Classroom Tour | That Teacher Life Ep 4

so I thought that today I would give you guys a quick classroom tour I will preface this by saying that my classroom is nowhere near actually complete this year teachers were only given one day to actually work in their rooms before open house which was yesterday so I still have a lot more to actually get done in my classroom but I thought I would give you guys just a quick sneak peek of what it looks like so far so I thought I would start in the hallway and actually show you my student work display so I just have this long bulletin board strip to hang student work and I made these letters from my Cricut and I just cut them out and then tape them to the wall and then this is that pencil banner that came from Target and again I just cut out the letters and put them on there and then I use these little clips that were the pencils and those came from Target as well so this is what it looks like when you walk into my classroom through the door so this is just kind of a quick overview and then I'll go through it piece by piece so first thing you see when you walk through the door is this desk and this actually stays here all year this is actually here for my students breakfast because they eat breakfast in the classroom every day so in the cafeteria workers come and bring it to the classroom they put it right here and then my students come to the desk in order to get their breakfast and then bring it back to their personal table so right above that front desk is my bulletin board and I use it to display my jobs I actually use black felt as the background of my bulletin boards and then these letters were cut out with my Cricut machine and these job cards came from Amy Groesbeck they were in her TPT store and then each student has a number and it's just velcro so I put it up there my students actually keep their jobs for the entire term so they only have four different jobs throughout the year so right below my job card is actually where I keep my Keurig one of the most important things in my classroom I personally drink a lot of coffee so it's really important for me to actually have it in my classroom so right on top is where I keep the Keurig and then I have this mat just in case anything gets spilled and then next to it I have all my creamers and sweeteners and things like that and this actually sits on a cart that I got from Michaels and this card is actually made to hold the iris scrapbooking bin so if you use those in your classroom I definitely recommend you get one of these so this top blue one is actually where I keep recess games for indoor recess and then underneath all of these are where I keep my rooted in reading packs so if you look here this is a month of October so I keep all the vocabulary cards in there all the books and any of the other printouts that I need for that month so I basically hold five or six months at a time and then halfway through the year I switch them out for the ones that come in later and then this black bin that's right next to it is where I keep a lot of my extra paper extra dry erase boards and then I do have tissues and hand sanitizer right on top as well so while I'm over this way I'll go ahead and show you my front board and then my front desk so this right here is actually sloths that I got in Disney when I was there I love sloths are my favorite animal so that's kind of like my classroom pet and he'll actually leave notes for my students throughout the year on their desks and then this right here is where I keep my anchor charts this is actually a magnetic curtain rod that came from Walmart I think it was between eight and nine dollars and then I just hole punch the anchor charts and hang them with a book ring and right next to that is my classroom clip chart this is from learning and luck yeah sorry learning in Wonderland she's absolutely fantastic I love all of her products so this came from her and my students clips are right on there and I actually use it in conjunction with class dojo and I can do another video to explain how I do that right next to my clip chart is my classroom schedule these are just magnetic and I change them out as I need to throughout the week up top of my board is where I display my classroom rules you can actually find these in my TPT store they're editable and I'll put the link down in the description if you're interested in those and I just put mine in these silver frames that came from Michaels and I keep them hung up there because it was kind of empty space and I thought was a good way to fill that space and then obviously up top of my board is where I have my alphabet this is also in my TPT store and I'll put the link for that down below as well it's like a black and brights kind of theme so over on this side of my board is where I have my calendar and yes I already have it set up for September even though my students actually come back August 29th but I figured there was no reason of keeping August only for a couple days so I went ahead and put September up right here is where I keep all my extra magnet it's I would put him on the board but a lot of times they kept falling off or they get bumped so I decided just to put it in this little basket and I think this came from Target and then here is where I just have some extra dry erase markers and an eraser up here is where I display my objectives and standards for the day so I actually made these it's just a piece of scrapbook paper and then I hot-glued a page protector to it and it's velcroed at the bottom and I just slip in the standard to it on the side and the whole thing is laminated so that it stays durable but I actually have a set of standards and objectives that you can display if you want to do it this way MIT PT store I only have second grade at this point but I'll put the link for that down below I also want to show you my classroom sign this came from Target and I've seen a lot of people do really cute things with putting their name on it but I am not good at painting at all so I actually cut out letters with my Cricut and then I just laminated them and taped them on because that was much easier for me so next I'll go through my desk and kind of what I keep on there I personally wish that I could get rid of my classroom desk but at this point it's not really an option so I just make it work for me so up in the corner I have my school laptop and my document camera and it's right by my smart board projector so that way when I have students up here on the carpet I'm sitting right next to them but I'm still able to access my computer when I need it right here is a band that holds nurses notes and then I have my stapler tape dispenser and hole-punched I could use pretty much every day back here I have these plastic holders this is where I put student late notes or nurses notes when they bring them to me that way I still have them at the end of the year this is a sign that I got the target dollar spot I think about a year ago and then I have all of my pens pencils and markers each and a separate band that way if I know I need a pencil it's much easier to find it and this smile sign also came from the target dollar spot I think about a year ago and right below that is probably one of my favorite things in my classroom it is my teacher tool box and if you do not have one of these I highly recommend that you make one the organizer came from Lowe's but you can also get them at Home Depot and I think even Walmart carries them now to sew these labels are ones that I personally made they are MIT PT store really like them because of the clipart it makes it much easier to find what I need but I also have these available without clipart if you want that as well up on top of it I have this little bin I think it just came from Dollar Tree but that holds all my box tops and I like it because I can open up just the one end and put them in very easily next to that I have a mailbox that came from the target dollar spot that's where my students can leave little love notes for me if they have them this was actually given to me yesterday at open house by one of my students I had last year so I made sure that I put that on there and then that's just a decoration piece that also came from Target and next to my tool box I have three of these Sterlite drawers and I use two of them to hold all my daily copies and then the third one just holds things that need to be either graded copied or filed then at the end of my desk I have this white bookshelf that actually I think was in my bedroom as a child but I brought it into my classroom I have these bins for turning bins one is for homework and one is for classwork I think I want to say these came from maybe Big Lots but it could have been Target I'm not really sure but I think they're about three dollars apiece and those have worked really really well they hold a lot of papers in it and then down below I have all these black bins and these came from Big Lots as well and I have this one has all of my pens that I use for open house and then sharpies for one of my kids do directed drawings and behind there I have my plickers cards that I use quite often and then I also have some supa tizen cards that I used for number talks this bin has some my classroom management things I have these signs for when students are doing independent work I can slip them on their desk and I have what I call smart beads so whenever a student is participating really well or make some kind of comment that was very very good I will give them smart beads and then these are my brain sprinkles anytime my kids go to take a test I always go ahead and sprinkle some on their head and they really really like it this is from the Dollar Tree I think it's for sugar but obviously I didn't want to dump like a ton of sugar or sorry it's not of glitter on their heads so I actually have tape over it so only a couple little pieces come out at a time then on the next one this is mostly for when I do small group for math so this one has just some of the materials I might need at the table so I have some pencils dry erase markers tape and a stapler and I personally use the black Ticonderoga pencils that way if a student walks off with it I know that it's mine and next to that are these photo cases these came from Michaels and I have them in a couple different colors these are for task cards when my students do them in groups and I have different colors so that each group has a differentiated set and it matches the color of their group down here this basket has extra calendar pieces and then the numbers for my job chart which will go up once my students get their jobs and over here are my extra schedule cards for the board so this is one of my favorite corners of my room this is my classroom library I don't really have a ton of space so it's kind of on the smaller side but it still works very well so I just have a beanbag that I think originally came from Big Lots but as you can see like it's very deflated I need to get more beans to go with it but for now the kids still like it I have this little chair that I love because it's the perfect size for my kiddos this came from Target I actually got it 50% off so I got it for like $40 but it's held up really really well and then I have this blue pillow that I think came from Big Lots as well but I'm not exactly positive so right here is my filing cabinet I don't have a lot of things in there because personally I don't like clutter so filing cabinet is not one of my favorite things but I do have some stuff I need to store in there and I actually have these little labels I just put magnets on the back of letters to help me label so I knew which was in each drawer but I will show you this top drawer is actually where I do store my construction paper so these are bins that came from Target but you can also get them on Amazon and this is actually where I store my construction paper and it actually holds a lot oh I can't get it open it actually holds a lot of paper in each one and I like it because I've had my construction paper sitting out before and then I've had substitutes use it and did not make me very happy so now I have it stored away in the filing cabinet but it's nice and easy to get to when I need it so the top of my library actually has another bulletin board that I you as my reading focus board so these letters again were just cut out with my Cricut and then this burlap banner and the letters came from the target dollar spot I think it was a year ago this pocket chart also came from the target dollar spot and I use this to hold my vocabulary for whichever book were working on and then these are just plastic dry erase leaves and those will hold the reading strategy and the essential question that we're working on right below my reading focus bulletin board I have another bookcase and on top I just have my phone with the phone list and then this ceramic pencil came from the target dollar spot as well and this is where I store a lot of my curriculum binders with all of the different copies and things that I might need in there I also have my teachers manuals for my math stuff and then these are all of the books that I read aloud throughout the year and I keep them separate because they're not really books that I want my kids to have access to they're really just for me next in my bookcase I have this cart and on top I store what I call my book buddies these are stuffed animals that my students will read to if they don't have a partner and most of these came from Kohl's and what I really like is they are characters from a lot of the books that my kids have read so they really enjoyed that and then this cart came from Michaels and I really really like this one it has four of the smaller doors and then two of the bigger ones and this is where I store all of my fluency things for my kids so when they go to daily five and they do read to someone they use a lot of these things so the top drawer has folders and these are just plastic folders and then I put fluency passages in them that the students will read throughout the year in order to practice and then I also have some fluency strips some games for fluency timers and then these are one of my favorite things as well these are whisper phones and these are just made with PVC pipe and then some duct tape and my students use these throughout the year so that they can hear themselves read and then down here I also have microphones and my students get to use sometimes when they're practicing their fluency as well then on this back wall is my classroom library and I actually have two different sections in my classroom library I have this section which has all the books that I personally have bought then over here is where I have books that actually belonged to the school and I keep them separate that way at the end of the year I'm not trying to figure out whose is whose so these bins right here came from Big Lots and they were $3 apiece and I use these to hold all of my picture books this one here at the end is for the hospital so any books that are damaged and need to be repaired my students will put them in there and then holiday books I actually change out by the month so right now I have a bunch of different Halloween books and I will change them out for thanksgiving books at the end of October my labels are in my TPT store so I decided to organize my library I was going to give each different category a symbol and then that symbol will actually be on the corner of the book so the students just have to match the symbols if they can actually read the words and figure out where they go down below my picture books is actually where I store all of my chapter books and they are organized by different categories as well and again they each have a symbol and I will put the symbol up on the corner of the book but that just has not happened yet but these bins came from Dollar Tree there were only one dollar a piece but I really liked them they seemed really sturdy and then I just attached the labels with these book rings this book heart right next to it has all of the books that actually belonged to the school and these are organized by Lexile label and on each book I just have the Lexile number written on a label and I personally tape mine on because otherwise I feel like they do come off throughout the year so I put the label down and then I just put a piece of clear packaging tape over top to help hold it on there right next to that book cart I have some scoop rockers my students really really like these and I like how easily they can just carry them around the room these came from Walmart I think they're about $4 apiece which isn't bad at all and then I have my read letters and these came from Target and I really really like that they're metal so they hold up really well so now coming over to the opposite side of my room this is where all of my student cubbies are and this is also where I have my word wall now this I actually put up last year so it kind of looks pretty sad right now it's kind of falling apart I plan to redo it it just has not happened yet up top of my cabinet I have these white locker bins these came from Dollar Tree that's where I store a bunch of my math games and science materials and things like that I had labels on them all but I've decided to redo them and I have not put them up yet one of my summer projects was reorganizing all of my cabinets so I decided to go with these Sterlite lock bins that way I'm actually going to be moving classrooms at the end of this year I'm going to be moving to a different area of the state and I'm gonna have to pack up my entire classroom so I wanted to make sure that I had things organized so that it was nice and easy to move so I decided to go with these lot bins and what I really love is they come in all different shapes and sizes now these labels are mi TPT store they're my black and washy labels and I have three different sizes the ones for the really big bins and then there's the ones for these flatter bins and then for these mini bins as well and they are completely editable and they're available in like ten different colors so you can pick and choose what works for you now I personally have mine organized by color based on what they are actually storing so in this cabinet is all of my extra classroom supplies and then the cabinet right next to it has a lot of my arts and crafts supplies so those labels are all pink and then over here I have a lot of my math manipulatives and I chose to use yellow for those so that way I know what is stored in the bins just by the color and then each bin is actually labeled by what is inside this last copy is an extra so I just use it to store some of my extra materials so up here this is my VIP caddy it's not really cute it's very simple but it gets the job done so this has smelly markers glitter glue some of the Crayola twistable and some glitter crayons these are for my groups they actually earn points and once I get to a certain number of points they get to use the VIP caddy for the day and down here is where I store my base ten blocks so these are just snack containers or some kind of container from Dollar Tree and they perfectly hold your base ten blocks so the hundreds all go in the middle your tens or your rods go on the one side and then your ones go on the other side so these are really really easy for my students just to grab them when they need them and then down here I just have a beach ball with different like question prompts that we use sometimes during reading so then I have this bookshelf that's actually built into my classroom so the top part up here we actually have Lego sets for reading and math so those get stored up top and then I have these black bins that came from Big Lots and this is where I store extra math books and then some of the materials that they use a lot so this one has all of the dice and I really really like these because these are dry erase I found these at Dollar Tree this summer and I also have these little packs of dice so each little container and I think these came from Dollar Tree as well as a pack of ten for a dollar has two dice so it's really really easy for the kids to get and they can actually shake them right in here so that way they're not flying all over the floor this one has all of my deck of cards and these are snack containers from Dollar Tree most the time they're two per dollar but sometimes you can actually find them for three for a dollar and a pack of cards actually fits perfectly in there and then this one has a whole bunch of math flash cards and different fluency games that my kids use down below those I have all of my student book bins and these containers came from really good stuff I highly recommend them they're very very sturdy and I love all the bright colors that they have so these labels are also in my TPT store I just label the book bins by their numbers rather than their names so that I don't have to redo them every year and my students will store all of their books that they get from either the media center or my classroom library right in their book bin and it's nice and open and easy for them to have access to when they need them and then over here on the wall these are just the ABC letters that came from Target I decided this was a good area to display them so now we're at my back counter and down below I store a lot of materials in these black bins and I just think they look really clean and organized and it's an easy way what I need to just throw something in there I can and on the counter these are the same bins that are from Big Lots that I use in my library so this one has all of my writing prompts and ice my writing prompts in a binder so they're nice and easy for students to grab during daily 5 and I have just monthly calendars so each month there's 20 different prompts that the students can pick from and then on the back there's a list of 32 words as like a word bank so that if they don't know how to spell something they can just look on here and I always tell them if it's not on here and they don't spell it correctly it's fine so I have this for every month and these are actually in my TPT stores so there's 20 prompts for every month plus the word banks and I also include individual strips if you want the students to cut them out and put them in a writing journal but I have five different binders so at five kids can be doing writing for daily five at one time and it's nice and easy they just grab the binder and I'm set for the year I don't have to do anything right next to that are my audiobooks that my students use for daily 5 for listening to reading and those are all kept right in there nice and organized and then these are just some different math pack practices things I've gotten from target dollar spot or things like that mostly dry erase boards and if a student finishes early they can just come back and grab one of those this black bin is going to be used to hold student headphones so I actually have a set of five iPads for my class that I got from DonorsChoose and my students use them a lot for listening to reading or for math groups so they each bring in a pair of headphones at the beginning of the year and those get stored in there if they're the bigger headphones if they're the smaller earbuds I have this container this came from Walmart kind of where the beads are and I just put a small label down in each one labeled with their number so that way they know where to put it back and they don't get confused on whose is whose and this little container just holds a lot of my chargers for the iPads and then I also have some extra sets of headphones just in case and this lamp I think it was like five dollars from Ikea but I really really liked that as well then I have these black trays that I use for my student mailboxes so again they're just labeled with student numbers whenever I grade papers I put them up here in this bin and then I have one of my student jobs is mailman and they actually sort the papers and put them in the mailboxes and then my students are responsible for taking them home at least once a week this right here is a set of five laptops that we have for the classroom that are provided by the county then I will show you the inside of the cabinets that are up above there these bins I think came from Walmart but this one has a whole bunch of extra paper this one has envelopes in it and then these are more of the Sterlite bins they're just much larger this one holds extra construction paper and this one holds extra writing paper and again the cabinet right next to it is kind of a similar layout up here it's more the Sterilite bend this has extra notebooks extra folders and extra composition books these are just letter trays from Walmart this is where I store some of my card stock and things like that and then this is my treasure box so then I have one of these big cabinets with the doors on it and these containers are for math groups so I organized my math groups by color so a lot of times each group will have a different assignment that they're working on so I just put the assignment down here in the colored folder they get it out and then when they're done they turn it into the bin and this is actually a table runner that came from Big Lots I think it was like eight dollars but I just put that on there to make it look a little bit prettier and this file folders came from Target and then these are just some signs that I have that I put magnets on so it has days of the week and then also weather and inside of this cabinet is where all of my guided reading books are stored so that they're nice and easy to access during group so then this is my area that I use for guided reading I have this big round table I would love a horseshoe table or a kidney table but currently I don't have one so I just used a circular table I have this long rectangular table back here just to store some of my materials for guided reading I do have my blends poster up and then up above I have some of my reading strategies and these bins right here are for things I use a lot during guided reading this one is for word work so a lot of times will do good work at the end and I just have a cookie sheet from Dollar Tree and then this is another one of those organizers from Walmart in the jewelry section and this is how I store my letters so that they're nice and easy to find when I need them right next to is some of my binders with info so my got a reading binder and some data binders things like that these bins came from Walmart as well and this is how I organize my guided reading materials so again each group has a color and this is where I stored their books and any journals that they're working on and things like that this close reading toolkit this is actually a container of those photo cases as well and this came from Target it already comes with these bins in there there's six of them and all these close reading labels and things like that were a freebie on TPT so you can definitely look that up this is just a black bin to hold any folders or anything like that I honestly haven't figured out what I'm going to use it for but it's there just in case I need it this right here is my pencil sharpener from classroom friendly supplies and I definitely recommend that you get one if you go back in my videos you can see where I did a review of it and it really is one of the greatest pencil sharpeners ever and I keep it back here so that if I need to sharpen a pencil during group my kids don't have to get up and go across to the other sharpener I've got it right there this is another one of those IKEA lamps and I have another stapler and tape dispenser on top and this is another one of those storage bins this one I've actually had for a really long time so I don't ever where I got it but most likely it was Walmart so I just have some my resources that I use up top I have any flashcards with like questioning prompts I have some small whiteboards and I really like these because they're like sentence strips and they're really easy to use I also have some glasses and some magnifying glasses things like that just to make it a little bit more fun during group and then down here I have some other tool kits with some other supplies that I use and these right here are stools that I got from Ikea as well and these are about five dollars a piece and I like them because they stack and they don't take up a lot of room and it's much easier for my kids just to come and grab them when they need it for group so then I will show you this is my back counter area with my sink so up here these are just small containers that I got from Walmart I think they're like it 99 at peace and this is where I store some my classroom decor items that I use throughout the months and then here's my sink and I do have a stool in front of it so that some of my students can reach the water fountain under here I just have plastic bins to store some of my cleaning supplies and things like that um up above here is where I store all of my extra hand sanitizer tissues Clorox wipes things like that I do have tissues and hand sanitizer out on it I also have an air freshener and this is actually one of my students who left it during open house so I have to give that back to them and then here is my other pencil sharpener these cabinets store some extra supplies as well so I just have extra markers and I have extra crayons in case any my students need them these are actually dry erase board erasers and then these are more of the black bins from Big Lots and in here I just have things like cups and forks and spoons and plates and things like that then in this Shore is also where I hold some extra supplies so if any of my students need a pencil they can come back here and get that out so some extra colored pencils some extra crayons and then glue sticks and also when my students find a glue stick cap on the floor they'll come and put it back here as well that way if anyone ever loses one we have extras down here I have these iris bins as well and these just hold some of my classroom read-aloud books that I don't really want my students to have access to and these are organized by the topic then I have another one of these cabinets with the doors on top so right next to a I do store a couple of carpet squares that I have so when my students do read to partner they can grab one of those again this is a table runner from Big Lots that I just used for extra decoration my clipboards are stored here with these clipboard organizers these came from really good stuff and they actually come there like a just regular wood color and then these are blue but I decided to spray paint them black just to give it more of a clean look each one holds 12 clipboards but I was able to get an extra one in there so each one thirteen clipboards in it and right next to it I have some of my activities forward work that my students use during daily 5:00 so up here again these are just those bins from Big Lots that I use in my library these are old keyboards actually and my students use them to help practice typing their words plus they get extra practice typing because they'll need that for when they get to the higher grades right next to it I have cookie trays and these are just a dollar from Dollar Tree and my students use those for magnetic letters in order to practice their word work now I do have a set of five word work activities that can be used for any words in my TPT store I'll put the link for that down below as well and in there I talked a little bit more about how I organize my word work and I also gave some ideas for word work but I'll just show you a couple of them I do have these doodle boards that my students can use to practice their words I also have stamps and each set of stamps is organized in one of these pencil bins pipe cleaners rainbow words or my students roll the dice and it will tell them what color to write the word I have some chalkboards Bananagrams and there's a couple more of them but if you get my word work pack it's only one dollar it has five different activities you can use all year long for any words and then I talk more about my organization in there so the last thing I wanted to show you was how I store my student supplies because I actually do not have desks anymore I use tables and one of the first questions I always get is where do your students put their things so I have these bins from Walmart they have three drawers and this is where I store a lot of students supply so on top is their community supplies it has markers crayons dry erase markers scissors and glue and again these are those snack containers from Dollar Tree not only do they hold a deck of cards but they also hold a 24 pack of crayons perfectly so in the drawers I typically use the top drawer to hold dry race boards I have not put any in yet but those will go in there as we go on with the school year the second drawer typically holds like their writing journal and their math journal that we use throughout the day and then down here is actually their math reference books we use everyday mathematics and their journals so those stay in there so then I thought I would show you what my setup looked like for open house my open house was yesterday most of their kids did come and take their things but I had a couple of students not come so I thought I would show you what my setup looks like this is just supposed to note to cover up the last name but I decided to put their name tags on with these dry erase pockets that came from Target in the dollar spot it was three dollars for a 20 pack and these name tags actually came from learning in Wonderland as well and they were originally designed so that you could put them on the desk with just one piece of packaging tape but they also fit perfectly in the pockets and I love that they have the little melon heads clipart so I found clipart that looked like each one of my kiddos and right next to it I have one of the square pockets and these are kind of going to be used for different things for each of my students at the beginning of the year I'm going to put their classes number in there so that they get to know their number but after that based on what my kids need I can put different things in there some of my kids might need a reminder of the rules so I can put their own personal list of rules for the classroom in there I could also put 120 charts in there and just different resources like that as they need them so this is what I actually had sitting out for open house so each one of my kids got this pack of bubbles and I got these on sale at Big Lots I think it was an 8 pack for like 50 cents or something like that and these were just little labels that I made it says I have been bubbling with excitement to meet you then I have my classroom flip book and this is an editable template by learning in Wunderland as well like I said I love her stuff but this is how I communicate all my contact information supplies homework classroom rules and schedule and when I communicate classroom rules I actually have a picture of the clip chart right in there and I explain what each level means that my parents are not confused at all then I have just my meet the teacher letter and again this is a template by learning in Wonderland and it was super super easy just to fill it out and I just give them some information about myself and then I have a paper about class dojo Oh classdojo I use in my classroom and again I use it with a clip chart so I can give you more information on that but I have just a letter explaining it to the parents and then I can get it the bottom paper just has instructions on how to sign up for that so that way when they leave open house they can go ahead and get signed up and they're ready for the first day of school so that was pretty much everything hopefully you guys enjoyed it if you have any questions about anything that I showed you if I didn't explain it well enough go ahead and leave a comment down below I'll either reply right on there or I'll make a different video to explain it a little bit better again my classroom is not completely done please bear with me but it's getting a little bit better each day so I hope that you enjoyed it and I will see you in my next video now

Channel: Pocketful of Primary

Views: 703,578

Rating: 4.8715062 out of 5

Keywords: teacher, teaching, classroom, tour, classroom tour, classroom library, organization, classroom organization, teacherspayteachers, teachers pay teachers, tpt, back to school, 2nd grade, second grade, bulletin board, second grade teacher, second grade classroom

Id: 0qT7wKqCXbM

Length: 33min 45sec (2025 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 26 2016