Tuck This Away

If your classroom is anything like mine, then your kiddos are usually VERY hyper before winter break.  I also work at a school where you are NOT allowed to celebrate Christmas.  Back in the day, I remember having a tree in my classroom and we got to decorate our classroom door.  Gone are those days. 

I got this GRAND idea last year, when I searching on-line fun winter activities in the classroom.  It didn't take a lot of materials, time, and it seemed like fun so I thought I would give it a shot.  The kids, and I, LOVED it!!!

Snowman Creations

Split the class up into 5 or 6 groups (there should only be around 5-5 kids within each group). 

Supplies for each group:
- A large piece of construction paper in black, orange, red, and green.
- Scissors
- Roll of masking tape
- 2 rolls of toilet paper (doesn't have to be an expensive brand, but you don't want it too cheap that it breaks when the kids are using it).

Give groups 2 minutes of planning time when they don't have the materials.  They will need to decide who is the person who will be wrapped up as the snowman, who will be cutting out materials, who will be taping, and who will be wrapping. 

Then they will get 15 minutes to go at it.  You can probably stretch it out to 20 minutes but you don't want to give it too much time because they will lose focus.  You will also want to have enough space in your classroom so groups can spread out.  We used an empty classroom this year, but last year we just pushed our desks to the side. 

Our guest judge is always the principal.  She always does a good job walking around and complimenting each group's snowman and then she announces the winner.

It's a ton of fun and it's neat to see their creation.  This year we had a group create a snowman with "bling" on it.  I would have to say this is an upper grade activity for sure!

Welcome to Room 20

Helllllooooo there!  Glad you could make it.  I'm going to take you on a tour.  First, we are going to star with my school.  This is what I am talking about when I said that our school is a California Pod style school.  We are separated into 4 different pods and there are around 4 classrooms within each pod, not including the office/library and the gym/cafeteria/computer lab which are 2 different pods.  

This is the view from the drive in.

This is my specific pod.  It is closest to the back parking lot (very handy!).  That's my back door.

Note- this is the sign attached to my pod.  This is also the place where the skateboarders like to hang out.  Another side note- Skateboards scare me.  I don't know why, but I always think they are going to attack me.

We have to walk in breezeways to get from place to place.  If you've ever been to Oregon, you know it's not the warmest place year round.

Finally, here we have my actual classroom.  I have only been in this class for 2 year, but I spent one of my summers painting all the walls, cabinets, and bookcases.  So my blood, sweat, and tears have literally been spilled into this classroom.

View when you walk into the classroom.

I don't actually assign my students hook numbers.  As long as they don't fight I don't really care. 

The shelf in my closet is used for seasonal decorations. The snowflakes were an art project we did before break.

A sign so my students know exactly where I want the lunch boxes, mirror to check themselves out it, and hallway passes (a must have in the classroom).

This is the divider wall from the coat closet to the classroom.  I'm very proud of this display, it's all of my photographs!

My math bookcase (thanks IKEA) but I did sew the additional curtain for it.

This bookcase houses ALL of our math materials, workbooks, book, and manipulatives.  Best thing ever!

Front of the classroom

Actual classroom.  I like students to sit in groups.  Yes, it's noisier but it helps with managing materials. and collaboration.

My reading nook.  Another "shout out" to IKEA for the sofa.  I love this area and the kids like it too. 

Their mailboxes/cubbies to put their take home papers.  We did not do a good job cleaning these out before break.  Usually, I will have one student shout out names of those who haven't cleaned out their cubbies.

This is a chart that monitors their "at home" reading, the program is called Tons of Reading.  The picture frames houses classroom photos of each class I have taught.

Classroom Hoorays are given by staff members who spots the entire classroom doing something well.  We typically get a lot of these for breezeway walking.

Classroom library.  I will do a whole post on this one day soon.

This is my reading/homeroom area.  The bookcases houses all my reading stuff, but the bulletin board is for my homeroom.

 What's behind the curtain???

Why, more books.  These go with our Open Court units.

This is our COW (Computers On Wheels).  It houses the 20 MacBooks we use in class. 

Each student has their own thumbdrive to save their projects on.  They can either bring in one or borrow one.  If you've ever had your classroom save to a server, then you know why thumbdrives are necessary.

Small group workstation and art display board.  The green drawers behind the table is where our "shared" materials are: rulers, glue sticks, scissors, etc.  This isn't the most convenient work table because it doesn't fit a lot of students and I will get trapped back there which is never a good thing.

This table houses my "Still Working" and "Finished" basket.  You won't believe how cluttered this table becomes.

Back sink.  The stool is because I have a student with dwarfism, but all the other kids like to use it as well.

See... it's a triangle!  Here is the tip.  Very hard to move around back here.  This is considered a teacher zone and kids aren't allowed here.

The glass shelves are my favorite part of the window.  If you hadn't noticed we really only have 2 window and an opening in the door to supply light into our classroom.  That's probably why you didn't notice any plants in my class. Plus, I don't have a green thumb and plants would die in my class no matter what.

I have sewed curtains to go with each season in our classroom.  Our seasons change every 2 months.

Must have- drying rack mounted to the wall.  Also cardboard pieces just in case the projects need a sturdy backing.

This side of the classroom is our writing area.

They share "lockers" with a friend to keep their extra supplies.

Writer's notebooks are kept under the writing wall.  I will have a whole post on this as well.

Each student has a book box.  It hold their writing, DEAR log, DEAR book(s), penmanship, and composition book so their desks aren't cluttered.

Labels are a teachers best friend.  Sometimes the students will bring their boxes to their desks.  This label lets them know where to bring it back.

Writing wall and my 6 traits posters. 

Each student has a display board that has their photo, name (which I had to omit), and an "About The Author" paragraph which the students wrote themselves at the beginning of the year.  The concept came from those "About The Author" paragraphs we read after each of our Open Court stories and in books.

One of the only perks to moving into this classroom was this cabinet.  This houses almost all (minus my art books) my teaching books!

Ahhhh... storage.  Love storage. Love.

Cheat sheet to my cute DJ inker fonts.

Each section is labeled by subject.

I use to have a wooden desk here, but it took up too much room and all I did was pile things on it. 

I replaced it with a bookcase and it's been great.

Yes, I made that but figuring the costs for the supplies.  I think it would have been cheaper to buy one pre-made.  

Finally back to the front of the classroom.  We are fortunate enough to have a SMARTboard and I actually use mine.

Great visual to see who is and isn't done with specific assignments. 

My teacher desk- 2 double desks side by side.  It works wonderfully!  Having a doc camera, projector, laptop, and speakers doesn't leave you much room to work with students.  This is why you need 2 desks. 

More math stuff, some reading, and the wooden drawers has the days of the week on each drawer so I can put the papers for that day in that specific drawer.

Whew!  You made it through my classroom.  It's probably looks "bigger" in pictures, but you've got to imagine that space with 28 4/5 th grade sized bodies and 2 adult bodies within it.  It is very tight most of the time, but we make it work.

If you follow my blog you will find that I am 1) slightly OCD, 2) obsessed with labels- this could be related to the OCD factor, and 3) I strive to make my classroom clean, organized, and smelling good (in that order) at all times.

Hope you enjoyed the tour.