Welcome to my classroom!
This upcoming year I am inheriting a brand new classroom at a new campus, in a new city, and a new (somewhat) grade level. There have been a lot of transitions this last month, but ones that are exciting. After our move from Texas this summer back to San Diego, California, I was excited to be able to get into my classroom early and begin unpacking and setting up.
We all know that inservice week brings time in classrooms, but most of that week is prep, planning, and meetings. So, to have this extra time to build my classroom is a gift.
Arranging Furniture
First things first: gotta sort through what the previous teacher left behind - or in my case the long-term sub - and begin arranging the learning spaces.
This is often the most overwhelming compared to entering into an empty room. However, I am grateful that certain pieces of furniture have been left behind. After some time, I was able to sort of organize the big pieces of furniture into spaces I imagine will get the most use. I did peek into my teammate's classroom just to get an idea of how she uses her space - which was helpful.
The main areas I want to focus on are:
- meeting area near TV (which is where I plan to have us spend the most time together)
- teacher desk with access to small group table
- student desk arrangement (18 students)
- classroom library
- writing materials area
I am in need of a few more student desks (so, nevermind the random desk and chairs in the middle). I will have a total of 18 students this year, which is so manageable! But, when arranging the classroom the big thing to keep in mind is how much space these 2nd graders need and how they'll use the classroom throughout the day.
I want to keep table groups to 3, so that means 6 students at each table group. We'll see how that works out once students arrive. A lot of this year will be a test-run of a lot of things! Thankfully, the room arrangement can always be adjusted once the school year starts and I get a feel for how we need to change and adapt things!
Small Groups
Here is my planned small group table where I will meet with students throughout the day. I wanted this space to be easily accessed from my desk area and give me the best view to monitor my class. I will also have a homeroom teacher that comes in and assists with students (how amazing is that?!) and this will also be a great space for her to use when working with the kiddos.
In this space I plan to use the bookshelf behind the table for my small group reading and math materials. I love the plant that was left behind, so I have that right there, too. To the right of my small group table I plan to have writing materials and a kind of writing area. That's the goal, at least.
Future Sound Wall
Coming into this classroom I quickly noticed this massive word wall. This wall is the only real wall space I have in my room (mostly due to the large windows I get!) and it will become my sound wall. I do plan to incorporate words from this list onto the sound wall, but it will be generated by the class as we unlock sounds and introduce words.
I loved getting to use my sound wall at my previous campus in kindergarten and I can't wait to incorporate one in 2nd grade. My plan is to condense the sound wall into just a few panels, so I can utilize the rest of the wall space to other things. My new campus uses the UFLI curriculum, which has a lot of the same components to what I've been trained in previously.
Here's my new wall!
I used butcher paper and picked up these cute "Everyone is Welcome" border from Lakeshore Learning. My sound wall is from Natalie Lynn and can be found here.
As far as these amazing counter tops over the cubbies, I plan to have various bins for student work and materials. But, for now I'll keep them bare and utilize them as we unlock certain learning spaces when students come.
Classroom Library
I am so grateful that my new campus provides so many amazing book choices for our classroom library. However, with how I want to arrange my room I need more shelving to house those books. At first, I made this space a little small only because I'd want my students to be able to read wherever makes them comfortable. Then, I quickly realized just how many books I have to organize....and not to mention, 2nd graders are bigger than kinders...so there's that.
I am planning to expand my library space and add more shelves thanks to Facebook Marketplace. I want to make this reading space a welcoming environment and open for students to be comfortable while reading.
I added this wall space for anchor charts and continued organizing the library itself. There were a lot of amazing chapter books and series hiding in one of my closets! I set out to get them organized and I'm happy so far with how the classroom library has come together.
- "Cool Kids Read Books" poster
- Amazing Work Coming Soon printable (FREEBIE!)
- Fake Plants
- Everyone Is Welcome border for walls & black book bins
We'll, for now that's what I've been able to do in my classroom over the summer. I look forward to August where we'll be heading back officially and things will really start to come together. I can't wait to get my class list, prep with my team, and get a feel for how the first week of school will feel.
Being new has me with the school-year-scaries...but it's a good feeling. I always say that if you no longer get the butterflies before a new year maybe it's time to transition out of the classroom. But, this year feels really good. I'm feeling confident and I know I have a great team to support me. There's a lot of new things heading my way this year being at a new school...but I can't wait to get started!
A final note...
Feel free to follow along this journey with me here, but also on my Instagram and Facebook. I know a lot of this online/social space has become filled with teacher influencers...and I am definitely not one of those. I love the "old school" way of documenting and sharing my adventures in the classroom in a way that's authentic and helpful to other educators...at least, that's my hope.
So, I hope you'll stick around and I would love to connect with you here or on the socials.
Happy teaching!
