"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 :)