Class Tour - April 2013 - Primary 4

If anyone reads this, you know that I changed schools in April. I'm permanent! Yay! I moved to a very new building; the school opened in April 2011, so you'll see that everything looks very fresh and bright and new. I thought I'd post some photos of my new classroom. Hopefully in August/September I will post my setting up process when I "start from scratch."

This is what you see when you first walk into the class. Yes, those are lovely big windows along the back wall.


Looking into the class on the right, we have our meeting area with the SMARTboard. I also have two of these portable double sided whiteboards. They are FAB. I've since moved this one so that I have easier access to the cupboards behind it, and so there is more room for the children to sit on the floor.


This is our computer area. These are all connected to the internet. The laptop on the far right is mine that connects to the SMARTboard.


My school is open plan. All the walls between classrooms and out to the corridor can be opened up. The walls to the corridor all must be open (which took me all of a day to get used to), but the walls between each class are closed in the Senior wing. I've put borders up on the wall that divides my classroom to the one next door so that it can still open when we need it to (like for our Science Fair this week).


I have a tiny wee book corner as there isn't much room for anything more, but the kids seem to like it. And yes, that's a sky-light in the next photo! I have a remote control that opens it up to let in some fresh air. It also automatically detects rain and closes on it own (a great feature to have in Scotland!).


These tray shelves are brilliant. Each child has their own tray labelled with their name. In them, they keep unfinished work, personal whiteboards/pens, homework diaries, and reading books. The extra ones are used by me to store spelling resources, extra whiteboards/pens, writing resources, etc. The other photo is VERY important for the smooth running of my classroom. Children know to look to the "I'm Done" board when they are finished their tasks so they know what to do next.


These photos depict my Behaviour Birds clip chart. The children each have their own peg with their name. They start on "Perfect Peacock" and move up or down depending on their behaviour. You can buy your own in my TpT store.


My kids love this! As a class, there is always something they need to work harder at. Right now, it's being a quality audience. If they show that they are working towards mastering this skill, they get to add a piece to Mr. Potato Head. When he's finished, they get 5 extra minutes of play time.


On one of my whiteboards, I have 3 folders for handing in any work that is not written in a jotter. Kids have to think about how they did on their task as they hand it in. Work completed in jotters already has self assessment forms stuck in them.


That's the tour for now. As I add things to the new room I'll add more photos. Do you have a classroom tour on your blog? I'd love to see!

Class Tour - better photos

I took some better photos of my new classroom this week!

This shot is looking to the story corner, construction center, and art table.

Small World and puzzles table, with the role play corner behind it. To the right, there's a door to the Nursery garden! I love that we have direct access from the classroom to the outdoor space.

The story corner has a lovely new carpet. The children like to choose a minibeast to sit on. I love that we have a Smartboard, too. I'm so excited to integrate it into the children's experiences!

The art/writing area is so organized, thanks to my Nursery Nurse! Hopefully it stays this way! I've really been on at the kids this week to make sure they look at where materials belong and put them back in the right spot. I really think it's important to make the children responsible for their space.

There's a huge whiteboard right by the art table. The children have decided to put up some of their drawings from the first week of school. I have some talented artists on my hands!

We have a HUGE role play corner. The children are quite imaginative compared to my class last year. They love role play. It's interesting to watch them interact with each other.

I love this shelf. One side holds resources for the water table, one side holds resources for the sand table. The children choose for themselves what they want to use and take it to the sensory tables themselves. I'm striving for the children to be independent in their learning experiences and in the general operation of the classroom.

Since my classroom is massive this year, I have the luxury of having this great double easel! One side is for painting and the other is a whiteboard. I love that 3 children can work easily and comfortably at the easel.

The resource boxes are clearly labeled with text AND photos so the children know where things belong and can put away resources independently. It's important for children to see the text as well, despite not being able to read yet. I strive for my classroom to be a text-rich environment so children become familiar with it as they begin to mark-make and write.

Every class in the school received their own huge floorbook to contribute to throughout the year. My children are heavily involved in deciding what goes into it and what they want it to say. This particular page documents our class trip to the Bear Factory where we chose a new outfit for our class bear, Dora. We took a city bus into town and everything! The children were able to talk about waiting for the bus, how to cross the street, and what landmarks the recognized on the way to town.

Here's Dora, our class bear! She has QUITE the wardrobe! What you see here isn't the half of it! The kids love dressing her up and using her in role play.

This year, we've started a new teeth-brushing method with Brush Buses! I LOVE these. They are so much better than the children having individual boxes with their toothbrush in it. Each child has a picture (apple, milk, strawberry, etc.) that corresponds with a toothbrush with the same picture. They have been really good with putting their brushes back in the right spot!

That's it for the updated tour with better photos!

New Classroom Tour

It's that time of year again when it's time to drag your feet back into the classroom to set up! Much to my delight, when I walked into my new room, most of it was already done! A couple of the Nursery Nurses at my school worked through the summer, so they took the liberty of organizing toys, labeling boxes (complete with pictures of what's in the box!), and generally setting up the furniture. When I first walked in, I thought, "Oh, but I wanted to set up the room," but after looking around, it was really the only way for the room to be set up anyway because of where the carpeted flooring and linoleum flooring was, and where the Smartboard was already mounted. Those things really dictate how you can set up a room. So, even though I didn't get to set up the room, I am delighted with how it looks!

This year I am teaching Nursery (that's Kindergarden for all you North Americans!). I have two classes - AM & PM - adding up to 40 children in total! That will be interesting during report writing time!

Here are some poor quality mobile phone photos to show what the room looks like so far, before the children have stormed through.

Really, the only major thing that I needed to do was organize the filing cabinet. It still had some things in there from 2007 (not as bad as my classroom last year that had files lying around from 1998!). The filing cabinet is really the only place in the room for me to keep personal files/resources, as well as general office supplies (scissors, pens, stapler, etc.), so I spent some time reorganizing so I know exactly where everything is.

I'm almost finished organizing files. I've used folder dividers to subdivide paperwork, masters, resources, etc. This way it's easy for me to find or file things quickly. Hopefully it will stay this organized for the year! We'll see...

Have you been into your classroom yet?