Classroom Tour.

I thought it would be fun to give you all a tour of my classroom. Since starting a new semester, I changed some things around and out up some new displays. And while my classroom isn't perfect (you'll see some clutter in some pictures), it is far more comfortable than it was first semester. 

Enjoy!

  

This is the view when you come in through the door of my room. My room is almost in the middle of our building, and was a room that was added on in recent renovations (it was a courtyard, or some such before). You'll see on the far left side a paneled wall-it moves so that my room and the one next door can be combined into one big room, but it's obviously closed during school hours. You can see my front board in the distance, as well as the sign language teacher's desk in the distance.

 

 

On the left-hand side of the door, you'll find our storage cabinet. With the exception of our filing cabinets and desks, this is the only storage we have in the room. Sadly, those boxes on the top were "inherited" from the teacher who retired at the end of last year, and we have yet to go through them. There are a ton of boxes and books in the cabinet I need to go through as well. Not being in my room during a prep hour kills my organization! Anyway, the genre posters are new! They're fashioned after old movie posters, and the kids really like them!

 

When you walk in the door, this is what is along the right wall. It is a huge whiteboard that is semi-useless (the projection screen is on the other wall, or I would use this as the front of my room). So, I've turned it into a display wall. Right now I have my display on The Great Gatsby, which I am really a fan of. :) To the left of the display is the "Schedule" area, where I write down our tasks for the day. At the time I took this picture, I had grades from first semester taped up. Above the board are a couple of banners-one with the presidents, and the other is a timeline of important events in U.S. History. They go along this wall, then curve around the corner to go above the door.

If you go straight into the room (the view above was at an angle), you'll find the "big desk," aka my desk. Since I am in the room for hours 1-4 (the sign language teacher is in here during 5 and 6-I travel to 2 other rooms those hours), the big desk houses a lot of my supplies and personal effects. There is my big (wrinkly) State flag, as well as a white board full of reminders, memos, and student art work. The upper left corner of the whiteboard is a collection of mythological coloring pages from my students last semester. You can also see my big filing cabinets, our TV, and a a bunch of my junk. I usually keep a pretty clean desk, but I have a ton of stuff to file and put away!

Right behind my desk and next to my filing cabinets is our storage space for the laptop and projector (my overhead projector is currently hiding on the bottom. I am using the cart for it to move my Maus books between classrooms). This is one of the many student areas I have. Both of my classes have a set of folders for absent work. This is also where I store papers to be passed back, etc. On the board are where I put BIG reminder dates, etc. You'll also see some lingering books and folders kids have left in my room. 

One of my favorite poster sets is above the board...a big bookshelf with titles of classics. :)

 This just shows the rest of the front of the room. The table in front is where I keep copies for the week and other things for the kids. I will often have kids come work at the table with me if they need extra help, or if we're editing a paper together. The bulletin board on this side of the whiteboard is a student info board. We post announcements for them, the lunch schedule, etc. Everything on the bookshelf is for them-supplies in the bins, and books. You'll also see Angela's desk (sign language teacher). She comes in about halfway through 4th hour, so she sets up shop there until I leave. :)

More of the partition wall. We put up student artwork on the panels as much as possible. Right now the wall is home to some of my mythology students' maps of Greek and Norse geography from last semester. You'll also see one of the 2 skylights in my room (the other is near the door). I don't have a window, so I have these...it's interesting, not having a window, and when it is dark outside, so is my room!

 

This is a new addition to the room-my grammar guide wall! I found inspiration for this on Pinterest, so I started pulling it together a couple weekends ago. It covers a lot of the silly errors students make-like affect v. effect. 

 Next to the grammar wall is a set of literary and figurative language terms. This is another new addition. I had been eying these posters with these terms and definitions online, and when I started looking into them, I realized that it would make more sense to just type them and make them myself (the posters online were like...$50. No thank you). And here we are!

 This was taken from the front of the room-just to show you our seating arrangement. The desks were in some kind of horseshoe last semester, and it worked okay for a while. We tried moving the desks into groups of four, but we just don't have enough room, so this works for now. Anyway, you can see the big back bulletin board. The right side is for Angela and the sign language classes. The left is for me, and right now it has World War II things up. I also have two more posters sets along the top-one on Parts of Speech and the other has quotes from women.

 And here is a close-up of the World War II wall. I still have some pictures to laminate and put up, but it's coming together! My Rosie the Riveter poster is a favorite, so once we're done with WWII, she'll find a home elsewhere in the room. I'll also keep the atom bomb picture up through our Cold War unit as well.

Well, that's my classroom! Like I said, it is a work in progress, but it is cozy and bright. :)