sticks. Couldn't have done it without you all :)                                                 

 

     


 

Transformation of Self and Space

Standing the middle of my new classroom, my mom and I began to contemplate our next moves. We were already exhausted from rolling in cart after cart of my school possessions. These possessions include roughly three hundred books that my mom and I had picked up at flea markets, yard sales, and thrift stores. Tons of stuffed animals that correspond to specific book characters lay scattered around the room. I had boxes of paperwork to sort through as well. Some of the paperwork included lessons from my student teaching experiences, worksheets from other teachers, and a random box of assorted construction paper that I have carried around with me since my own childhood. 

My mom and I were going to transform my empty classroom into a jungle-themed learning environment. Little by little, I unpacked my belongings. Some things were moved into plastic containers that would later be labeled for organizational purposes. Other things were filed away on shelves in a storage closet in my room. Since I'm not incredibly gifted with tools, my mom put together many of the shelves that line the walls of my classroom.

At the end of a four day period, the majority of my room was unboxed. It was time to leave the room. I needed to refuel and think through my classroom layout. I needed to sort through all of the ideas I had compiled from Pinterest. I needed to simply breathe because it was overwhelming staring at all of my things. I would revisit my room in approximately a week to finish the transformation process. Throughout those few days in my room, I learned a valuable lesson. No matter how organized or how beautiful my classroom may look after the transformation process; the successfulness of the class depended on my own teaching skills that I had learned through my Master's program and my student teaching experiences. I was the one who would impact my students' lives. They would love the jungle themed room, but I was the one that they would ultimately remember many years down the road.

Guess I better start lesson planning too! :)

Final room pictures will be posted soon as well!