It's go time!

We had our open house last night and classes start on Monday! That's crazy. I swear it was just June. I just finished my classroom a few hours ago and here it is! 

This is where I will post my standards. See those little chevron ones? I got them from Cute Classroom Creations on TpT. 

My textual evidence board-(another teacher did this and got it off of Pinterest so I'm not sure where it came from). 

My recommendations board. These are from last year's students. Ignore all the cleaning products. I haven't had a chance to put away the classroom supplies just yet. 

This will be my Blooms Taxonomy board--but I need student work to complete it. 

My library with the chart to keep track of how many books read throughout the year. 

And the front of my room. 

Ready to go!!! 

Bulletin Boards

I spent some time working on my bulletin boards today.  I feel like I'm starting to get things going and my room will begin to come together eventually.

Goals Board

This isn't technically a bulletin board.  It's a built-in cabinet, but I started covering it like it was one last year since it's just plain grey and I wanted it to pop a bit more. 

On the left side are my classroom goals.  The first is really our rules, but I think those can be looked at as very reachable goals.  Then under it I have two goals that I really want to permeate my class: Read 30 Books, and Read Different Genres.  I give students 15 minutes each day (even though sometimes it just eats away at my teaching time) to read their own books.  We spend time talking about their books, writing about their books, and presenting their books.  

On the right side will be our Unit Goals.  This is where I'll display the standards for the unit that we're working on.  Currently I don't have any up, but I did just purchase some cute, already made ones from TPT. Here is the link for the product.

My Desk

Again, not a board, but I'm going to use this as my own reading log.  I require the students to keep a reading log that I can check, so I figure it's only fair that they be able to see mine.  I'll print out pictures of the books I'm reading and post them up.  **Please pay no attention to the top of my desk... it'll be a mess until a few days before school, and then be back to the same mess again within a week.  I'm coming to terms with it.

The Bane of My Existence...Or The Recommendation Board

I hate this board.  It's tall and I hate changing it more than anything.  I never know what to do with it, even when I know what I want to use it for, I never know how to get it to work the way I want it to.  So here is what it is for now.

My Book Recommendation Board.  I bought these on VistaPrint.

If students want to share a book with their students they can fill one of these out, turn it in, and after I check it for appropriateness I'll put it up.  Right now the board has "Best Book Project" posters from last years sixth grade on it.  I'm hoping that after the first couple of weeks I can take those down and start replacing with these post cards.

If I like it and it works out well, I'll purchase some cloth that's long enough to cover this board and then I'll never have to recover it again!!

Homework Board/Tickets

Nothing too exciting here, except for my new ticket pockets!  I've used tickets in the past for good behavrio, rewards, etc.  Then they could buy things from me.  That was too much of a hassle for 120 kids...  So I'm changing it up.  I'll still give out tickets (probably not so many) and at the end of each class period they can put their name on it and at the end of the period deposit their ticket in the pocket.  Randomly I'll pull a name out for a prize of some sort.  In addition I'll allow them to purchase a few things: get rid of a yellow card (behavior card), get rid of a tardy, a Royal Pass, or a Please Leave Me Alone Pass.  They each cost different amounts so they might have to save up for awhile if they really want one.

Jobs/Attendance/Specials Rotation

Still in need of a lot, but I'm unable to do much until I get class lists...which will be the week before school, if I'm lucky! 

So much more left to do, but I'm feeling good about what I've done so far!

Reading Recommendation Board

I have this tall and very annoying bulletin board in the back of my room.  It's annoying because I'm never sure what to do with it. It's goes all the way to the ceiling so that whatever is up there stays up (I refuse to get myself up on a ladder more than once to change anything).  Each year it bothers me and I end up leaving random things up on the top and then changing the bottom portion of it.  It's been different all five years that I've taught in this room.

Ignore the notes.  I took the pictures of a few spots in my room that I want to revamp this school year.  I thought having the visual would help.  Then when I came up with my idea, I figured I'd just annotate the picture!

This year, I've decided to make it into a board where students can easily recommend books they've read and others can go look for a good book suggestion.  I'm not sure what I'll call it, yet, or how it will be decorated exactly, but I think I'm going to make these through vista print.

I guess I've already made them, but I'm not sure about ordering them.  It seems like a waste of money if I can just make something on word...except that also seems like a lot of time to get everything lined up correctly and formatted.  Plus they wouldn't be in color and this might be more fun for the kids. Whatever I decide to use, it will be something similar to this.  I'm hoping it works.