So I worked on my classroom today. I have painters on one side and me on the other so it's a slow going process. Today I worked on one CORNER of my room. Realized I didn't want my carpet in the middle of the room because it made the room very unbalanced. So I've moved the carpet near my novel library.
Notice that you can see the Black Bulletin board paper. Now once I put this carpet down I thought, it's not big enough for 20 grade 4/5 children! So I'm going to a liquidation world tomorrow to get another 5X8 rug. So in essence I should have originally purchased a 10 X 8 rug! I will add the rug on to the back of this one. Photo to come soon!
Next I focused on one of my 5 Ikea shelves. I figured that since I had novels over there I would put my language materials and non-fiction materials on that side too.
So this shelf has non-fiction books in the bottom cubbies. I am going to get the kids to sort them into subjects, write down the subject names and then I'll make labels for the cubbies. As I found out with the novels (when the children alphabetized them), they take more ownership of keeping the materials tidy and neat when they created the system.
On the top cubbies are from left to right, my grammar material boxes in order of presentations. So I teach the green pronoun boxes first. However, just off to the left of the green boxes are my sentence analysis cards and symbols. In Montessori all materials are put on the shelf from left to right in order of difficulty. So I would teach them left to right.
On the far right are two sets of leveled non-fiction books and my Brain Bank non-fiction boxes which house leveled non-fiction readers in Socials and Science. Red is grade 4 and Purple Grade 5. I also have Grade 3 in blue if needed.
On the very top I have the gecko tank supplies in a basket, and the tank will go next to the supplies as soon as I get it back from T. There is an outlet in the wall right next to the shelf which is perfect for the lights and heat rock needed. My computer is NOT going to stay there.
This weekend I am on a mission to get the carpet and several baskets. I need a basket to hold my non-fiction writing card material. I have laminated photo cards with writing ideas on the back for Life Science, Physical Science and Earth Science. They will be rotated into the basket weekly to keep them fresh and interesting! Same for the next shelving unit which has creative writing ideas for fiction and journal prompts (photos) that also need baskets.
The third shelf to the right (there are three on one wall) needs the tupperware containers for the kids school supplies. So I need to purchase 20 of those as well. V has given me a sample size so I know exactly what size fits in my cubbies (2 per cubby).
On Monday I will be finishing up these shelves and putting my other 2 shelves together, but those are for cultural material and my fiction picture books (which sadly just don't fit in the language area...unless I move the school supplies to the side Cultural wall...hmmm.) We'll see! Stay tuned!
I also saw H today and realized I should get commission from Ikea! Not only does V have 3 Ikea shelves but H has two! Glad these shelves are popular!
Notice that you can see the Black Bulletin board paper. Now once I put this carpet down I thought, it's not big enough for 20 grade 4/5 children! So I'm going to a liquidation world tomorrow to get another 5X8 rug. So in essence I should have originally purchased a 10 X 8 rug! I will add the rug on to the back of this one. Photo to come soon!
Next I focused on one of my 5 Ikea shelves. I figured that since I had novels over there I would put my language materials and non-fiction materials on that side too.
So this shelf has non-fiction books in the bottom cubbies. I am going to get the kids to sort them into subjects, write down the subject names and then I'll make labels for the cubbies. As I found out with the novels (when the children alphabetized them), they take more ownership of keeping the materials tidy and neat when they created the system.
On the top cubbies are from left to right, my grammar material boxes in order of presentations. So I teach the green pronoun boxes first. However, just off to the left of the green boxes are my sentence analysis cards and symbols. In Montessori all materials are put on the shelf from left to right in order of difficulty. So I would teach them left to right.
On the far right are two sets of leveled non-fiction books and my Brain Bank non-fiction boxes which house leveled non-fiction readers in Socials and Science. Red is grade 4 and Purple Grade 5. I also have Grade 3 in blue if needed.
On the very top I have the gecko tank supplies in a basket, and the tank will go next to the supplies as soon as I get it back from T. There is an outlet in the wall right next to the shelf which is perfect for the lights and heat rock needed. My computer is NOT going to stay there.
This weekend I am on a mission to get the carpet and several baskets. I need a basket to hold my non-fiction writing card material. I have laminated photo cards with writing ideas on the back for Life Science, Physical Science and Earth Science. They will be rotated into the basket weekly to keep them fresh and interesting! Same for the next shelving unit which has creative writing ideas for fiction and journal prompts (photos) that also need baskets.
The third shelf to the right (there are three on one wall) needs the tupperware containers for the kids school supplies. So I need to purchase 20 of those as well. V has given me a sample size so I know exactly what size fits in my cubbies (2 per cubby).
On Monday I will be finishing up these shelves and putting my other 2 shelves together, but those are for cultural material and my fiction picture books (which sadly just don't fit in the language area...unless I move the school supplies to the side Cultural wall...hmmm.) We'll see! Stay tuned!
I also saw H today and realized I should get commission from Ikea! Not only does V have 3 Ikea shelves but H has two! Glad these shelves are popular!
Side note: H and I realized that it would be great to TRAIN monitors to take care of the K/1/2 children. H has a responsibility sheet all prepared. If K,K and I hold a meeting for interested monitors and go over their duties AND send a note home for parents, then monitoring can really be effective this year.
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