Our school year is off to a great start. We have completed three days of school. So far we have reviewed things from last year and started working on all of our rules and procedures. Today we even started learning to READ!
Here are some pictures to show you around the room. Under each picture, I have given a brief description. This may help with understanding some of our rules and procedures.
This is a picture of the front of the room. We have a SMARTBoard. This will be very exciting for the students. They will have a chance to play learning games and interact with all of our lessons. We also have a T.V. that is used to show the morning broadcast each day. The fifth grade discoveries class presents the announcements through a live video broadcast each morning. The front of the room also has a copy of the alphabet, the job board (closer look later), and the math board(closer look later).
This is a picture of our math board. Each morning we sit in front of the board and complete a short daily math lesson. This lesson takes about 15 minutes. Each day we do the exact same thing. First we change the day. We adjust the day of the week, month (when needed), date, and year (when needed). Next we turn over the correct day on the calendar. We identify the pattern and determine what shape/color we will see the next day. Then we complete the daily straw count. We add a straw each day to keep track of the number of days at school. This is a great exercise for learning and practicing place value. Then we add a dot using a bingo dotter to our ten frames. This teaches the children how to correctly complete a ten frame (which we will be doing in the next few weeks) and gives the students a second method for tracking the number of days in school. Then we add a fish to the fish bowl. Once we have ten baby fish, we will then add a momma fish. This will keep track of the number of days in school and allow the students yet another method for counting by tens. Finally we flip over a card to show what the weather is each day of the week. Once a week we complete a graph. the students move a clothes pin to show their response for the question each week.
This is our word wall. Each we will learn several new high frequency words.As we learn these words they will be added to the display. This will allow students to see these words on a daily basis. We will also use this to review our high frequency words each day.
Each week we will have ten spelling words. This pocket chart will hold all ten words each week. The words will be posted on Monday mornings and will be removed on Friday mornings before the weekly test. I also have birthdays posted to make sure we don't forget anyone's special day.
Our book shelf is filled with a variety of books for students to read in class. Each book has to labels. One label is a colored sticker. After we complete STAR testing (a test used to determine reading levels), each student will be assigned a color. The student can then read any book at that level and complete the A.R. test for that book. Each book also has a label on the back telling the students the A.R. quiz number, reading level, and point value. This really helps when students get ready to take a test. Instead of typing in the book title, students can simply type in the quiz number to find the correct test.
On top of the bookshelf are two baskets. One basket is for homework. Students will receive a homework folder on Mondays. This folder will contain all of the homework for the week. On Friday mornings students must turn completed homework folders into this basket. The second basket is for tests and notes. This is for anything else students need to turn into me. This will prevent unnecessary movement throughout the classroom. It will also keep all paperwork together.
This is my teacher work area. I use this area for the classroom printer, laptop, ELMO, and speakers. Behind the table are several filing systems. There are binders with master copies of everything we do in class. There are also student mail boxes. These are used to sort papers to send home in Tuesday folders.
This two pictures show all of the leveled readers and center tubs. There is a tub already prepared for each reading lesson for the year. Each of these tubs contains 5-8 different center activities to help students reinforce the skills being covered that week.
Students will use the locker tags to keep track of their reading. For each book logged, students will receive a sticker. All students that receive 100 stickers by the end of the year will be able to wear their pajamas to school and participate in a 1st grade popcorn and movie day! (The students seem really excited about this. It is something new we are trying this year.)
My parents helped me make this conduct board several years ago. Each student has a binder clip with his/her name. If a student misbehaves throughout the day, he/she must move his/her clip. As the clip moves to lower and lower grades, the fish slowly changes facial expressions. The fish is smiling for A and B. The fish is neither happy nor sad on C. By the time the student reaches D and F, the fish is frowning and no longer happy.
These are only part of the pictures from our classroom. I will be adding more soon showing several new things I am trying this year. Thanks to Pinterest, I have many new ideas that I am incorporating into our daily routines.
Hope that this gives you a brief idea of how things work in our classroom.
