Back in First Grade!

I headed back to the classroom this year and I'm so glad to be back! As always, there is a lot of work to be done and I thought I'd share the process. These pictures were taken over a 3-week span of transforming my new classroom into how I wanted it. I spent hours and hours of work getting ready for my kiddos! 

After moving in my stuff, I felt very overwhelmed. 

See those cabinets on the back wall? That's where I started. I spent two days going through everything that was in these cabinets. I threw things away, created a donation pile, organized it and then unpacked my boxes and added my own stuff to the shelves. It felt good to know everything I had in the way of teaching resources.

I had taken out every book I found in the cabinets and put them in this corner so my next step was to go through these. I was surprised by how many books there were and then made the decision to not even pull my books out. I left them in their crates and kept them at home. I spent an entire day going through every one of these books.

Check out my pile of trash in the corner. It kept growing!

I then began to tackle the walls. I started with the front of the room and got my number line and alphabet up. Looks easy? ...yeah took me an entire afternoon.

I then scraped cubby containers of old sticker labels and added new number labels. I also scraped the hallway cubbies. There were three layers on those. I stuck to numbers this time so that next year I wouldn't have to scrape names off. Again...hours of work.

I added labels to my supply containers...

...made a lunch choice board (the magnets of students are pics of my students from years and years ago!). I plan on making new ones the first week of school of my student's pics.

I hung up months to display birthdays....

...I laminated with my new laminator like crazy! This thing rocks!

I began creating my calendar and math meeting area.

In the hallway, I decorated my bulletin boards. I love using the clear pocket protectors so you can just slide student work in and out of it. If you look closely behind the ladder, you will see the piles of stuff that I cleaned out of the cabinets. I set it here for other teachers to pick through before it headed to the dumpster. 

Here is the hallway cleaned up for the first day of school.

Right before school started, my rectangular tables were switched for these new, adorable tables. Eli is a good model.

I hung a “class jobs” chart...

...and then added a velcro strip of numbers to easily choose and then switch jobs for the kids. 

This little hanging thing holds pennies. Kids receive pennies for rewards and then they can buy things at my class store. It also doubles as a way to teach them money, for we exchange 5 pennies for a nickel, 2 nickels for a dime, etc.

These ceilings are high and I stood on the tippy top of the ladder to hang these pretty pieces. This picture also shows the rug that I wanted to use for my library. I have a much bigger one (same pattern) that sat in front of my calendar, too. Unfortunately, I had to remove them due to COVID, along with my class library. Those containers were never meant to be there (on top of the shelf) but this is the only pic I had with the rug before I rolled it up. 

I hung my word wall on my cabinets and added my favorite saying at the tippy top.

I ordered these artificial flowers to match my three colors I use all over the room. I love how it turned out.

I was sad that there were no whiteboards in the room and only a chalkboard was available. Since I have no intentions on using chalk, I ordered this whiteboard film adhesive and Danny helped me stick it to the chalkboard. It doesn't look that great when you look closely, but it works at least!

The room was finally nearing completion! I had to remove the books and my rugs before the first day. The books were allowed to come back after the 2nd week and we were all so happy! 

Who is that name I see?! Yes, Embry is in my class this year!

I had a few finishing touches left, but we had to take a break and focus on our drive-thru meet the teacher and our virtual open house.

I added these shapes above the bulletin board at last minute and hated how crowded they looked! 

So I changed them early before the first day of school!

I also added the numbers.

I had Embry pass out everything for the first day and I was ready!

After the first couple of days, I bought these containers (make-up brush holders) for the kids' pencils so that they would be kept separated. I also velcroed it to the table so they wouldn't fall off. 

At some point, I created my lesson plan book...

...and organized my shelf

Earlier this summer, I made birthday sundae cups...

...and the first day of school gift. I was so ready! Everything in this whole set-up process was a lot of work, but I was now ready and so excited for the first day!